Reflections

We are so grateful for the fun and challenging experiences of this "dream" trip. We learned so much about river travel and saw beautiful sights and were blessed by wonderful people along the way. This definitely goes down as one of the most memorable trips of our life time - along with the Alaska's Inside Passage, Hawaii, Kenya, Thailand, & New England in the fall. We have been richly blessed in our 45 years of marriage.

Thanks for letting us share this with so many of you and thanks for your prayers of protection. God is Good! All the Time! All the Time! God is Good!

Pulling off the "mighty" Mississippi River

Up early to return rental car and head to Home Depot (a slight repair job needed on the boards on the trailer in order to "de-launch" this pontoon boat). Fitting that Sid ends this boat project with "one" more piece of craftsmanship.

River was smooth as glass when we woke up Wed. morning but a storm started moving in about noon as we were ready to leave the Isle of Capri Marina and navigate to the municipal dock 1/2 mile down stream to pull the boat out. The sweet lady, Loretta, at the marina that helped us so much when we arrived was encouraging us to move quickly before the rain storm moved in. She is moving to Central City, CO. in Oct. We hope to connect with her then.

Sid takes off by himself on the river while I drive the truck and trailer to the launch area.

Would you believe that the local fire men were at the launch area inspecting a fire boat? They helped us get the boat on the trailer just as the rain began. (God is soooo good and funny") We got to fold down the sides and top in the rain (boat and Sid and I needed a good "washing"). We were totally soaked but safely off the Mississippi River.

Retrieving truck and boat trailer

Enterprise does make good on their advertised promise to "pick you up". We spent 9 hrs driving to Winona, Mn. & back to Bettendorf, IA. to pick up the truck and boat trailer. Drove through the hills of corn and soybeans of western Wisconsin. At one of the small towns Sid saw an Amish family in a buggie drawn by horses pulled up to a gas station getting gas in a can. We have been told that they use the gas to run some engines on the farm but do not have gas powered transportation.

Celebrated the "end of this riverboat adventure" with a prime rib dinner. Yum!

Super Day on the river - Docked at Bettendorf, IA.

Had rain off and on on Sun. so hunkered down in Camache, IA. Mon. we were awakened by a close lightening strike and clap of thunder. Sat the rain storm out under the eave of the marina office. As the clouds lifted, we set sail for the Quad City area of IA. Good weather for our last day on the river. Lock # 14 was ours alone, no one out on a Mon. Infact the whole day we only met 4 boats and 1 barge.

Several people recommended that we stop at the Isle of Capri Marina in Bettendorf. Good move. The attendant met us on the dock and told us she was out of gasoline. She didn't know that we have finished this trip. But she offered a place to dock and even called a car rental place for us. In 15 min. we had a place to leave our boat and a car to pick us up in the morning to go retrieve our truck and boat trailer from Winona, Mn. So looks like by Wed. AM we will pull this boat on shore and pack her up for the trip home to Colorado.

We took a tour on a water taxi this aft. of the Quad Cities, since we have not had enough river boat experiences. Was fun. We saw the old historic district of Davenport and the John Deere Pavillion in Moline. I mean we saw some "Big" hunks of "green machines" this aft.

Plan to chow down on a prime rib buffet to celebrate the end of this Huck Finn adventure.

EXIT STRATEGY

Well, we have made over three hundred miles of this big river. We had a lot to learn and we have learned a good bit of it I think. We are now into our third week and have passed through 14 locks and one of them we went through 3 times. We are tired. This is more work than I had expected. After all, we were just floating down a river. But, there are more ways to get yourself killed on this river than I had ever thought. Both of us have to be vigilent at all times, watching the bouys, the depth gauge, avoiding stump fields, avoiding wing dams which are all along the river, and negotiating around tug boats usually pushing 15 barges. And now we are facing five days of rain.
It has been an amazing experience. Our experiences have far exceeded our expectations. The people we have met have really blessed our life. They have given us valuable tips and information and been exceeedingly generous. One man offered to drive our truck from Hastings, MN down to where we wanted to get out. Yesterday, I was talking to some people on a pontoon boat at a gas dock where we were staying. He lives here and asked how we were getting around and I told him we were walking. He showed me where his truck was parked and said the keys were under a mat and he was happy for us to use it this weekend to go where ever we needed. The boat attracts considerable interest which is understandable. It is fairly unique. In marinas we sometimes dock next to 50 ft houseboats and the people want to know how we built our rig and what facilities we have on board. We have only encountered two sets of people going a distance down the river. One was a young couple in a canoe waiting to lock through and the other was two couples on two pontoon boats that told me they were going to Florida.
We hope to reach the Quad cities in a day or two and will probably try to take out there.
As I told Russ yesterday, I am extremely happy we have had this experience, it will truly be unforgetable, but may be even more happy that I don't have to do it again.

Bass Fisherman

Fri. we stopped in Savanna, Ill. and found a nice quiet marina in a cove (nice protection from the wind we had encountered all day. When we docked we were told that there would be bass fisherman leaving this marina Sat. AM for a bass tournament. Well, about 4 AM they started arriving and launching their bass boats which I am sure that they all had purchased at Pro-Bass Shop along with their camouflage clothing. These guys are nuts and nosiey besides. Since I was awake, I got up and took pics of the parade out of the marina at sunup. The boat doc attendant counted 46 boats with at least 2 men in each boat. What a kick!

Later in the day we were docked at a courtesty dock in Clinton, IA having lunch. Since we had just come through Lock and Dam # 13, Sid had his marine radio still on. We heard a person ask permission to lock through and the lock master said," hold on Capt., I have about 50 bass boats locking through and these guys are anxious to make their 1PM deadline to check in their catch of the day. In about 10 min. here come all these base boats flying by on the river. Man, were we glad to be docked rather than in the stream with these "mad guys".

Stopped over in Camache, IA. and enjoyed a quiet peaceful nite but awoke to rain.

We are taking a Sabbath rest from the river. Week'ends are definitely busier on the water.

Nat'l River Museum and Aquarim

Wonderful exhibits of the Mississippi River and it's history. Reminded us of how important the waterways were to the discovery and development of our country and are still lifelines today.

Sid had a talk with Mark Twain. He approved of Sid's "Huck Finn" adventure.

Our boat looks like a raft next to this big river boat. WOW!

50 miles today -

We awoke to fog and a train going by at 6AM (train tracks are always close to the Marinas so makes for a great alarm clock). Amazing to see the Mid-West commerce moving along side the river as well as on the river. Grain (corn) being loaded into barges and coal barges delivering to the many power plants, but understand Obama will change that soon.

Navigated some big lakes along this stretch of river. Kept Capt. Sid on his feet most of the time since we were bucking a head wind as well.

McGregor, Iowa

Arrived McGregor, Iowa about noon today, Tues. Town comes right down to the river. Sid grew up in McGregor, Texas so we explored the main street, had lunch at an old hotel and checked out the antique shops. Established in 1837 as a landing to cross over to WS.

Saw semi trucks taking grain ( corn) to a barge on the river. Sid checked out the "McGregor Coffee Roasters" for a cup of "joe"

Sights along the way from Winona, MN., past LaCrosse, WS., to Lansing, Iowa.

Have seen many beautiful homes along the river banks as well as eagles, pelicans, lots of ducks. Have met many barges pushed by tugs, observed dredgers removing sand from the channels and have cruised under awesome bridges.

What is wrong with this Pic?

Here I am on Sid's pontoon boat and I could be cruising the Mississippi on this?

2 Days straight - No Mississppi River water taken onboard!!!

Monday and Tuesday have been "red letter days", no water taken on board. We have learned how to balance our extra cans of gas and the generator as well as how to ride the "wakes" from those big fancy boats. Locking "down" is becoming "old hat", just call the lock master on the marine radio and ask permission to "lock down". When the gates open and we see the green light we proceed to the side wall of the lock and take the rope the lock attendent throws to us, cut the motor and hold the rope (one on each end) as the gate closes behind us and the water is drained down. When the whistle blows, all is clear and the downstream gate opens and we are free to journey on down stream. Not many pics of "locking" - too busy holding ropes, etc. (pic - going through a lock when Russ & Gary were with us & I could take pics inside the lock)

Riverboat Dr.

Following Dr.'s orders, we changed the dressings on Russ's hands daily and kept them out of the "Mississippi River water". Each day they looked better and better.

We enjoyed Russ and Sid's brother being with us the 1st wk. After we took them to airport on Fri. we picked up our truck and boat trailer from Hastings Marina and left them at the Winonia Marina. Today after worshipping at the Winonia Communty Church, we started out with fresh supplies and clean laundry and made 30 miles downstream to La Crosse, Wis. Saw beautiful homes along the way and waited 1 hr. for a tug to push 12 coal barges through lock #7.

Tara and Chris and Al, your Mn. people are so friendly and helpful. You would be proud.

1st Week on the River

The first week on the river has been an adventure. Thankful that Russ and Gary (Sid's brother) could be with us. Have seen beautiful sights along the river and learned the ropes of navigating a powerful river.

We left Hastings, Mn. on Mon. Aug. 3rd and made it to Red Wing, Mn. - 24 miles downstream - When you pull into a marina there are 2 to 3 people on hand to assist with docking and info for the area. People have been so helpful and friendly. Here we had an old caboose for a shower house - also a beautiful riverside picnic area complete with a grill for our steaks to celebrate the beginning of this adventure. Beautiful sunset over the Miss. River.

This reminds of RV parks - hook-ups for water & elec. and plenty of advice for sightseeing and tips for do's and don'ts for the river. One guy, local - has been navigating river since he was a boy - offered his phone # for us to call if we have any trouble down the river. He has a big ol' boat that he gives river rides on everyday at 2, 4 & 6 to suppliment his SS. His last name was Schleicher - name of the county I was born in in Texas.

I guess I should mention the near mishap and learnin' experience we had about 30 min. into the the trip. Sid had loaded the extra cans of gas, the generator, and had Gary and Russ sit on the front of the boat thinking that it would counter balance the heavy motor on the back. Well, all was fine until I decided to step to the front of the boat to take a pic downstream and Sid at the same time cut the motor to slow down. Well, long story short, the front end dipped into the river and about 12" of water came rushing over the front end. Needless to say, Russ, Gary and I were scrambling to the rear. Sid said his first thoughts were: This trip is over - Yes, we all had life vests on and the biggest damage was water running to the back. Yes, a couple of wet sleeping bags but we were all the wiser for how to keep the boat in balance and afloat.

Locking through Lock #3 - Gary and Russ enjoying the ride

Sid's Adventure has begun.

Arrived Hastings, Mn. (south of St. Paul) Sat. Aug. 1st. Set up boat and picked up Russ and brother Gary Pennington at airport on Sun. aft. and finally launched on the mighty Miss. River on Mon. aft. Aug. 3rd, 09.
Made 24 miles the first day to Red Wing, Mn. (home of Red Wing shoes).
Movin' on down the River on Tues. to Pepin, Wis. birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Watched sunset over marina.

Sid's "Huck Finn" Mississippi River Adventure about to begin

2 weeks and counting. The Adventure on the Mississippi River is about to begin. After 2 years of preparing everything is coming together. We plan to leave Colorado July 29th and hope to launch on the Mississippi River south of St. Paul, MN. Aug. 3rd with Capt. Sid, 1st mate Genelle, and stoways -Russ and Gary Pennington. Stay tuned for all the action.