Special goodbye note: Over the many years of my career with NWS, I've enjoyed and appreciated the many discussions I was given the opportunity to have had, with many of the very fine people working in the Chicago and St. Louis areas, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) offices in Illinois and particularly the people in the Rock Island, IL Corps of Engineers District Office which services the reach of the Mississippi River from near Dubuque, IA to just below Hannibal, MO. It would have been impossible to provide accurate and timely snowmelt flood outlooks and flood forecasts without the essential data and expertise offered by the USGS and Corps of Engineer offices.