Hannibal

Captain's Log - Day 9

We hung around Hannibal till about noon today. Had some breakfast at the Java Jive. They have good smoothies. Then we spent the rest of the day just touring their touristy areas. At the north end of Main Street, there's a statue of Huck and Tom in a garden at the base of a trail that leads up the hill to a lighthouse.

The Mark Twain museum was alright. The coolest part were the Norman Rockwell originals upstairs.

As we left the museum, a large Amish family came in! Sorry to disappoint, Rob, but I don't think they were on any kind of rumspringa - they were just asking about the Haunted Hannibal tours.

We checked out the pawn shop, the Native American Trading Co., and several antique stores. Eventually, we ran into our friends the kayakers! Really nice guys - one's name is Matt, and the other guy was ... Doug? Sorry I forgot your name, man. They told us about how they stayed on some family's lawn in Nauvoo, Illinois (named such by Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, not James Cameron, ), which is evidently a significant city for Mormons. I think they gathered there for their journey to Utah ... or something. I'll let the Stormin' Mormon correct me if he's so inclined.

Anyway, we hope to run into Matt and Doug (?) again further down the river!

So a few days ago, we took on about 50 flies. We were on the hook in the river, so we're not sure exactly how they found us. They've managed to stow away for days now. But then we got spiders! Little boogers that will build a web around you if you sit still for more than 2 minutes. That actually happened to me.

I figure, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, right? These spiders will solve our fly problem! I believe we may have made a fatal error, however when we purchased fly tape. Now the spiders are hungry and they've moved on to larger prey! There are no mosquitoes around, and I'm starting think the spiders are also feasting on my feet!

Check out this cross by the side of the river! You know how when someone dies in a car accident, people put up crosses, pictures, and flowers by the side of the road where they died? Guess they do that on the river too. Why does that irritate me?

Now we're on the hook just south of Crescent Island. We finished off our box of clay pigeons, and now we've got citronella candles guarding all the exits and we're playing Risk. Mike just won the first game in 1 turn! That's got to be a record, right? It is mission based Risk, but still ...

Mark Twain lives!!! We rode in his Camry ...

Captain's Log - Day 8

Another good day on the mighty Mississip!

Tonight we've docked in Hannibal, Missouri - Samuel Clemens' (aka Mark Twain's) hometown from the between the ages of 4 and 18. We wandered around town for a bit - stopped by the Down Under Lounge where the barkeep asked us if we were packing. He thought it was a good idea for us to be carrying guns on our trip down the river. We chatted with him for awhile about Hannibal, the Mississippi, and his travels. Really nice guy.

He recommended that for dinner we head to the Broadway Bar. They have these huge, delicious pork tenderloin sandwiches

After dinner, google maps led us to a phantom Kroger on Bird Street and Main Street. As we wandered, we asked a passerby where the Kroger was and he informed us that it was pretty far - over a mile. Then he offered us a ride! He took us to Wal-mart and then back to the parking lot of the marina!

Turns out this guy's name is Paul Jim Waddell. He used to work in the galley on a riverboat named the Mississippi Queen. He said it was pretty rough. They worked 17 hours a day in split shifts so they only had at most 4 hours to sleep! Also, he said that the crew quarters were below the waterline, and the bilges didn't always work so you could wake up in 18 inches of the Mississippi!

His current occupation is playing Mark Twain in reenactments! We rode in Mark Twain's Camry! Pretty cool, huh?

Check out this station wagon - it's almost identical to my first car! Good old '77 Ford Country Squire ..

Most things in Hannibal shut down pretty early. In fact, a lot of businesses are shuttered too - pretty sad. There's a theater on the other side of the levee from the marina so we went to see a movie. Unfortunately, we missed Jonah Hex by about half an hour. We saw Knight and Day instead.

I know, I know. I went into with really, really low expectations. It is Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz film, afterall ... But even with my low expectations, I was supremely disappointed by the fact that *SPOILER ALERT* ... no one in the film is named "Day!" What? You're making a cutesy romantic action flick and you pass up that absurdly obvious hook? What?!

As the credits began to roll, we were almost stampeded by a hoard of squealing 12-15 year old girls. No joke. They rushed into the theater like the Mississippi through a broken levee. This unstoppable force wanted only one thing - to see the midnight showing of the new Twilight movie. It was frightening. I can handle crowds of pale, greasy nerds at midnight showing, but I'm really out of my league here ...

Just before I wrote this, a train passed between the marina and the levee! I may or may not have touched the Burlington Northern Santa Fe train as it passed by ...

Tomorrow, I plan to get up semi-early and go check out the Mark Twain museum!

Goose Island

Passing Goose Island! Half expect to spot Conley having a spinach
salad with chicken ... And I suddenly have a craving for a root beer
float!

--
Sent from my mobile device

River people

Captain's Log - Day 7

As we're heading south, we're seeing more and more of these houses on stilts. Some of them don't even seem to have roads leading up to them - the only way in and out must be by boat! Very interesting ... I'd like to meet one of these people and have a conversation about what motivated them to build a house there.

Good news! I know some of you have probably been anxiously waiting to hear whether or not we scraped the top of our boat off on a low bridge. In fact, we did not. We raised a passing barge on the vhf radio and he told us that the bridges monitor channels 13 and 14. Remember that - it'll come in handy the next time you boat down the Mississippi.

While they're called "drawbridges," they actually spin, as you can see. We passed through two of these bridges today without incident. Both would've been too low for us to pass under.

Keokuk Lock and Dam (Lock #19) is really impressive. We passed through it just before we stopped for the day. It's home to the only hydroelectric power plant on the Mississippi (according to one of the guys working at the lock). There's a 30 foot difference in the river's level before and after the lock/dam! Previously the largest variance we'd seen was about 10 feet. Lock #19 has floating pins that you tie off to. They squeal as they slide down their metal grooves and actually sound strikingly similar to whale songs. No joke.

I finished our book club book, The Adderall Diaries, today! I'll save my critique for later - don't want to give the book club members any spoilers. Now I've moved on to Good Omens. Like about half the things I read these days, it was recommended to me by Blake (whom I've given the nickname "Banana Sandwich" for no other reason than it makes me chuckle every time I see/say it). He didn't have to sell it too hard though - it's co-authored by Neil Gaiman. I like him more every time I read another of his works. The Sandman series is amazing, and his readings at the recent comicon in Chicago sealed it for me.

We're on the hook again tonight. We're at the southern tip of Mud Island, just spitting distance south of the confluence of the Des Moines and Mississippi Rivers. From the deck, we can see Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. Pretty cool.

Some of you have been asking what the overall plan is ... I bought the boat in Winona, MN and we set sail from there. We're hoping to make it all the way to gulf. We've recently learned that there are some lock closures south of St. Louis due to weather/high waters - hopefully that'll be sorted by the time we get there!

Once we get to the gulf (at the end of July), I hope to sell the boat before we head to Canada for a family fishing trip. I'm only a little concerned about the oil in the gulf, in regards to this trip. I'm guessing that the flow of the river will keep the oil from travelling up the river, and we don't plan to get out into the gulf. The oil may, however, put a damper on the used boat market ...

Updates to the casualties list :(

Adventure on the River!

Captain's Log - Day 6

Hey-oh! Another day afloat!

So, people have been asking me about life on the Mississippi. Let me break down our day today just to give you an idea.

We woke up around 10am and weighed anchor. This was actually pretty tough because both our anchors were planted deep in what seemed to be clay. Took some doing, but we got 'er done.

We have a breakfast of scrambled eggs with cheddar, toast, and canned peaches. Simon attempts to choke down some instant coffee ... I'm not a coffee drinker, but even I can tell that stuff is pretty bad after just one sip.

We cruise for miles, pass through a few locks without incident. Lunch is PB&J sandwiches with Sun Chips. Maybe grab a freeze pop for dessert.

At one point, we were boarded by a pirate ... wearing a rape whistle ... , but fortunately, we were able to fend him off. Pretty fierce looking, right?

As we cruise, we pump some tunes (including Phantogram's Eyelid Movies, which I'm finding to be good cruising music), work out with some resistance bands, get towed on a line behind the boat, and read. I actually finished Wastelands on Friday. It's a collection of post-apocalyptic short stories. If you're into that sort of thing, I recommend picking it up! Thanks, Taylor for letting me borrow it.

During our cruise, we passed two guys in kayaks who said they're headed to Tampa! Wow! That's amazing. Maybe that's what I'll do next time - up the ante a little bit.

We stopped in Muscatine, Iowa to refuel. Plan C was thirsty - she took 111 gallons! This whole time we had been thinking that we had a 100 gallon fuel tank ... guess not! Also, proud to report that we did not crash into this fuel dock! We're getting better with each day!

Speaking of post-apocalyptic, check out this power plant we passed just south of Muscatine! This thing looks crazy! Wouldn't this be a great setting or backdrop for a movie in the "ghetto future" genre? Wonder if Leonardo DiCaprio would be interested in playing the lead ... I'd watch that movie.

Around 6pm, we start looking for beaches and found a great little beach on Willow Bar Island. This is a very desolate stretch of river, so we break out the 20 gauge and shoot some skeet!

After a dinner of pasta, we build a fire on the beach and toast some marshmallows.

And now, here I am blogging. All in all, not a bad day. Plus, Simon's rice remedy worked on Mike's iphone! There's one to take off the casualties list!

An auspicious start

Woke up this morning (after more rain in the middle of the night) to sunny skies and a great breeze! Also, our boat was being swarmed by butterflies like this little guy! I don't know much about the lore of the river, but that's probably a good omen, right?

I've updated the casualties list - check it out!

Eesh ...

Captain's Log - Day 5

Today was a rough day.

I woke in the middle of the night to monsoon level winds and rain. Had to scurry around and shut all the windows and doors. Fortunately, the weather was nice during the day, though.

We left Clinton, Iowa and went under another railroad bridge - this one was even closer! We had about six to eight inches of clearance above the canvas - our vhf antenna was scraping on the i-beams! I need to figure out what channel these bridges monitor so I can call ahead and ask what their clearance is - especially if these crazy storms keep up.

We saw where the Twilight (that old-school riverboat that passed us yesterday) docks! It was in Le Claire, Iowa. That was probably the highlight of the day.

In Le Claire, the channel really widened out. Then, it narrowed down real quick. I found myself outside the channel, and not wanting to get caught on a wing dam, which usually run perpendicular to shore, I cut east hard and made directly for the middle of the river. Turns out in Le Claire they have a wing dam that is parallel to shore ... which I found ... with the props ... Ugh ...

The tips of a few blades on each prop are bent, but there doesn't seem to be any debilitating damage. So, the lesson to be learned here is that it's important to double check the charts before you veer anywhere. I'm just disgusted that I hit one of those things - thank goodness the river is up or I may have taken one clear off. Also probably good that it was me and not Mike or Simon that hit it.

After this disappointment, we ended up waiting at Lock #14 for four hours!! We waited for a barge to go through, and then they never let us in! We kept radioing and the lockmaster kept telling us "fifteen to twenty minutes." Turns out there's an auxilary (that spelling doesn't look right, but that's how it's spelled on the map ...) canal and lock that pleasure-craft have to use on weekends. Only commercial and government vehicles (like this Coast Guard boat we saw come through) can use the main locks on the weekends. Lockmaster didn't bother to tell us that until we had been sitting there for about an hour and a half longer than needed.

To steal a line from Arrested Development, "[Brandon] was learning life lessons all over the place."

And it appears that my feet are a mosquito buffet. I seem to be the only one getting bitten. Simon and Mike are never more than 33 feet away from me, but somehow they've managed to steer clear of the mosquitoes. Like those flip-flop tan lines?

But, at the end of the day we're still afloat, so I suppose that's a win!

We're on the hook just south of the quad cities at Horse Island. As of this writing, it's been 38 hours since we've set foot on dry land!

Quick aside about these maps I'm linking to - an anonymous commenter has suggested I have a map showing our daily progress. Good idea! I found a way to do that with google maps. You should be able to click on a label for each day and go see where we were or zoom out and get an overall view of our progress.

Clinton

Captain's Log - Day 4

Another day afloat! Always glad to be able to say that at the end of a day!

We did have a close call today. Check out this bridge. I took a picture of it after we passed under it because before we passed under it I was too busy getting ready to duck! We passed under with just 2 fee to spare! Little bit hairy ... I realized then that I don't know the clearance of our boat. Not that it would've mattered, because there were no markings on the bridge indicating how high it was so ... yeah. Good thing the river wasn't up a few more feet!

We were passed by an old-school looking riverboat today! Made me think of Mr. Samuel Clemens. Wonder if his riverboat looked similar to this?

We haven't had much success fishing yet, though we did manage to snag Simon. Anyone want to place bets on how long it is before I've got one of these treble hooks firmly planted in my thumb and forefinger? I think the fact that Taylor's not on the trip is going to help ... Cause that one time it happened to us it was totally his fault.

During our restocking trip in Dubuque, we failed to find any inner tubes to pull behind the boat, so we improvised with our bumpers. It's not quite the same, but it's a good way to cool down!

We're on the hook about a half mile south of Lock #13 in Clinton, Iowa. For you landlubbers, a "hook" is an anchor, so "being on the hook" means we've dropped anchor ... See how that works?

I gotta be honest, it's blowing my mind that we're just anchoring in the (almost) middle of the river for the night. That's so much freedom! Where else can you just decide, "alright, I'm putting my house here for the night" - and it's ok! And free! I'm loving it!

We're finding that one of the benefits of anchoring in the river is that the bugs tend to stay near shore.

Speaking of bugs, remember those fishflies I told you about yesterday? We saw some on part of the southbound entrance to Lock #13, and they're insane! That cloud is fishflies! Zoom in on it an check it out! Maybe there's something to this cabby's stories ...

Dubuque

Captain's Log - Day 3

Another great day!

We left our calling card on the beach before we left this morning - in case it's hard to see in the picture, we wrote "Plan C."

I get better and better at steering Plan C with each lock we go through. I was even able to pull us up to a fueling dock in Dubuque without running up onto it! Definitely a win.

So, we cruised past this little flotilla earlier today. It's not entirely clear from the picture, but that's three pontoon boats lashed together and full of children (almost wrote that as "three pontoon boats full of children, lashed together," but that sounds all kinds of wrong). My first thought was "field trip," but school's out by now, right? Maybe it's some sort of camp thing ...

Also, is lashing three pontoon boats together a good idea? Then again, who am I to judge good and bad ideas when it comes to boating, eh?

We're in Dubuque now, moored at the transient dock of the Dubuque Marina (just south of Lock #11). Seems to be a nice enough place. They have a bar/restaurant called the Yardarm where they're currently having a summer-long karaoke competition for $500! The food was not so great, but the karaoke was entertaining enough that it didn't really matter. (N.B. this embarassingly low quality photo of the karaoke is from my blackberry - didn't have the cannon on me at the time.)

After dinner at the Yardarm, we took a cab to Hy-Vee to get can openers, syrup, and a few other supplies. Haven't been to a Hy-Vee for about 14 years ...

I'm guessing that our cab was one of about three cabs in Dubuque - especially since when we called to get a cab back to the marina 45 minutes later, the same driver came and picked us up.

On the return trip, he told us about fishflies. They're evidently these bugs that hatch a few times each summer and only have a 24hr lifespan. According to him, each hatching generates "billions and billions" of flies. He even claims that they turn the lights off on the big bridge in Dubuque, because if they don't, they have to clear off the dead fishflies with plows ... My incredulity was reaching peak levels ...

This whole bug discussion reminds me of a quote - "bats are bugs." Anyone know what that's from? I'll be real impressed if you know it without having to look it up!

I can't remember off the top of my head where we'll be stopping tomorrow, but I'm looking forward to another day of smooth sailing!

Lock #10

We've got an hour long wait at Lock #10. The lock master informed us that they have divers in the water - must be fixing something.

In case you ever find yourself on the river, here's what you do when you approach a lock. You get on the vhf radio, switch to channel 14 and say "Lock #10, this is southbound pleasure-craft request wait time to enter the lock."

Another bit of advice that we received from Rob and Kate (the crew of the Easy Living - remember them?) is that if you see a barge approaching a lock, gun it and get ahead of them. Locks are first come, first serve and it takes barges about 2 hours for a barge to get through a lock.

It's such a beautiful day! Nice and sunny with a decent breeze. The best part is that it was cool last night - made for good sleeping.

Oh! Also - I appreciate the calls and texts, but I have AT&T ... I dropped about 70% of my calls in Chicago, the third largest city in the country, so I can almost guarantee you're not going to catch me in a bubble of service on the river. Email is the best way to get ahold of me.

Lists

I've started a few lists that I'll be updating as the trip goes on - check them out here!

Adjustments

Captain's Log - Day the Second

We're learning and adapting to all the little quirks that a 32 year old boat has, including the fact that the forward bilge pump can only be activated by opening up a hatch in the kitchen floor and flipping over the float switch. A week ago, I wouldn't have even understood half the words in that sentence. 

 I'm also learning that I can adjust to more than I first thought. For instance, I've always been one of those people who claims to not be able to sleep when it's hot. I've actually experienced this. Last night however, by some miracle, I was able to sleep despite dripping with sweat ... literally dripping with sweat. Who knew, right? 

And now I'm blogging through the swarm of gnats and mosquitos that are congregating on my screen. I know for a fact that I've inhaled at least two. 

So far, I think that Mos Def's The Ecstatic is my current favorite for early morning cruising music. 

Despite the heat, the river is beautiful. And, it's much larger than I imagined! We're currently beached just south of Prairie du Chein, Wisconsin. Tomorrow night we'll be staying at Dubuque!

Alright, I've turned on a light in another part of the boat and the bugs are distracted - I have to make good my escape!