Redemption in Downtown Dubuque

August 15, 2024

How the City Helped Ease the Shame and Anxiety of Failure

I COULDA BEEN A WINNER. REALLY. I COULDA.

My drive to Dubuque was plagued with thoughts about this morning's aborted bike ride. I asked myself, "what would I have done if I was a few hundred miles into my tour, or if I had taken an airplane to my starting point?" I knew I COULD have continued riding in that rain, and I knew I WOULD have continued had the car not been seven miles away. In other words, I blame that bloody, stinking Chrysler minivan for my failure.

In part, I also blame my decision not to bring camping gear. If things got really dicey, I'd be secure in the knowledge that I could simply stop, haul my bike into the woods, and hunker down in my tent and sleeping bag until the storm subsided.

Anyway, I arrived in Dubuque somewhere around 1:00 p.m. under misty skies. I got my bike out of that dirty rotten Chrysler minivan and rode just about every street in the entire downtown area. The mist was so light that I didn't even need to wear my rain jacket. I felt excited and free, and like I was somehow atoning for my earlier cowardice.

I parked near the Cathedral of St. Rafael, which is the headquarters for the Archdiocese of Dubuque. (I think the Church of the Great Outdoors needs an archdiocese or two.)

WHAT I REMEMBER ABOUT DUBUQUE FROM THE 70'S

As a kid in my early teens, I liked Dubuque. It was “THE BIG CITY” compared to Dyersville and it was only 26-miles away. My mom and dad took my brothers and I there quite often during my formative years between 4th and 9th grade.
Dubuque had a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, a Shakey's Pizza joint, a K-Mart, an indoor shopping mall, downtown buildings that were several stories tall, and the coolest candy store this twelve-year-old had ever seen.
Dubuque is the oldest city in Iowa.
Dubuque has three respected post-secondary colleges and all of them are Catholic. (Clarke University, Loras College, and the University of Dubuque.) Even back then, I thought that seemed like an impressive number for a city with a population of only 60,000.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED ABOUT DUBUQUE SINCE THEN

Through most of its 200-year history, Dubuque was considered a podunk kind of town, a crusty river rat city, a city founded on pigs and corn and industry, and it was the butt of “little old lady from Dubuque” jokes.

Dubuque became an uninvited stronghold for the Ku Klux Klan as recently as the 1980's, but, thanks to the actions of city officials and the John Deere Company, the Klan was promptly driven out.
Dubuque's political landscape changed from solid German Catholic Democrats in the 1970s to hardcore Republicans in just two generations. (An aside: Even as a young kid, I remember when the father of one of my best friends was elected in his race for Dubuque County Attorney. The most memorable thing about that was watching his acceptance speech on the local TV news. He credited his victory to running in a strong Democratic county. It almost seemed like he knew his victory was a foregone conclusion. In those days, a Republican didn't stand a chance. Since then, the county--like the rest of Iowa--has flipped. What the hell? I hope it's not due to the influence of the KKK in the 1980's or one of the presidential candidates in the late 2010's and early 2020's.

WHAT I DISCOVERED ABOUT DUBUQUE TODAY

As a kid in my mid-60's, I had a blast seeing the city from an entirely new perspective. I couldn't believe it took me this long to think of it as a possible bike touring destination—especially when Dubuque totally fits in with my “Touring Locally” theme.
Dubuque has lots of impressive houses and government buildings. Back in the 70's, I just considered them OLD houses and government buildings. They didn't merit my appreciation.
Dubuque has greatly improved its appeal as a tourist destination by maintaining those old buildings, as well as adding a variety of new attractions.
Dubuque has hills. That's the kind of thing one notices more when one is riding a bicycle.
Dubuque is picture-worthy, so I took a few of them.

I took this picture for the trolley car and rails that go up and down the steep hill. Afterward, I liked the picture even more because it included some old rowhouses and a few bigger homes at the top of the bluff.

Dubuque's Town Clock makes Son of Bing Bong look rather small.

From this perspective, my bike looks a little more impressive.

This photo shows my favorite river--The Mississippi--and the bridge I'll be using tomorrow to cross it.

The Shot Tower is a famous Dubuque landmark. I learned that perfectly round balls of lead shot for shotguns were made there in the 1850's. I'm a little disappointed that the city allowed the electric company to build a taller utility tower so close to the Shot Tower. It's progress, I guess.

I suppose you could Google "Dubuque" and view every one of the pictures I just displayed--probably much better ones too. But it's nice to see the sites yourself. And if you're like me, you enjoy your own amateurish pictures much better than anything taken by a professional photographer.
The old buildings were great, but it was time to move on to the new stuff. Of all the new stuff, the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium was clearly the #1 tourist attraction of all. I'm not much of a museum guy, but I AM a big fan of the Mississippi River, so I forked over the $25 admission fee.

This is just one of the museum's many buildings spread out over a very large area. It even includes a couple of huge boats you can explore.

Okay, I'll admit, the museum's history stuff and technology stuff were pretty good, but I most enjoyed the aquariums. And I could not believe how crowded the place was on a weekday afternoon. Everybody seemed to be having a good time, but especially all the kids. They loved the interactive exhibits and being able to put their hands in the water and touch live fish. In contrast, I didn't see any kids gawking at the old buildings downtown like I was.

I liked this display of model boats. The models are like the real boats that have plied the waters of the Mississippi over the years.

Ducks were swimming in one of the aquariums along with turtles and fish.

This aquarium featured playful river otters. They were fun to watch, but I felt sorry for them because they weren't able to swim freely up and down the Mississippi River.

Mississippi River fish were in this aquarium. Paddle fish, sturgeons, gigantic catfish, and lots of smaller fish that I can't identify. I'm not a fisherman.

When I wrote, "I most enjoyed the aquariums" in the last paragraph, that wasn't completely true. What I REALLY most enjoyed were a few photo opportunities outside the museum's buildings.

Like this gigantic wooden paddle wheel that was removed from an actual Mississippi riverboat . . .

. . . and having a conversation with one of my literary heroes . . .

. . and posing for a selfie with a giant Mississippi River frog.

************

It had been a trying day. I was tired and I still had some writing to do for my journal. So, I finally checked into the room I had reserved at the downtown Holiday Inn. I was so tired that I couldn't even finish the post about the embarrassing part of my day, much less get to the good part of my day in downtown Dubuque. That's why I'm behind on this journal.

After a 15-minute nap, I woke up with a hunger that overwhelmed my tiredness. Before heading out onto the streets of Dubuque to find something to eat, I took a picture from my hotel room. I was so delighted with the view that I almost forgot about the $179 I paid for it.

After you look at the $179 view, you might want to avert your eyes from the picture that follows. It's a food picture. I think I took it because I was so ravenously hungry, and it looked so deliciously Iowan that I couldn't help myself.

The sun had appeared temporarily, and I liked it.

I had already devoured most of the large portion of broccoli by the time I took this photo. But the highlight is the perfectly grilled Iowa porkchop. And let me tell you, there is no porkchop like an Iowa porkchop, just as there is no Champaigne like a French Champaigne.

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Bill ShaneyfeltFunny... On 3 Sep. 1979 I ran the "Second Annual Dubuque Half Marathon... I know this because I am now wearing the race t-shirt that they gave out to the first 50 finishers. I got 5th place and finished in 1:20:21 if my memory is correct. (and it is, I just flipped through my old collection of road race number bibs upon which I recorded my times for posterity, who likely will just toss them into the bin a few years hence after my passing.)
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2 months ago

marilyn swettYep, you have to drive through the gates of the fairgrounds to actually get to the camping area. We also were amazed at all of the beautiful historic homes and buildings in downtown Dubuque. Yesterday we did some antique mall shopping in Galena and Elizabeth, IL. I kept wondering if I would see you but perhaps you found much flatter roads to ride on closer to the river. Highway 20 certainly was hilly!! Well, it looks like we won't catch up with you once again as we've changed our trip plans and won't be going to Minnesota at all this year. We'll stay in Iowa for awhile before heading south to Missouri.
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2 months ago

Gregory GarceauTo Bill ShaneyfeltThat's a great time. My brother was just happy to be running. He was never at the top of any age group.
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2 months ago

Gregory GarceauTo marilyn swettI said I have no regrets about abandoning the tour in the page I posted today. But now I regret not trying harder to find you and Don--especially now that I know you were looking for me in Galena. The route I would have taken wouldn't have been Highway 20, but it would have been no less hilly.
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2 months ago

Bill ShaneyfeltTo Gregory GarceauThat was the top of my road racing days, when I could usually find 2 or 3 days a week to get back into shape for a few weeks before a race. The guy I ran most races with was about 6 inches shorter and about 50 pounds heavier and he ran almost every day. He actually beat me in a Marathon in the Quad Cities the year prior. Too few miles of training nailed me at about mile 20 when I hit the wall and told him to go for it.

Wishing my old knees would let me run now that I have plenty of time to train, but even cycling is getting tough.
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2 months ago

Rachael AndersonTo Bill ShaneyfeltI’m always amazed by the diversity of your experiences. What a great accomplishment!
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2 months ago

Emily SharpThanks for your memories and interesting info about Dubuque. Looks like a nice town that has been spruced up.

And yes, the nice thing about a tour with no time constraints and a tent is that you can just hunker down and ride it out somewhere while you wait for the weather to pass. I remember 3 days in Buffalo WY and 2 days in Estes Park CO waiting for crap weather to clear so I could safely ride nearby mtn passes. But when 2-3 days is half your tour, that's unfortunately not an option.
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1 month ago