We made it
to Muscatine on Wednesday and were greeted within minutes by Mark! We
met he and Becky in Marathon last February! Mark took us to their
beautiful Muscatine home and Becky made us a wonderful dinner while we
visited and I was able to do “free” laundry and sit in a real chair!
Thank you so much Becky and Mark for your generous hospitality! We now
have friends in Muscatine. Our plan had been to stay through Thursday
and visit with them again in the afternoon but when we woke up the
already VERY shallow water under 20BUCK$ seemed shallower so we decided
we needed to move on while we could still move on and weren’t stuck in
the mud.
We headed for Clinton, IA! We went past the Quad Cities. In my former job
I used to cover a branch office in Davenport and stay at this hotel
behind the casino - a little trip down memory lane for me.
We made it to Clinton for the night only to wake up Friday morning and
realize we had been the victims of a mayfly hatch during the night. We
were covered with mayflies so before we could leave, Ken had to spray
down the boat and get rid of those nasty little bugs! Don’t they know
it is August???!!!
Off we went, headed for Dubuque, IA where we were meeting up with more of
our new “river rat” friends that keep their boat at the same marina as
Marc and Michele! Along the way we saw this beautiful tour boat
“Twilight” and this little deer trying desperately to swim across the
river! I hope he made it!
As best I could tell from the chart and Quimbys, this is the Frentress
slough that takes you into the Frentress Lake marina, home of Marc’s Ark
and the other two couples we were going to meet up with. This marina
is tricky to get into so we were advised by Marc not to try but go up
river a little ways to Dubuque!
We tied up in Dubuque at the Ice Harbor docks that are beautiful but the
city has not totally finished the marina and opened it yet. Government
red tape we hear. We called them on the phone. They welcomed us to tie
up but said we wouldn’t have any services. We did and even had power!
We had first met Gerry and Earleanne at Green Turtle Bay in Lake Barkley
last fall when they came to visit Marc and Michele. They then visited
them in Marathon so we got to get together again in February! Last
night we had the pleasure of having dinner not only with Gerry and
Earleanne but also their daughter Stacy, husband Curt and their 4 boys -
Matthew, Patrick, Christopher and Jonathan! We had a wonderful dinner
at a restaurant that used to be a brewery! We loved meeting the family
and had a great evening! Thank you Gerry and Earleanne for making time
to meet up with us on the river!
The Dubuque river walk is beautiful! There is a Mississippi River Museum
that we would love to tour! Guess we will have to go back someday!
Our last new “river rat” friends are John and Pam. We had met them in
Marathon also when they were visiting Marc and Michele. They had
attended the Trawler Fest in FL and drove down to the Keys! John and
Pam picked us up this morning and took us to breakfast! Thank you so
much for getting up early and coming to visit us!
Such a great few days on the river
connecting with newly found friends! A HUGE thank you to all of you
for welcoming us to your home/town! Also a great big thanks to Marc and
Michele for introducing y’all to us! We will meet again someday I am
certain!
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