Only a few moments before, the sounds of a BNSF freight train slugging it upriver on the other side of Lock and Dam #6 provided a nice audio backdrop to the quiet of the Mississippi Valley evening. Then, moments later the Empire Builder silently rounded the curve at speed. A toot from the engineer and a wave back to acknowledge, I get my last shot of the day. I hit the road for home contented, dodging deer in the darkness all the way.