We're over 200 miles on our river adventure, saw 25 Bald Eagles before 9am with a total for the day of around 35.  Spending the night in a quiet protected Marina with a wonderful visitor center, shower, BR and internet service.  Learning how to post the pictures, more to come as I get thru them and pick the better ones.  We are Guttenberg, Iowa, friendly folks, had a German Fest with Hog Roast and lots of polka music.  Walked thru historic town, had ice cream 26 flavors to choose from.  Ready for bed.  We got in here around 4 pm, after getting provisions decided it was such a nice place and the street fair and "doings" we'd call it a night since we got in our 50 miles early.  Having a little "land sickness", now more comfortable on the boat rockin and rollin:).  First night we ate off the boat. 
Walked around Lacrosse Wisc. yest. for two hours, found a nice little bakery, picked up some special Norwegian rolls and cranberry walnut bread.  Eating good now.  Still amazing the see the trees, bluffs and Eagles, like a different world.  So many people saying they want or have planned to do the Great Loop.  Getting the locks down good, today was the 10th Lock to go thru, longest wait time was two hours a couple of days ago.  I even took the boat thru a couple of Locks when it wasn't so windy and Curt got to hold the bow ropes.  More pictures to be posted next time we have internet service.  Good to have comments back from you.

Sept. 17  Windy cold day, left this morning around 9:10 from the city boat dock after getting Milk and Orange Juice from the gas station a block away.  Waited a few minutes for the Railroad swing bridge but down the river we went.  Went thru Lake Pepin, cold windy, at times water over the bow, glad to have made it to Wabasha just as it started raining harder.  Found a comfortable spot to tie up to at the Marina and Wifi, finally got my blog started.  Who wins the bet Carol?  Tired and ready for a good night sleep.  Was a good day saw at minimum of 14 Bald Eagles today, probably 5 yesterday, along with 75 pelicans flying in formation right over us.  Was awesome.

Pelicans flying over, just part of the group

Eagle in the top of the dead tree if you zoom in.

Marilyn keeping us away from the wall in the Lock

 A little chilly, Curt making breakfast.

 Green buoy to be kept on the right and red buoy on the left

Always something to do on the boat., changing the buoy on the side of the boat so we'll be ready for the next lock.

Sept. 16   Visiting with a lovely couple from Hudson who had made the trip to St. Louis and back in their speed boat,  Earl really wanted to go and Sid was willing also but they needed more time to plan to be gone.  Earl said he's 75 doesn't want to wait but would rather do the trip with someone else.  Good Luck Earl, you can still catch up with us.  Met another gentleman at the Marina Jason who also is wanting to go to the Gulf but not ready yet.  So many people wanting to talk to us about the trip, the gentleman in the Marina office made a comment  "Does your wife know you're going that far or does she think you're taking her down river for the evening dinner and then back?"  Also met two older gentlemen yest. that have already left this am early to to the Gulf of Mexico and I think to Florida, they had quite a small boat to do that but we're going 100 miles a day and stay at hotels every night.  Needless to say we didn't leave till around 10 am with Earl and his wife helping us out of the slip and giving us more advice of places to stop at, also promised prayers for our safety.  What a blessing to meet this couple.  Beautiful weather today, a little chilly, went thru St. Paul area, neat to see by the River, all the railroad swing bridges were willing to open immediately and the other bridges were raised immediately after they called, no delay.  Had to wait 2 hours for Lock #2, but all went well in the Lock, nice gentleman to visit with while they water lowered us down.
Thanks to Earls suggestion we stopped at 5 pm at Prescott, got gas and went under the bridge and anchored with other boats in a protected area.  Didn't drag anchor, yea, some how lost a buoy off our boat.  Weird.  Tried finding a good spot to sleep, was very cold, in 40's.

Sept. 15  Took Chris and his family in Castaway up river on the Mississippi, to learn how to go thru a Lock, all went well, got our names on the wall of the Lock in the MUCK, fun though.  Thanks to all of Chris's family we had a successful first trip on the Mississippi River north of the Marina thru Minneapolis downtown.  Cool.  Joe picked up the trailer and boat and we're stranded at the Marina with only the boat to go some where, hmm down the Mississippi River... Tomorrow.... We're ready!

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

                                                                    This is the boat!

                                                                   This is the Route!

Now all we have to do is get started.  The planned departure has been delayed for several days. Friday Sept. 13 is when we finally got the boat in the water. Last minute purchases like a battery charger, thanks Joey.  Bicycle lock, Thanks Chris.  Silver Quarter under the mast, thanks Andy.  Time to have the Christening of the new name Castaway ll with the Champagne, thanks Niki.  How to do the blog, thanks Mike.   Can't wait to try out the Trek foldup bike, thanks Bob and Kathy, new comforter, thanks Mom.

For those who want to follow us I have set up an APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System) that I will activate one a day.  Probably in the evening when we are setting in the back of the boat watching the sun go down.  To find us go to this address: http://aprs.fi/#!lat=46.81590&lng=-100.70610
In the upper right corner of the screen where it says "Track callsign"  put in "ka3fwr" and hit search.  Now in the upper left hand corner of the screen put a check in the box by "KA3FWR-5" and click on "show selected"  You should be able to see our latest position.  Or see the last time I activated the APRS.  Clear as mud?

With all your prayers we will soon start our adventure after spending the weekend with Joe and Chris and family in Minneapolis.

Sept. 14, Sat.

Watergate Marina was a great place to put the boat in, easy to finish packing and provisioning the boat.  Leans to the Starboard side, all those pint jars of fruits, vegetables and canned beef:)  Actually I packed that side first in Bismarck and was too tired to take them out and put them in a safer place.  They made it find with the bumps of I-94.  We found what should take a half hour to do takes us 2-3 times that, guess we're getting tired or something.  Long preparation and we're finally really going to take off. Slept well in the boat in the rain, but just not found the good sleeping spot on the boat.