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.