June 26, Tuesday

Kip let me sleep in until 8 am today. I'm so glad. We grabbed coffee and left, heading to Davenport, IA.

We stopped in Muscatine, IA and had lunch. We also stopped in the hardware store for ice and met Pearl and another lady who were cashiers. They were so nice. They went through the post card rack and handed us one and told us "to tell everyone we talked to two nice old ladies in Muscatine." We were getting ready to leave the slip, and two men came down and asked us if we were the people on the long boat trip. He said that the ladies at the hardware store told them to come and talk to us. One of the guys runs the Muscatine boat show that is in May. The web site is muscatineboatshow.com, if anyone is interested.

Ashley: We went through a town called Montpellier, Iowa today. It didn't look like France though! We also went past Walnut Grove!!! We didn't see Laura Ingalls though.

There weren't as many deadheads today, which was good. The temp is in the 90s and very, very humid. When underway, we are traveling about 23 mph and the breeze feels good. Once we stop, we sweat!

We went through 3 or 4 locks ranging from 5 feet to 12 feet. Everyone has been very nice to talk to. People in the lock observation deck wanted to come with us! We had to wait one half hour at the last one, and we were baking... so we jumped in the river for a few minutes to cool off. The lock master told us that the locks were only supposed to last for 40 years, but it has been 70 years now and some of them need repair. The bad part is there is no money to make the repairs, so one side of the Davenport double lock is idle. There was a 50' Trawler style boat from LaCrosse traveling southbound on the river, and they told the lock master they were heading south for the winter, and that didn't make any sense to us or the lock operator (especially since the best part of summer just started). We also ran into a pontoon boat from Wisconsin and chatted with them for a minute.

We stopped at the Lindsay Yacht Club in Davenport, Iowa to meet up with Chris F. (Productivity, Inc. - Iowa) and his wife Rita. They took us out on their very nice 35' Chris Craft. We ate at TGI Fridays and they gave us the tour of the city. It was very nice, and Kip was happy that he didn't have to drive for a while. Thanks Chris and Rita. We had fun today. They have many casino boats here for you gamblers. We got gas at $3.49 a gallon. We went about 85 miles today total. Tomorrow there is a 70% chance of rain, so we put the canvas on the bridge and the back deck so we are prepared. If it is bad weather, we might just stay here another night since traveling is no fun in the rain.

An update about Carlo: he went to the dr. today and found out he does NOT have to have surgery on his knee or leg, but he has to wear a cast for one month. We are happy it is not as severe as we first thought.