TUESDAY JUNE 12TH, 2012

We left Winona early. There is getting to be less and less tow traffic at the locks as we head upriver, but the guys checked on the tow traffic website and there was one we wanted to beat to the first lock. No one had even had coffee yet! What a way to start the day.

Once underway we could settle in with our cup of Joe and take in the beauty of the river in the early morning. This picture is of Winona and Sugar Loaf bluff in the background.




The wind continues to blow making it a challenge to stay up close to the lock wall while they raise the water. These are some of the bluffs next to lock just above Winona.





The wind did settle down as the day passed. This is the Eagle Center in Wabasha. Ross and I went there when it first opened. At that time there were 3 eagles tethered to perches on the floor in a viewing area about 4 feet away from the public. You really got the sense of how huge these birds are! It wasn’t a cage, just a large open area. We felt the tickets were a bit spendy, but we’re glad we went.




Slippery’s has been here forever! It’s really snazzy now compared to the old days with its rickety docks. I think it’s kinda lost its dumpy, river charm too. But if you’re ever looking for a fun thing to do on winter day, drive to Wabasha and have lunch here. The river stays open in front of here and there are always eagles sitting on the ice and in the trees looking for a meal. They are lots of fun to watch. And Slippery’s plays the Grumpy Old Men movies on all the TV sets, as Wabasha is where they filmed it. And you gotta order a Slippery burger! A burger topped with fried onions and slab of melted Velveeta cheese. Mmmmm…they’re the best.

This is Reed’s landing at the downstream end of Lake Pepin. It is very narrow here and it has silted in so there is a dredging operation going on. They suck sand and silt off the bottom and then it ends up piled on shore. Bulldozers move it around after that. The barges need a 9’ channel to be able to pass through so the Army Corp of Engineers is constantly fighting the river.

A beautiful bluff at the head of Lake Pepin.







Almost home! The entrance to our home marina.
















Mark and Tami had their son, Brad; bring a cold bottle of champagne to meet us with!













Cheers to a great trip!










We have traveled 7,540 miles, traversed 151 locks, and spent approximately $13,500 on diesel fuel. Priceless!!

The ODDYSEA tucked in safe and sound in her slip at J-Dock.







This has been an adventure of a lifetime…but its good to be home.

MONDAY JUNE 11TH 2012

The closer we get to home the harder it is blog. The landscape and river towns are all familiar now.

This part of the Mississippi is so incredibly beautiful! It truly is a shame that the majority of Loopers never come up the Mississippi. Instead they turn at the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi and head south. And that part of the river has none of the beauty that is further north.



Today after almost 3 years, we have returned by boat to the Minnesota!! And here is the state line to prove it. Can you tell?

















This rock peak is all that remains of a once very large domed limestone bluff called Sugar Loaf Bluff. It is just south of Winona. It was quarried during the 1880’s for use as sidewalks and street surfaces.


Winona wasn’t even surveyed until 1851.  The US deputy surveyor gave the town the name Montezuma. (are you kidding me?) Two years later a man purchased quite a bit of interest in the town. Guess he didn’t care much for the name either, as he erased the name from the survey and renamed it Winona. The Indian word “we-no-nah” translates to “first born daughter.” Way better name than Montezuma!

Tonight was our last night for shore leave on the Loop. So we headed to the Jefferson Bar and Grill to celebrate.















We are so grateful to have had Kirk and the Heimers travel with us. Its made for a fun last leg on our journey.






The trusty ODDYSEA on her last night out. Tomorrow night she will be back in her home port.

SUNDAY JUNE 10TH, 2012

We had a long distance to travel and 3 locks to traverse today so got going before sunrise. It was worth getting up so early if for no other reason than seeing this sky.

By 6:15 a.m. we were through the fist lock of the day. The remaining two locks went like clockwork so that sped up the day.

We spotted this ferry from a distance and it looked like it was full of cyclists rather than cars. We figured it was a pedestrian ferry. As we came closer we heard the roar of Harley engines and noticed a large group of bikers departing the ferry.







This is a Coast Guard Buoy tender. It’s a busy time of the year for them as they replace damaged, lost and out of place markers. We came on one marker today that caused us to slow down and evaluate our course before we proceeded. Good move because it was out of place and we could have been in serious trouble. Barges sometimes snag the markers and move them out of position. But more often I think large floating debris catches on them and the current drags them.


A view of the river and jet skiers out enjoying a Sunday afternoon.

The wind grew steadily all day long. This big tow is bucking the wind and the waves.

We  spent the night in Lansing, Iowa. Stormy weather is predicted to roll in sometime during the night.

SATURDAY JUNE 9TH, 2012

Another day of chugging along upstream towards home. The river is still rising and is still around 7 feet above normal stage. The current is flowing at 2 mph, sometimes higher. Our normal cruising speed is about 9 mph, so with the current we only make 6 or 7 miles an hour. Makes for a long day of slow going.

We noticed this island full of cormorants and white pelicans. Actually there were 3 islands. We’re guessing all the bird poo killed the trees and vegetation. This might be a nesting area. The white pelicans don’t dive for fish like the brown pelicans. They dip their heads under water and scoop up gizzard shad or emerald shiners. So in other words, I’m thinking they eat minnows.

Lots of folks out today enjoying the warmth and water. The water being high makes beaches at a premium. This one is being put to good use.


This work crew is scooping sand off the bottom and dumping it in a barge.When it is full, they start filling another. This section of the river must be silting in and causing a problem for barge traffic to pass through.











A bit further up the river we saw where they were unloading the sand. Looks like they are creating an island. You can see how high up the water is on the trunks of trees.




Our destination for the night was Dubuque.

Their courthouse is quite impressive. It was built in 1891, despite the outcries against it by taxpayers. Sound familiar? When it was finished there were 12 massive figurines placed on the roof and ledges. Only 6 now remain.

The Dubuque marina is very nice. Once we were secured and settled in, Mark and Ross took the bikes off the boat and rode to the store for a few supplies. On their way they ended up traveling the same route as a bike race that was underway. People were clapping and cheering them and calling out that they liked their bike wear. Which by no means included spandex anywhere!

FRIDAY JUNE 8TH, 2012

This is Quarters One at the Rock Island Arsenal. Built in 1872 it was the residence of the highest-ranking official at the arsenal. Over the years, many have lived here. It is the second largest federal residence in the U.S. next to the White House.

Before it was an arsenal it was a 946-acre Army post. It was later used as a Union Army prison for Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. It is now the largest government owned weapons plant in the U.S.




We took this photo as we passed by where Tom and Diann Lanum live. Great spot on the river! Tom had his VHF radio on, spotted us and wished us well as we passed by. We sure did enjoy spending time with them last night.



We spotted the flag on this marker buoy from a distance. At that point we couldn't tell that it was the stars and stripes. Immediately we were concerned that the flag on a buoy represented some danger. Symbols, colors and shapes are used to convey information to boaters. When we were close enough we realized it was our flag, placed there by some proud American.






The water continues to rise and the current is getting very fast. Trying to dock at the Clinton marina was a challenge to say the least. After several failed attempts to enter a slip they wanted us in, we said no and told them we wanted to tie along the t-head at the end of the dock. The current was strong going one direction and the wind was strong going the opposite direction. It was somewhat of a rodeo getting to the dock and all secure but we finally did it.

It was late Friday afternoon at this point and people were starting to head out for the weekend. We all laughed when we saw this “redneck pontoon” being pushed by.

The water pump in the air conditioner is acting up. Great. Just in time for the 90 degree weather expected this weekend. The guys fiddled with it but to no avail.

Made creamed chicken, peas, carrots and onions for supper. Had it over buttermilk biscuits. Oh yeah!

THURSDAY JUNE 7TH, 2012

We left  pretty much at first light. The weather is holding and this morning the river was like glass. But our peaceful, tranquil morning was suddenly disturbed by a flock of starlings. What is it with these guys? They swarmed around the boat, landed on it, hopped around and then flew off toward shore. A few minutes later another group arrived. This went on for about half an hour.

We finally realized they were picking up dead bugs on the boat. Maybe starlings aren’t as worthless as I always thought!

At this point in the blog, there really isn’t much more to add. We’ve already traveled this section of it. So I guess I’ll give you a biology lesson instead. Starlings aren’t native to the U.S. They were brought here from Europe by a guy named Eugene Scheffland back in 1890. He wanted to introduce all the birds that were ever mentioned in Shakespeare’s writings. Starlings nest twice a year with an average brood of 4-6. Asian carp seem minor compared to the starling plague unleashed by Scheffland.

The locks remain the main factor in how long it takes for us to travel each day. If we knew where barges were in relation to the lock we could plan our speed better to avoid waiting at the locks. Leave it to Tami to find a website on her I-phone that lists activity at each lock. Between her info and Mark’s calculations we could make our travel much more efficient.

This is a tow that radioed us to warn us that he had lost his steering.   

This meant that he had lost an engine. Hence the black smoke. He was waiting for help and was just trying to maintain it in position. His cargo is something volatile so it is referred to as “red flag”. Somewhere on each barge is a small metal red flag marking it such.

We stayed the night at the Lindsay Park Yacht Club at Davenport, Iowa. A beautiful marina. The first Loopers we ever met were Tom and Diann Lanum. This is their home marina. We had a joyful reunion catching up on one another. We had a wonderful meat at the club’s dining room. The members were all friendly, and of course Tom and Diann knew everyone.

WEDNESDAY JUNE 6TH, 2012

The water rose several inches over night. Because of this, Ross wasn't quite so worried about us getting stuck again. Just to be on the safe side Tami, Mark and I sat out on the bow as we left in    case our “lard” was needed again.

With each lock we pass through we find those pools holding back more and more water. All that Minnesota rain that fell a couple of weeks ago is finally making its way to this point in the river. The high water lifts all sorts of things off the edge of the shore. This is a picture of a water logged tree trunk that passed close to the boat.  These are a constant danger and we are constantly watching for them. Even so, we miss seeing some as they are sometimes barely visible above the water.


The day was quiet, and long. 20 miles short of our planned destination for the night we had to wait for a swing of this bridge. We were told it would be a 10 minute wait as a train was coming. And hour later the train had long passed and we were still waiting, fighting the current. The bridge finally shared that something was broken and needed repair. We started to formulate Plan B. Just before enacting it the bridge swung open and we were back to Plan A; the free dock at Big Muddy’s restaurant at Burlington, Iowa.






Because of the holdup at the bridge we arrived late in the day. Because of the high water here the current was really ripping. We made certain that the boat was good and secure and then headed up to Big Muddy’s for a late supper.

TUESDAY JUNE 5TH, 2012

The Mississippi is much busier with tow traffic than the Illinois was. It is an issue for us because they outrank us at the locks and it takes a tow about 1 ½ hours to pass through each lock. Having to wait this amount of time at several locks each day really slows down our progress.

This was our first lock for today. Our hearts sunk when we saw one tow already in the lock and this great big one all tied up and ready to go behind it. This barge is almost as large as they can be for this part of the river. It is pushing 15 containers and has one additional tied up to the right side of the tow. If the tow had one tied on to its left side it would be at the maximum.

The towboat captains do an amazing job navigating and moving this immense weight of cargo around. Each single container holds the equivalent to 60 Semi truckloads.

Bless the heart of this captain as he gave permission to the lock to allow them to let us pass ahead of them. All we need to do is sneak in through the opening between the lock wall and the yellow cell that the front row of barges are tied too.




The water was squirrely and it was creepy going in between all that, but we made it.






We passed by Hannibal, Missouri. The home of Mark Twain. We could hear calliope music emanating from shore. We think the riverboat along the shore is a museum about Mark Twain and it was the source of the music.





We arrived in Quincy, Illinois fairly early in the day. We were lucky with the locks today so the travel day was shorter than we planned for. The water levels here are very low and we got stuck as we tried to enter the marina where we were to stay. Tami, Mark and I went as far forward as we could and stood on the bow pulpit. It lifted the stern up just enough for the props to clear and we were moving again.

The marina had power hookups, only they didn’t work. So it was a bit like camping. Lucky for us it cools off at night so it was comfortable to sleep.











We weren’t within walking distance of town so we called for a cab. We told them we needed it for 4 people but this what showed up. I figured if we could all cram into this, it would take the “jaws of life” to get us out! . Plus our driver took up plenty of space to begin with.  I’m sure it looked like a clown car when we arrived at the restaurant.






View of the Pier restaurant from the water where we went for dinner.











Today was my 59th birthday! My children, family, and friends called, texted or emailed me. I had a wonderful dinner with my husband and good friends Mark and Tami Heimer. Life is good!