Onto the (frozen) Great River Road

The eastern states and the midwest of the US is effectively in lockdown. As we write this, it's Monday 06 January, and extreme cold weather has closed almost everything down. Today is the coldest day in 20 years. Where we are in Iowa, it's incredibly cold, with wind making it worse, but we have (so far) avoided the storms which have brought heavy snow to places further east. Even so, all schools are closed and the TV news is repeatedly warning us how dangerous conditions will be to exposed skin, and to not go outside. Last evening, well rugged up, we had a walk through Dubuque downtown, and the streets were deserted of pedestrians and cars. Everyone seems to have taken the stay at home advice seriously. It was true - even our excellent gear is not good enough to keep you warm under these conditions!

We found a bar, the Mason Dixie Saloon, and went in for a drink. At last some people! It was pretty crowded with football fans watching the Green Bay Packers playing San Francisco live. This game had been hyped for the last several days as it was be placed in Wisconsin and would be the "coldest game ever played". We watched for half an hour before leaving the brave the cold weather again - in the end, the home team lost, so they'll be dismal in Green Bay today. The next day, warned by fearsome weather reports, the streets were still empty of cars and pedestrians. Many shops were closed for the cold snap - we have never seen a town so quiet. Today, the temperature converted to -24C, and was -45C after applying the wind chill factor. No wonder there is no-one about. We have never experienced such cold, even when being in the northernmost part of Alaska in winter!

At the Mississippi Visitors Centre at Prescott, WI, the start of our long journey alongside the river.

We made it to Dubuque from Minneapolis over a couple of days by driving south down the Great River Road which tracks the Mississippi River quite closely, and passes through numerous small and historical river towns. There are two versions of the road, one on either side of the river. Midway, we stayed overnight in La Crosse WI, a very pretty town on the river.

Railway line drawbridge over the Mississippi at Prescott WI.

La Crosse is overlooked by Granddad Bluff which provides great views of the city.

A fine house in La Crosse.

Failing light does not hide the grandeur of the Mississippi River as it passes by La Crosse WI.

La Crosse downtown is not large but has many interesting shops, bars, cafes and restaurants.

Driving south in winter means that the sun is always in our eyes, and in retrospect, it may have been better to have attempted this journey the other direction. We have adapted a particular routine for road-trip days. The days start slowly - it's dark until 7:30am, and we don't get on the road until about 10-10:30. There are important rituals to perform: breakfast, getting our luggage out to the car, scraping ice and snow off the windscreen, warming the freezing car up, and, of course, finding good coffee somewhere.

Lake Pepin is a giant fresh water lake on the Great River, viewed here from the northern end.

Busy railroads run along the river on both sides.

We only do about 150-175 miles in a day, what with cautious driving in poor conditions, stopping for sightseeing and photographs, getting clothes on to fend off the cold, then off again for the car. The towns are interesting, some are very pretty, but its generally too cold to walk around them freely. Somewhere in the early afternoon, we try to find a sandwich and a cuppa for lunch. In these really small towns, mostly "closed for the season", our best opportunities are the little markets attached to gas stations. The sun never gets high - it's getting dark by 3pm, and fully dark by 4:30pm, so we hope to have found our next accommodation by them.

We have seen ice-fisherman everywhere on this road trip, usually equipped with giant augers and warming enclosures.

Driving the river roads informs us well on what makes this area tick. Busy railway tracks line both sides of the river, and we see a lot of commerce going on, with multi-kilometer long trains shuffling up ad down and servicing industry in the small towns. The heaviest industry we saw is mining shipping terminals and power stations. Away from the river, the countryside is thick with cornfields (snow covered and dormant) and cattle, feeding on rolled up hay.

Many riverside towns and cities line both sides of the river, and many are colourful and cute. This one is Fountain City on the Wisconsin side.

Typical colourful riverfront building in Lansing IA.

Unusually, the main street in Marquette IA runs uphill from the river.

Decorated housefront in Marquette IA.

The strongest visual element in Marquette IA is the casino which is across a footbridge to an old permanently docked riverboat.

The river road areas are populated by hundreds or thousands of corn farms. All have silos, the icon of rural properties here. Often there is cattle.

Winona MN is a city on an island in the river. This splendid building is the municipal office.

The river's path is defined by high bluffs on both sides. This spectacular example is near La Crescent MN.

In Dubuque, we stayed a couple of nights in the Julian, described as an "antidote to chain hotels". Regardless it is a historic building in a prime downtown location and has been finely renovated in traditional style, and was a good choice by Clare. Dubuque has some lovely old buildings and nice harbour scenery (all frozen solid) but there was no way we could stroll around this town like we normally would. The Julian is named after Julian Dubuque who was a French lead miner - he was apparently frustrated by not being able to viably ship his product away from the town.

Fictional representation of Julian Dubuque, with his indian wife Potosa.

Residents of the bluff houses over Dubuque have a funicular railway to enable the to walk directly to downtown.

Spectacular clock tower in Main St, Dubuque.

Illuminated church on a freezing night in downtown Dubuque.

Frozen condensation inside the window of our Julian Hotel room in Dubuque.

Instead we decided to hunker down, and spend the best part of the day in the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium. We still walked there (only about 500m) and staff at the museum thought we were mad. For a couple of hours, we were the only visitors to the museum, and we were treated right royally with personal guidance. They even fed the fish (inside) and the sea-otters just for us! And we managed to get a great cuppa there too. The museum is located on the river front on a site where riverboats used to be built. Apparently, it is one of the best on the river, the staff were exquisitely friendly, so it was a day well spent.

This eagle sheltering from the cold in the outdoor aviary at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium.

Painting by John Gantz Jr on display at the Mississppi River Museum in Dubuque.

The weather in Dubuque for that day was splendid, officially described as "fair and breezy", except for the temperature. The sky was clear and 100% sunny. Of course, the sun never gets very high in the sky, but our hotel room faces south so it was very bright when we returned there. We seem to alternate sunny days with grey days. The photos we take on grey days aren't as vivid as those on sunny days, but we can't wait for the sun to come out!

No, not a McDonalds restaurant, but the magnificent Dubuque courthouse buidling.

The Julian Dubuque Bridge (US-20) and the entrance to Ice Harbour in Dubuque.

The Julian Hotel in downtown Dubuque is overlooked by mansions on the bluff.