10/22/17
Okay, okay, I've not been posting yet this year. There's been a couple different "excuses", but I'll try to get with it ...
We did the final charter of the season on Saturday night. We then switched into travel mode, bought a few groceries, and made it through the 1:00 bridge, and down through the Hudson rail bridge ...
The Crew needs a treat now and then, right? (Thanks, Brenda!)
It was our plan to get to Red Wing for the evening and have a quiet, relaxing night. The a couple phone calls came in and we ended up with a few guests for the ride from Prescott to Red Wing. We tied up, went into town, and
enjoyed a great dinner with some new friends ...
10/23 ... We're up and out early, headed across Lake Pepin. It's a nice, sunny morning, but the Crew can't see because it's too sunny!
10/24 ... The ride below Lacrosse is some of my favorite. It's wide and there's tall bluffs on both sides. It's getting colder, though ...
And down through the first lock of the day ...
Just above the lock at Dubuque ...
10/25 ... We had an early, but cold, evening in Dubuque, and we're headed for Quad Cities. It's a nice day and we'll get fuel from our buddy Fred in LeClaire, Iowa. He's always so nice to drive his truck to meet us at any time during our trip. At the dock ...
We finished the fuel and then we needed to get through Lock 14. There's some maintenance work being done on it, and the main upper doors have to be changed, so it closed at 7:00 this morning. We earlier called the Lock to check the re-opening schedule and they told us that they'd be done and opening at 7:00PM. Well, surprise, surprise ... now they say 7:00PM TOMORROW NIGHT! Argh!! Okay, we'll make the best of it and go up to Sneaky Pete's for dinner, and then come back and wait it out. Here's a shot of the neckties that were cut off the gentlemen that wore them into the bar. This is an odd custom, yes?
You know that I love trains, so I thought that I'd have a stand-off ...
Yahooooo! After dinner we thought "let's just check on the lock", and sure enough, the schedule has again changed. They told us that we could lock through with the work boats, so we threw the lines and hurried down to the lock. Ahhh ... lucky us!
10/26 ... We have an extra day to use for maintenance at Quad Cities. Our water heater started leaking quite a while ago, so now's the time that we'll get to it! It look a lot longer than expected (that's shocking), but we got er done. It's out!
10/27 ... It's turned cold and windy ... brrr! We arose pretty early to get through Lock 15, and made it out into the darkness. The next lock was quite a wait, but we had time for a shot of the morning coming up on Burlington ...
And the interesting bridge ...
And down to the Ft Madison interesting bridge (are you getting the theme of the day?) ...
Here's Brian, trying to navigate with a road map ...
10/28 ... We're at Keokuk Yacht Club, one of our favorite stops on the Mississippi River ...
We have another extra day for chores, but first we'll need to tour the old-time brewery down stream. Our buddy Charlie is kind enough to tote us around for parts and a little lunch. Here's the lunch stop ...
A quick side stop to overlook the next lock ...
Charlie's wife, Kris, stopped by for a little while in the afternoon to join us ...
Today is Halloween, and it's very scary! The Yacht Club puts on a great party with a great band, and everyone had a great time ...
