On the approach to that bridge, I discovered where to lease some office and warehouse space...cheap! Too bad the water isn't always high; I could keep my submarines in there.
The water against next bridge south looked a little creepy. I was glad I hadn't picked that bridge to cross. But I never did see what the bridge I was on looked like from the side. Maybe that's for the best. Still, needless to say, I made it across safe and sound.
One sad thing is the Czech and Slovak museum was badly damaged. One again, the water was at least 10 feet higher before it crested. I was in this museum about a year ago and they had the most amazing collection of puppets. Some of them were well over 100 years old. It'll be a rough restoration job, if that can even happen.
The two train bridges across the Cedar River had cars full of gravel left on them to help keep them from washing away. One still remains, but this one had enough soil washed away from under its pilings to collapse. Click for the full panoramic view:
Here's a close-up of the east side:
...and click to enlarge the west side:
Back on the east side of the river, south of downtown was also hit badly. Several inches of water still cover many of the streets.
I wanted to find Tornado's bar, the very first bar I experienced in Cedar Rapids. Good live band, passable beer selection. I heard they were fucked, but I wanted to see the place for myself..and take pictures!
Already cops had begun cruising around pretending to ignore me, just like they did on the other side of the river at first. I knew it was only a matter of time before I would be "politely asked to leave" again.
Ah, there it is: Tornado's, far away across a sea of damp.
Still, I wanted to get closer without getting wet.
Ok. Here it is close up, with a cat-shaped hole in the window.
This was probably a cool place before all this happened. Unfortunately, I never got to see firsthand...
The last picture I took before the cops showed up again was this siding from somebody's house wrapped around a tree.
This time cops actually GOT OUT OF THE CAR to confront me. I played dumb again like I was lost and couldn't figure my way out of here. Once again I was directed in a direction except this time it was TOWARD where I wanted to be. This and the idea that there may be some kind of "3 strikes and you're out" thing in play made me decide not to push my luck taking more pictures.