Airplane owners and pilots associations look up for free in the store

During our family’s first vacation, when we visited the Quad Cities area for the first time, my husband’s must-dos included shopping, a community collection that straddles the Mississippi River and the Iowa-Illinois border.

Although he is not a shopper, he cannot resist the opportunity to see antique archeology. This is the store opened by Mike Wolfe, a native of Iowa, ten years before the TV audience knew him. He is the history channel American Picker. Celebrity. This reality show premiered in 2010 and has more than 320 episodes. It tells the story of Wolf and his team searching for treasures and other things that are often forgotten across the country.

The show is still being filmed, and its popularity has led to the opening of a second store in Nashville, although LeClaire's original store is considered the show's home base. Thousands of people visit every year, and like my husband, many people are there looking for some epic selections (some for sale, others just for display) that Wolfe selected on the show, pick up Display the merchandise and take a photo with the picker. The van is parked in front.

Although I don’t watch this show, it’s interesting to see some rusty “treasures” salvaged by the team from the barn, attic and storage room. I also made my own "discovery" at LeClaire. We walked along Cody Road from Antique Archaeology, named after the infamous pioneer and performer William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, who was born in Leclerc in 1846. The nine-block historic district of the town has boutiques and more antique shops, restaurants, breweries, a brewery, and a brewery. Although we did not have time to take a paddlewheel river cruise, we did stop at the Buffalo Bill Museum.

I was surprised to find that despite its name, the museum covers a wide range of local history, and I didn't know that I would find an exhibition about this man, who applied for a patent for the first flight data recorder or black box design in the United States.

According to reports, James J. Ryan II attended high school in Leclerc and eventually taught mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota. He worked on aviation equipment in the 1940s and 1950s, when he proposed the Ryan Recorder design and joined General Mills' mechanical department to continue developing the concept. There are four models of his early tape recorders in the museum, as well as artifacts from his research on aviation safety and automobile safety. His compartment design is still the basis of today's flight data recorder, and Ryan is also considered to be the inventor of the retractable seat belt for automobiles in the 1960s.

LeClaire is just one of the communities we explored in the Quad Cities area, which is about 120 nautical miles west of Chicago. Despite the name, the area is made up of five major cities—Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in Illinois, and Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa—and at least 15 others Small towns such as Leclerc.

Quad Cities International Airport announced in July 2021 that the FAA had allocated US$8.57 million for the project to eliminate the intersection of three runways. The airport is one of the few airports in the United States where three runways intersect at one point.

The 5,000-foot runway 5/23 "will be shortened by 2,000 feet and the taxiway will be readjusted. Runways 9/27 and 13/31, which are 10,000 feet and 7,000 feet, respectively, will be retained," the airport said. Construction is expected to start in the spring of 2022, and airport officials said that the project will not affect passenger flights.

2022 marks the 100th anniversary of Franing Field, the predecessor of Quad Cities International Airport.

The two nearest airports are Davenport City Airport and Quad Cities International Airport. Another interesting aviation connection hangs in the atrium of Quad Cities International Airport: the restored 1928 Velie Monocoupe. A Davenport-based company run by a descendant of John Deere first purchased a company that developed aircraft engines and eventually a company that made Monocoupe.

We are staying at The Current Iowa Hotel in the heart of Davenport. This 1912 building was refurbished by 35 million dollars and became The Current in 2017. Its name complements its location overlooking the Mississippi River, and you can see it from rooftop bars and restaurants.

We traveled in the whole area for three days, criss-crossing. In addition to LeClaire, we also explored Moline and Davenport, and spent half a day in the Rock Island Arsenal in the middle of the river.

Since it is still an active U.S. Army facility, the 946-acre Rock Island Arsenal requires a visitor pass, so be sure to check the guide before traveling. On the island, you can visit the historic residence of Colonel Davenport, visit the National and Confederate Cemeteries and historic buildings dating back to 1816, and visit the Mississippi River Visitor Center, which has the largest roller dam in the world. The Rock Island Arsenal Museum will be closed for renovation until the summer of 2022. It is the second oldest museum in the Army.

In Moline, it’s hard to miss the influence of John Deere—he was the blacksmith who developed the first commercially successful self-flushing steel plow in 1837, and he founded and moved to Moline in 1848 to obtain rivers and water. Railway channel company. Deere's global headquarters is still located there.

The company's website shares various ways to experience John Deere in Moline and other nearby areas. At the very least, you will want to stop at the free John Deere Pavilion, where you can see and climb old and new equipment, and learn more about the company's history and evolution through interactive and immersive exhibitions. You can also visit historical buildings that once belonged to the descendants of Deere. Check if the factory tour has resumed during your visit.

From our hotel, we walked to the Freight House Farmers’ Market, which is open all year round; at the Figge Art Museum, we have an impressive collection of Haitian, Mexican colonial, and Midwestern art; and we watched at Modern Woodmen Park, home of Quad Cities River Bandits A few minor league baseball games.

Although you have to cross the river frequently, visiting the Quad Cities area is easy. In early December 2021, the long-awaited new Interstate 74 Bridge was fully opened to traffic. This $1.2 billion project includes a four-lane double basket bridge with real arches, plus a separate sidewalk/bicycle path and an observation point in the middle.