Lake Monroe, Bloomington, IN

We took the boat down to Bloomington, Indiana for a short 4 day cruise on Lake Monroe.  We had planned this trip several weeks ago, not knowing what the weather might be.  It couldn't have been better.  All four days were in the mid 80's and dropped down to the mid 50's at night.


Because of the extremely dry weather we've had, the trees didn't have a lot of color.  They seemed "muted."

 

Along the way, we saw some wild turkeys, eagles, a beaver, and deer.

 

Friday, we found our friends Rich and Jill on their sailboat at Fourwinds Marina.  We had dinner with them, and stayed in a slip at the marina.  Thanks Richman.  Saturday, we took them for a cruise north of the bridge--an area sailors never get to see.  An enjoyable day.  Later, we dropped Rich and Jill back at the marina, and Pam and I anchored in Moore's Creek.  (really)

Sunday, we found Wayne and Priscilla who are from North Vernon and Punta Gorda trying to sail their Ensign on a dead calm day.  We suggested they take the Ensign back to the sailing club, and join us for a cruise north of the bridge--an area sailors never get to see.  Had a great time catching up with them, and after we dropped them off back at the sailing club, we went to "catfish cove."  (a small cove named many years ago by my pal, Dawg).  

We dropped the hook, and cooked chops on the grill.  I had been watching a pontoon boat that was anchored near the entrance of the cove.  They were acting as if they were having engine trouble.  Looking over the back of the back of the boat, raising the engine hood etc.  Just about dusk, I thought they should be leaving.  There were three people on the boat.  I figured it was a kid, his dad, and the grandfather, who did all the talking.  

When I was a young pup, my dad had an old boat with a Chrysler outboard.  If you've ever had a Chrysler outboard, you probably know how much Good Samaritans are needed out on the water.  We were towed back to the launching ramp more than once.  I suppose that has a lot to do with my thinking that we all have an obligation to assist anyone in need on the water.  A lesson learned.

So I shouted over to the pontoon boat to ask if he was having trouble.  "Yes" he says.  "Can't get the motor started."  (I could see it wasn't a Chrysler)  I asked if he had called for help.  "My daughter is calling someone, but I don't know if anyone's coming."  I asked where he had come from.  "Launched at the dam."  I asked if he wanted me to tow him back to the dam.  I should have suspected trouble when he asked "How much would you charge me?"  However, I told him I wouldn't charge him anything.

So, it's now dark.  I pulled up my anchor, and motored over to throw him a line.  I told him to tie it off on a cleat.  He said "What's a cleat?  One of them pointy things like you got on your boat?"  I asked if it would be OK if I stepped on his boat and secured the tow line.  About this time, another boat comes up and asked which one of us needed help.  He had gotten a call to come over and tow someone in.  The guy on the pontoon boat said "Don't need no help now."  I said this is the guy your daughter called to tow you in.  He says " Yes, but he'll charge me an arm and a leg to tow me in.  You said you'd do it for free.  Let's get going.'"

So I took him to the launching ramp at the dam.  In the dark.  Navigated by the stars back to Catfish Cove and dropped the hook again.  A lesson learned.

Back to Clinton

We left Dubuque this morning and cruised the 60 miles back to Clinton, IA. (Only 2 locks today.) The river is a lot more fun on weekdays. It's also a lot more fun going downstream. We travelled 496 miles on the river. Wish it was all downstream. Going up the river our speed was about 6 mph. We dropped the rpm's coming back and still went 10 mph.
Even if there's not much traffic, you still need to pay attention. There's rock wing dams just outside the channel. There's trees and logs floating down stream, and you never know what might be coming around the next bend.
We're back where we started. Our truck and trailer are still here. We'll haul out tomorrow and head home.

More houses

A little south of Dubuque, there's more interesting homes overlooking the river.

Dubuque

We stayed at the Dubuque Yacht Basin last night. It's a nice facility--new docks, nice clean showers, free wi-fi, and a good resturant on site. (Catfish Charlies) Unfortunately, the staff was not very accommodating. The girl who checked us in didn't know where the showers were, didn't know if they had wi-fi or the code to access it, and had no information about Dubuque. She kept calling her boss but he didn't care either. However, she had no trouble processing my credit card.
This morning, we moved the boat to Ice Harbor out behind the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. We went in the museum at 9:30 and stayed until after 4:00. There are many interesting displays and lots of information about rivers.
I had contacted two different people about staying overnight at this courtesy dock. Both said we couldn't do it. I decided to chance it anyway. Monday night, nobody around. I suppose I'll regret it if the law doggies come pounding on the boat at midnight.

After the museum, we walked over to Diamond Jo's Casino and ate dinner. The place was packed with people pouring money in slot machines. If they really wanted to gamble they should take a ride down the river like us. Wing dams, logs, snags, barges, and 90 mph pontoon boats piloted by impaired drivers.

River Homes

Cruising up and down the river, we saw quite a variety of homes.  As with most waterfront areas there's the really nice homes

And the not so luxurious cabins

In every case, big or small, if you love the river, you'd better love the railroad.  The track is between the river and the first two houses.  And it's just out the back door of the last ones.



Here's a guy who is really concerned about high water.  He built his house on a barge, and then raised it up on stilts.

My grandfather always wanted to build a house on a bluff overlooking the river.  The location of this one would have been good, but I think he would have found it a little too ornate.

However,  the best homes overlooking the river just might not be occupied by humans.

Travel day

We made 72 miles today with only 2 locks to pass through. ( I think the 5 locks in one day yesterday may stay our record.)
The weekend on the river is pretty wild. Tons of boats. Even the pontoons here are fast. We've seen several with I/O drives and stright pipe exhausts out the back above the waterline. They load 15 people on it and go 60 miles an hour. We saw one pontoon boat with twin 200 hp outboards going so fast that when it jumped a wake, the entire boat left the water. Not sure why they want to go so fast, all they do is stop on the beach and set up camp. However, they may be better mariners than I think because the first thing they do when setting up camp is get out the sextent.

A real let down

Today was a real let down. Five of them. And since the high water has receeded, each of the five locks we went through today let us down about 4' each. At the last lock there were 16 pleasure boats exiting as we went in. We went through a total of 11 locks on our northbound leg. The longest we had to wait was an hour and a half.
We stopped this morning at Winona, MN. The dock there is perpendicular to the current. After I got us alongside, I probably didn't need to tie it to the dock. The boat was pressing against the dock so hard that I was worried we couldn't back away. We walked downtown Winona to a Verizon store where I found a USB cable to connect my phone to the laptop. We also found a place to eat lunch.
Also while docked at Winona, I had to do some plumbing repair. Pam told me she was unable to pump water into the head. I knew pretty quick what the problem was. When we anchor off the channel, all the coves and sloughs are filled with seaweed. Lots of vegatation everywhere. Wouldn't consider swimming. When we flush, we pump in water from below the boat. We had sucked up weeds into the intake and clogged the hose. I was able to remove the hose and remove the weeds. (I'm just glad it was the intake that was clogged--not the waste line.)
Maybe because we went 60 miles today we saw a lot of barges. We saw one family trying to win a Darwin Award by towing their children on a tube back and forth in front of a moving barge. All survived.
We're anchored tonight about 100 yards north of Iowa.

photos

Found Wi-Fi in Winona, WI from Godfathers pizza.

Here's photos from the

eagle Center and Alma, WI.

Grumpy

Wednesday evening, we ate dinner at Slippery's in Wabasha. The movie "Grumpy Old Men" was playing on their TV. When it was over, they started it again. There was a poster on the wall for their "Grumpy Festival." I had wi-fi at the marina, so I googled Wabasha & Grumpy. I discovered that Wabasha was the setting for the Grumpy Old Men movies.
We left the marina and tied up in front of the National Eagle Center. Beautiful building. Inside, an eagle handler was holding Harriet, a 29 year old eagle. He asked if anyone here was from TONIC, the boat out on the river. I thought I was in trouble again. He said he had read our blog and knew we were coming today. Not sure how he found the blog, but it's good to know someone reads it.
The eagle center has very interesting displays and an informative classroom program that includes feeding an eagle. The young man who was in charge of our program did a great job and was a real hoot. (oops wrong bird) I took some photos that I will post as soon as I can find wi-fi again. (I'm posting from my phone today.) If you're ever near Wabasha, MN, the National Eagle Center is certainly worth a visit.
After the Eagle Center, we stopped in Alma, WI. We started to walk up to Buena Vista Park, but decided it was too much of a hike. So if you want to see a photo of the river from there, look it up on the internet.
Heading downstream has me all confused. It took a week for me to remember to keep the reds on the right. Now going down, they're on the left. (I have small red and green clips that I clip above the helm so when I forget I can refer to them. Assuming I remember to change them when we turn around.) Going downstream the charts are upside down. I either try to read the mile markers upside down or try to remember to turn left when the river turns right. I'm so confused that yesterday, a tow boat called me on the VHF and told me to see him on the two, but I saw him on the one. I was so embarassed.

Eagles everywhere

 We motored through two more locks today, and are staying in Parkside Marina in the town of Wabasha, MN.

We thought we had seen a lot of eagles the past few days, but today, everywhere you looked there were eagles.

We passed the National Eagle Center in the boat, and we plan to go back there tomorrow morning.

We've been exactly 250 miles on the river.  I think we will start back south tomorrow after our visit at the eagle center.  I'd like to see the Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque, IA, and there's several other small towns we passed by on the way up. 

Finding suitable spots to anchor has been difficult.  We sneak between wing dams to get off the channel, and have no way to know the depth of areas until we get there.  In addition, the sloughs off the channel are filled with weeds.  And of course there's the fishermen.  Last night, I thought we were anchored in an out of the way spot, but a fisherman and his wife came within 20' of our boat and anchored for about 2 hours.  We had the generator running, but it didn't seem to bother the baby fish he was catching. 

three lock day

This morning, we went upstream about a mile and tied to the courtesy dock at Riverside Park in La Crosse. Much shorter walk to downtown. A lot of towns along the river have courtesy docks but none allow overnight docking.
Departed about 11 and continued upstream about 35 miles, passing through 3 locks. A total of 9 locks so far. We're anchored quite a ways off the channel north of Fountain City, WI. Woods and weeds make for lots of bugs. I doubt we'd survive if we couldn't close up and run the A C. No breeze and 85 degrees.
We're into the bluffs--a very scenic area. My camera can't begin to capture it. Especially my phone's camera. ( My only way to email photos to the blog.)
Plan to stop at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, MN tomorrow. Not sure where we go after that. Starting to run out of steam on the Mississippi.

more photos

This last photo is your tax dollars at work.  (Sort of like watching the Coasties in N.C. water ski behind their Zodiac with the gun mounts.  Charlie don't surf.)  This is the Coast Guard boat that sets the red and green navigational buoys.  Check out the slide on the back of the boat.  Suppose they send the buoys down that slide? 

Mississippi photos

Attached are photos from my camera.  If these get to the blog, I've found Wi-Fi.  (I loaned out my Wi-Fi antenna and forgot to get it back.  Also forgot to pack the cord to transfer photos to the phone.  Maybe a pattern developing.)  

Trains run up and down both sides of the river all the time.  Mark Twain said that's what killed the steamboat business.

We were passed by a river cruise boat........"Twilight."  It goes out overnight, making stops at several little towns along the river, and stays the night next to a gambling boat up the way.  Look at the size of the wheel in the pilothouse.

There are lots of little islands in the river.   We've seen several islands where people bring their camping gear in their boat, and stake a claim.  Unless of course, the island has already been claimed by the "locals."  All those white pelicans that vacation down in Charlotte Harbor, Florida, live here in the summer.  We've also seen several eagles.