Almost Home!

As we moved on up the river on Saturday towards McGregor,  IA, we saw a lot of dredge activity by the Army Corps. The river tends to silt in in various areas, and it is a constant battle to maintain a deep enough channel for the barges. The dry summer has compounded this, and there are many shallow areas where barges are running aground. The Corps has many ways of dealing with this. We showed you an “auger”  dredge earlier, where they suck the silt from the bottom, and pump it through large hoses to the shore.

For smaller areas, they use a large backhoe on a barge. The backhoe fills a barge full of sand, then the barge is pushed to shore with a small tug. At shore, another backhoe unloads the barge into large dump trucks, and the trucks take it to a disposal site where a bulldozer pushes it around. Pretty darn labor and equipment intensive!!!

And - all that equipment is hauled to the next spot on the barges!

Many of these sand piles they leave behind turn into great beach and play areas. Above, someone has dug a trench in the sand, and lined it with plastic. They have a large gas powered water pump they use to pump river water up to the top, and they have an instant water slide!

And if there is a good tree nearby, it’s the perfect place for the rope swing!

We reached McGregor, and were greeted by the same fellow from last August when we were heading down. Remember - I referred to him as Red /Green?? Well, he has branched out, and is now offering floating condos!

As we left McGregor today,Sunday morning, we started seeing more of the hills and bluffs that we so love in our home cruising grounds around Red Wing. 

We are getting closer to home and can see it in the landscape!

Today we ran 82 miles, and walked right thru four locks with little waiting. We ended the day at Sunset Bay Marina, just above lock 6. Tomorrow, we will make Wabasha, or Lake City.

As an added treat, and a VERY fitting end to our year long journey, we may be able to meet up with friends Joel & Deb on their trawler Water Music. We had first met them on the July 4th weekend in 2009. We had taken a run up to the St Paul Yacht Club for a long weekend, and they had their new Fathom Trawler slipped there. We got to talking, and they too were dreaming of doing the Loop.

Just so happens, their Loop departure date is TODAY! If we get to meet them in Wabasha, Lake City or Red Wing on their way down, I’m sure it will be a gab fest into the wee hours!!!

                               See why they call this Sunset Bay!!!

                                Good Night .......Captn Ken