As the plane taking me home rose and banked to the west, it crossed the Mississippi River. Just a few days before, this striking landscape held little meaning. Now, looking down, I recognized the great span of bridges connecting the Illinois towns of Rock Island and Moline with Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa — known collectively as the Quad Cities. And there between them, flanked on either side by the forked channel of the mighty river, was one of America’s most historic military arsenals — Rock Island.
“You’re going where?” people had asked.
“The Quad Cities.”
“Where is that?”
“Illinois and Iowa on the Mississippi River.”…