2021 Quad Cities Road Meet

[Brandon]

A few more details:

We will meet at Pavilion 5 in Credit Island Park at 11 am CDT.  Upon entering the park, take the right fork.  Pavilion 5 is the second picnic shelter on the left, the large one.

Bring your own lunch; there are a lot of options around.

[A.J. Bertin]

Bring your own lunch; there are a lot of options around.

Do you have any recommendations of any good local establishments/chains?

[US71]

Bring your own lunch; there are a lot of options around.

Do you have any recommendations of any good local establishments/chains?

...and NOT McDonald's

[Brandon]

Bring your own lunch; there are a lot of options around.

Do you have any recommendations of any good local establishments/chains?

Not as many as I would like, but there is a branch of Arthur's Garden Deli in Rock Island.

[cjk374]

Bring your own lunch; there are a lot of options around.

Do you have any recommendations of any good local establishments/chains?

Not as many as I would like, but there is a branch of Arthur's Garden Deli in Rock Island.

Can't go wrong with Arthur's. That was some damn good eatin when I had it last year in Dixon.👍👍🥗🥙

[SSOWorld]

The interchange of I-280 and IA 22 is half closed and a bridge out.  You can still get through on 280 but it's 2-way traffic.  If coming westbound, you'll have to take US BUS 61 off the freeway.

[US71]

The interchange of I-280 and IA 22 is half closed and a bridge out.  You can still get through on 280 but it's 2-way traffic.  If coming westbound, you'll have to take US BUS 61 off the freeway.

I think my motel is on Bus 61

[Brandon]

The interchange of I-280 and IA 22 is half closed and a bridge out.  You can still get through on 280 but it's 2-way traffic.  If coming westbound, you'll have to take US BUS 61 off the freeway.

That's why none of the tour routes are using that interchange.  I found that out the hard way while doing a recon a couple of weeks ago.

Business 61 is more of a straight shot to the park though.

[US71]

Latest weather update for next weekend.:

Thursday NightA 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 68.

FridayA 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 86.

Friday NightMostly clear, with a low around 64.

Saturday Sunny, with a high near 84.

Saturday NightMostly clear, with a low around 61.

SundayMostly sunny, with a high near 83.

[dvferyance]

Bring your own lunch; there are a lot of options around.

Do you have any recommendations of any good local establishments/chains?

Machine Shed I-80 Exit 292 Northwest Blvd. I got one by me their good.

[US71]

Bring your own lunch; there are a lot of options around.

Do you have any recommendations of any good local establishments/chains?

Machine Shed I-80 Exit 292 Northwest Blvd. I got one by me their good.

Oh heavens: now I'm hungry

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Regrettably it looks like I will be a late scratch for multiple reasons. I hope I'll see you guys sometime later this year.

[Highway63]

I got back without incident. (There: US 30, IA 38, IA 130, Y14, F44, Y26, I-80, I-280, Locust; Back: I-80, I-380) The only thing of note for me is that connections on the US 30 Mount Vernon-Lisbon bypass are complete, and that happened last year. Combine that with new 30 opening east of Tama a few weeks ago and the only segment of 30 that isn't four lanes between Ogden and the Linn/Cedar County line is 15 miles in western Benton County plus right at IA 21.

Here's what I wrote about the I-280 bridge color:

According to the Quad-City Times, the new paint job removed all the yellow because, quote, "Officials at the Illinois Department of Transportation, or IDOT, could not find any evidence that Quad-Citians ever chose the color combination." The Times was able to call up not only articles, but a graphic, about the color combinations area residents picked from in 1972, and the blue-and-yellow option won with about two-fifths of the vote.

Thanks for the trip, the maps, and the freeze pack!

[JREwing78]

On the way home, I followed a fire truck around Rockford running code that couldn't make the speed limit. Like, what's the point of running lights and siren if normal traffic is passing you like you're standing still?

Otherwise, an uneventful drive home. Thanks again for a nice road meet!

[SSOWorld]

Uneventful drives down and back - took a "grand detour (pun intended) along IL 2 on the way down. back on the direct route.


L2R in back by forum username: oscar, Brandon, Highway63, brianreynolds, Big John, signalman, A.J. Bertin, Nikolai, dvferyance, US71, 74/171Fan, SSOWorld.

L2R in front - oscar's tripod, Brandon's tripod.

It was quite funny watching Brandon try to shoo away the drone.  (Yes it sounds like a swarm of bees, but that's just what the props sound like )

Took the picture using my drone.  but after some asshat decided to deliberately splash the pods and drone (on the ground at time of incident) with water from a puddle using his truck.

below are shots after dry-up (in aft) - the pics were vertical, but squashed by the rendering agent in SMF.

[A.J. Bertin]

Thanks again, Brandon, for hosting a fun meet!  The tour went very well and covered a lot of good stuff in the Quad Cities area.

After the meet yesterday evening, I had a nice time hanging out in downtown Davenport for the rest of the night.  My drive home today went okay.  After doing a bit more exploring around the Quad Cities this morning, I left the area at around 10 a.m. CT and made it home around 5:30 p.m. ET.  The drive was slower than I'd hoped it would be.  Of course, I had to deal with the the typical Sunday-afternoon congestion along eastbound I-80/294 and I-80/94.  And then the construction along I-196/U.S. 31 around Saugatuck MI really slowed things down for a little while.  Despite those two issues, my drive home today was fine overall.

[74/171FAN]

I finally got back to Harrisburg around 10:30 PM ET Monday Night.  Sunday was mostly a smooth drive clinching I-74, I-474 (IL), and some routes in the Cincinnati area (with the exception of crossing the Brent Spence Bridge multiple times despite the left two lanes still being closed for construction).

Yesterday was a bit crazy.   I attempted to fully clinch US 22 (not done thanks to a bridge closure northeast of I-275 over the Little Miami River....) before getting to deal with the severe thunderstorms yesterday afternoon in Monroeville.  Thankfully I was able to get inside of a Sheetz and stay dry (and get some work done).

My route plan also changed due to PA 136 being closed at PA 51 for some reason.  So I ended up clinching PA 48, PA 286, PA 969, and PA 453 instead of PA 31 and PA 866.

[US71]

I rolled in around 5 this evening. Spent a lot of time following old US 6 which has a lot more to see than modern 6