A 2 Day Mississippi River Cruise!
From the 50 State Visitors Guide : Iowa
Iowa Code 2026 §§692A.101
through 692A.130. 441
I.A.C. §103.3(692A) 661
I.A.C. §§83.1(692A) through 83.5 (692A)
Registration Triggers and Deadlines:
3 business days for initial registration, updates, and
visitors who enter the state. §§692A.104,
692A.105. Updated Aug. 2026
Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:
Residence
restrictions: Registrants
with convictions involving minors for “aggravated sexual abuse” in the 1st or
2nd degree, or in the 3rd degree except for a conviction under I.C. §709.4(2)(c)(4), may not reside w/in 2,000 ft. of daycare
center.
Presence restriction: Registrants with
convictions involving minors may not loiter within 300 ft. of, or be present
at, any school, day care center, public library, or any place intended
primarily for the use of minors, unless certain permissions are obtained. No registrant may loiter, volunteer, or be
employed at residence facility for dependent adults.
Local governments
are pre-empted from adopting more restrictive requirements. §692A.127.
Procedure for
removal from registry after departure is set forth in §692A.106.
Duration & updates:
10 years to life. Updates depend on tier level: TI – annually, TII – every 6 mo. TIII – quarterly. §§692A.104
From the 50 State Visitors Guide : Illinois
20 ILCS §4026/15, 45 ILCS
§§20/1 through 20/2 Not
registry laws.
720 ILCS 5/11-0.1; 11-9.3;11-4.1; 11-24. Updated Aug. 2026
730 ILCS §5/3-3-11.5, 730 ILCS
§§150/1 through 152/999, 20 Ill. Adm. Code §§1280 through 1282.30
Registration Triggers and Deadlines:
3 days for initial
registration and updates. “Residence” is
any place at which one resides for 3 or more days in a year. FAQ states that visitors are required to
register if they spend “more than 3 days in a calendar year” in the state.
Adams County sheriff dept. (Quincy) Nov. 2020, confirmed that it’s the 4th day
that triggers registration. Students & employees must register within
3 days of beginning school or employment in IL. 730 ILCS 150/3(a-5). Transient registrants must report
weekly. 730 I.L.C.S. §150/3
IL’s
“sexual predator” category includes CP possession, and also ANY person required
to register in another state. 730 ILCS
150/2 (E-10).
Per Rolfe Survey,
visiting Registrants are placed on state’s website. Per Adams County sheriff dept. (Quincy) Oct.
2020, procedure is available for removal from registry after departure.
Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:
Residence
restriction: “Child sex
offender” may not reside w/in 500 ft. of school, park, playground, or
facility where minors gather. §730 I.L.C.S. §150/8.
Presence restriction: “Child sex offender” may not
knowingly be present in any public park, playground or recreation area; even if in a private building.
"Public park" includes a park, forest preserve, bikeway, trail, or
conservation area under the jurisdiction of the State or a unit of local
government, but doesn’t mention national parks or forests.
“Child sex offender” may not
loiter w/in 500 ft. of school facilities or be present in school facilities
unless a parent present for specific reasons. 720 I.L.C.S. 5/Art. 11.
“Child sex offender” may not knowingly photograph or videotape
a child without permission of parent.
720 ILCS 5/11-24.
Duration & updates:
10 yrs to lifetime. SO moving to state: lifetime. SVP must update quarterly. All other annually. §730 I.L.C.S. §150/5-10.
A 2 day Mississippi River cruise in Iowa
Iowa allows three business days for initial registration, updates, and visitors who enter the state. That’s a short time period. However, there appears to be no limit per month or year. Also, you can extend you visit by 2-3 days days if you include a weekend. You’ll need to take advantage of these weekend days to go on this river cruise.
While in-state as a visitor you may need to be a little careful if your offense involved a minor because if so you may not loiter within 300 ft. of, or be present at a school, day care center, public library, or any place intended primarily for the use of minors, unless certain permissions are obtained. No registrant may loiter, volunteer, or be employed at residence facility for dependent adults.
Here’s a piece of good news: Local governments are pre-empted from adopting more restrictive requirements. §692A.127. Therefore, wherever you go in Iowa at least you know what the rules are.
Also, you may have noticed that there is no prohibition
against being at or loitering near a public park, museum, or historic site –
unless of course it includes a “place
intended primarily for the use of minors,” like a playground, in which case you
just need to stay 300 feet away from that place. Outside Iowa City there is a
shopping mall that includes the Iowa Children’s Museum. The food court is right next door. If you ever find yourself in this shopping
mall, you can’t go to the children’s museum or loiter within 300 feet of it,
but the rest of the mall is okay and
no one has ever accused me of "loitering" just because I had lunch at
the food court.
I am not going to type the name of this cruise company or other identifying information because I don’t want to draw unfriendly attention to it. I just want you my readers to know about it, and you can find all the info you need in the photo above.
Where to report as your “destination”
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT !! If you are required to report travel to your local registry office, the cruise itself IS NOT your “destination.” You should not even tell those bozos you’re going on a cruise! NO, a boat – even a river cruise boat – is merely a mode of transportation taking you from one place to another, just like a car or train or airplane. For domestic travel you are not required to report train reservations.
This river cruise begins and ends in Le Claire, Iowa, just outside of Davenport. Day 1 travels north (upstream) up to Dubuque, where your overnight stay in a nice new riverfront hotel that’s included in the fare. Day 2 travels south (downstream) back to Le Clair. In most situations your "destination" is the hotel near Le Claire that you are staying at on the nights before and after your cruise. The cruise line has arranged discounts at some hotels for passengers. Pick one, and that’s the address you will report as your “destination.”
Cruise days are: Sunday-Monday, Tuesday-Wednesday, and Thursday-Friday. Tuesday & Thursday departures operate late May to late October; Sunday departures are September & October only. This schedule can affect how and where you report your “destination” at your home state registry office.
Iowa’s visitors grace period is only three business days, and the third business day triggers your obligation to register, so you really only get two business days. Therefore the best departure day is Sunday, since you can arrive in Le Claire Saturday evening and neither Sat. nor Sun. will count against you. You return to your same hotel Monday night, spend a restful night, and when you leave Tuesday morning it’s still only Business Day #2 in Iowa. The bad news is, they only offer Sunday departures in Sept.-Oct.
For Memorial Day through Labor Day you’ll have to turn to the second best option, which is a Thursday departure. The problem is that this option uses up both of your allowable business days in Iowa. You’re fine for the whole weekend that follows, and maybe that suits your travel plans better, but you can’t stay at an Iowa hotel on Wednesday night. Instead, some of the discounted hotels are in Illinois.
That’ll work fine, but ONLY FOR ONE NIGHT. That’s because Illinois are such a bunch of dickheads they only allow visitors three days aggregate per calendar year, AND partial days count, AND the third day triggers your obligation to register, so once you stay there on Wednesday night (being mindful of all of Illinois’ disgusting and unconstitutional restrictions – see above), you’ve used up the two partial days you’re actually allowed – per year. For Friday night, you must stay in Iowa.
In this scenario, you are not obliged to – and you definitely should not – report your Illinois hotel to your local registry office as a “destination.” Let that be one less thing to concern yourself with on your one night stay there. Instead, allow me to suggest reporting the Dubuque hotel the cruise line is putting you up at as your “destination.” Lastly, the only time you can do the Tues.-Wed. cruise is if Monday is a holiday.
So anyway, it’s a really nice cruise!
Le Claire is a little river town. You’ll want to set aside some time to stroll its quaint downtown either the evening before or after your cruise. Also, visit the Buffalo Bill Museum next door to the river cruise – yes, he was born and spent his early childhood here (check ahead for hours of operation).
Passengers are assigned seats at the dining tables. All meals including both dinners are served on the boat. Between meals there’s plenty of seating out on the decks so you can enjoy the ride. Each day there’s hokey entertainment including a banjo player and folk singer.
The Mississippi River has a system of locks and dams to aid navigation. This cruise goes through two of these locks (each way), and that in itself is an interesting part of the trip. There are also river towns like Clinton, Sabula and Belleview.
Barge on the Mississippi delivering Iowa corn to the world
However, for most of each day this cruise passes through several wildlife refuges and the main attraction is wildlife – especially bald eagles ! whose population has boomed since the mighty river has been cleaned up. They’re everywhere!
Once debarked in Dubuque, the tour offers an evening trolley tour of this little city. It was interesting and fun but after all, it’s a small city and has few big attractions.
On the morning of Day 2, the nearby National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium opens early for riverboat passengers with complementary tickets. This really is a fine museum and a high point of the cruise adventure.
Then it’s back on the boat for a day floating
downstream. Tadahhh !!
No comments:
Post a Comment