Summer Bus Tour Of City

Bus Tour of Coralville

This summer my church has been having 50^th Anniversary events. One such event was held the day before our celebration banquet. Because there were many past members returning and so many changes have occurred in our community since our 40^th celebration it was decided to have a bus tour of the area. We had a city bus chartered and our own tour guide from the city. It helps that the mayor is a member of my church. He arranged the tour and took care of the financial aspects of it.

We boarded the bus at the church and proceeded to one of the city's newest sites which it the fire training facility. Our city has a volunteer fire department made up of 45 firemen and 3 hired staff, the chief, the training instructor and the fire inspector. At the fire station we were addressed by the fire instructor who took us through the phases of training that a prospective fireman must go through before being accepted on the force. It is a year of training. At the facility there are two structures. One is a ceramic lined two story building that can have a fire started in it many times.

Other area fire departments also come to Coralville to train. 

The other is a 4 story building used for smoke and rescue training but no actual fires. In addition there are vehicles and an old city bus that are used for rescue training as well as a helicopter pad. Future Training will be made available by the addition of a small lake for underwater rescue and a taller building as well as additional area for a multiple vehicle crash rescue.

Upon leaving there we went to the adjacent City Water Works. Because of present Homeland Security restrictions we were not allowed to enter this facility but our guide did brief us on where the city gets their water and how it is treated. All of Coralville's water comes from wells and instead of chlorination an ultra-violet treatment is used, During the recent flooding none of the wells was affected.

Our next stop was the Marriott Convention Center and Hotel which is in the Iowa River Landing area.

his is owned by the ci5ty and leased to the Marriott Corporation. It was built a foot above the 500 year flood plain and had no water inside during the flooding even though it is adjacent to the Iowa River. It was however surrounded by water. We heard how the city dealt with building temporary roads and the flood evacuations in that area.

We then crossed I-80 and stopped at the Iowa Firefighters Memorial.

This is a beautiful setting and we did get off the bus here and went to view the memorial walls containing names of deceased firefighters. I wrote a previous article about this so won't go into all the details. You can see the article and pictures here.

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?memberId=68965&articleId=281474977159806

Just down the road is the city golf course, Brown Deer Golf course.

This is an 18 hole course with a lake and beautiful club house which houses Divots Restaurant. The course was expanded from 9 holes to 18 holes in the past 2 years.

We then proceeded to the Coralville Lake and Dam and the Devonian Fossil Gorge where we once again disembarked and spent some time looking for fossils.

Since I had been there just a few days earlier I sort of became the unofficial guide. I also have a Gather article about this place.

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?memberId=68965&articleId=281474977403241

After viewing the gorge and taking pictures we once again boarded the bus and went to the new road into Iowa City named Camp Cardinal Boulevard. This road used to only go as far as a rustic camp called Camp Cardinal but was extended in the last year to go all the way into Iowa City. It was a much used road during the Floods of 2008 when both the main roads between Coralville and Iowa City were under water.

The city's Water and Sewage treatment plant is just off this road. We stopped there and got a brief explanation of how many millions of gallons are treated there daily and how it is done. This was information I had not previously known and I did find it interesting.

Our tour continued down Highway 6 also known as the Coralville Strip. This is currently undergoing the final phase of widening and beautification. As we left the "Strip" we turned to 5^th street and went to the newly remodeled Coralville Library.

This was just reopened May 31,2008 and is a truly outstanding facility. I wrote an article about it too.

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?memberId=68965&articleId=281474977368150

We then passed the new aquatic center which is adjacent to the City Recreation Center which houses an indoor pool, basketball courts, work out facility and meeting rooms. The Aquatic Center was built in 2006 to replace the aging city swimming pool.

Just past theAquatic center we turned on to the street that took us back to the church. Our tour had taken over 2 hours and was enjoyed by all. Back at the church we all took part in a church wide ice cream social. It was a great time to socialize while enjoying ice cream and cookies.