Dubuque

I was in Dubuque yesterday - a loooong day. Started on the road at 6 a.m. for a 10 a.m. meeting down on the river. I had my new GPS - the Garmin 255W on sale at Best Buy for $119. Unfortunately, the GPS and Google Maps didn't have a clue where Durrant Architecture was located - or where Ice Harbor Drive is in that town.

The business is in a Lied Building - see it at http://www.durrant.com/
and is all low waste, low energy and high recycling. I was impressed. The parking lot was made of pervious materials - allowing for rainfall to infiltrate instead of run off. Color me impressed!

After the meeting - the Iowa Recycling Association Board Meeting, we had a nice lunch and headed across the river to Kieler Wisconsin to tour Moor Salvage where old fridges and cars go to be recycled so they can be reborn into new stuff. Julius Moor was a great host - and the two huge tugboat motors and transmissions were impressive!


Last but not least, recycling nerds know how to party! We headed to a vineyard near Sundown Ski resort to sample wine (but not me, since I was driving a state vehicle a nice Hybrid Honda Civic), designer beer and some food. The location was gorgeous. http://www.parkfarmwinery.com/. I ate some of the food and drank some water while chatting with the folks attending the wing ding - about 15 or so.

The drive back to Des Moines was a long one - I was listening to a book by that guy that wrote Jurassic Park - this one's about Genetics. Scary! Got to Joan in time to watch the second hour of Grey's Anatomy with Joanie. Nothing like a 15 hour work day, but 8 hours was on the road, so it was a nice way to get comp time. When I got to work this a.m. I had to gas up the Honda and turn it in. Good trip.