This is the heart of the Midwest where the Mississippi divides Iowa from Illinois and calms us with its vast, flowing waters and its flocks of ducks, pelicans and eagles.

This is the place where the Sauk and Fox Indians grew their beans, corn, and squash on a hill overlooking the Rock River, where now there is a state park with an excellent Indian museum right in town.

This is the place where pioneers of manufacturing such as John Deere set up shop and created a middle-class economy; where immigrants from Sweden, Belgium, Ireland and Germany settled, adding their down-to-earth know-how.

But most of all this is the place where two big rivers create a bond with nature that keeps us all a little saner..