My name is Chad and I love hard rock because music has always been my escape. Whether in Afghanistan listening to a live album and closing my eyes and transporting myself home or singing my favorite tunes on the couch.

The greatest concert I ever attended was a small as hell venue. The Ranch Bowl in Omaha Nebraska. It’s only fitting it’s a friggin Walmart now.  The whole venue maybe held 300 people. Sometime in ‘99 Slipknot and their giant ass 9 piece band came to this little as hell venue promoting their self-titled album. My buddy Phil and I had just heard of Slipknot and seen them in Des Moines maybe a year before, so we were in for sure on this one. Somewhere in the middle of this crazy blowout concert, a trash can, like the 50 gal plastic-type that music venues put trash bags in, came flying out of the back, and no lie….perfectly landed over Corey Taylor. Corey is trying to lift this nasty ass trash can off of himself and Sid ran over to help him pull it off. As mad as you’d think Corey would be, he yelled to this small ass CRAZY crowd, “You Psycho MotherF*****S, let’s destroy this mother **!!” I’ll never forget that concert, the bruises, the exhaustion afterward. It was a great time to be 21!!

Here is my playlist:

1-Shinedown-Monsters
2-Mudvayne-Dig
3-Parkway Drive- The Void
4-Shadows Fall-Destroyer Of Senses
5-Slipknot-Nero Forte
6-Trivium-Feast Of Fire
7-System of a Down-Sugar
8-Soil-Black 7
9-Sevendust-Black
10-Tool-Forty Six & 2
11-Metallica-One
12-As I Lay Dying-Shaped By Fire
13-August Burns Red-King Of Sorrow

Davenport-opoly

Davenport-opoly is just like Monopoly but Davenport-themed! Get 5 of your friends and gather around to board for a fun game night that features Davenport-opoly.

Iowa's Island City

There is something unique about every town, but there is really something special about Sabula, IA. Known as "Iowa's Island City," Sabula is the only town in the state of Iowa that is entirely on an island. While not a lot of people have been to, or live in Sabula, it is a quaint little town nestled right on the Mississippi River.

Before we show you around "Iowa's Island City," let me give you the history of Sabula. Sabula was established in 1835, according History of Jackson County, Iowa, Volume 1 by James Whitcomb Ellis. Isaac Dorman and a man named Hinkley crossed the river from the Illinois side on a log and decided to settle on what is now Sabula. An Ohio couple, James and Margaret Woods would settle on Sabula about a year later in April of 1836. Their son, Dr. E. A. Woods would purchase Hinkley's interest in the claim. Charles Swan and W. H. Brown would soon purchase Dorman's interest. The three men, Woods, Swan and Brown later had the land plotted in 1837.

The idea behind plotting the land was because there was no town between Lyons (north Clinton) and Bellevue. The plot of the new town was recorded in Dubuque as this area was part of Dubuque county at the time, according History of Jackson County, Iowa, Volume 1 by James Whitcomb Ellis.

According to Island City Harbor's website, Sabula went through a few names before landing on the official town name. In 1837, Sabula was first called Carrollport. Residents of the town didn't like the name because there was a man's name who was Carroll who had a bad reputation. The town changed its name to Charleston, after early settler Charles Swan. The only issue was that there was already a town called Charleston in Iowa which caused much confusion.

In 1846 the settler’s decided to find a name. Island City Harbor's website says that because of it’s sandy soil, William Hubble suggested the town be called "Sabulum" which is Latin for sand. A party was being held around the time the town name was being discussed, when a woman, supposed to be Miss Harriet Hudson, suggested the town be called Sabula as it was easier to pronounce and sounded more elegant, according History of Jackson County, Iowa, Volume 1 by James Whitcomb Ellis.

Sabula did not actually become an island until 1939. According to Wikipedia, in the 1930's, the Army Corps of Engineers constructed the lock and dam system. In 1939, Lock and Dam No. 13 between Clinton, IA and Fulton, IL was built which caused the bottomlands west of the town permanently flooded. With the Mississippi River east of the town, this created the "Island City." A levee was built around Sabula in 1957 for protection, according to Island City Harbor's website. This also allowed for the south sand pit to be turned into a boat harbor.

I would like to thank my mom Beth, her fiancé Matt, my brother Nolan and my wife Ellie for accompanying me to Sabula. We always have a blast on our trips and this one was no exception.

It's now time to introduce you to Sabula, Iowa, Iowa's Island City.

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