Monday: Jen and Scott; sorry to hear about "Little Duke". We know how you feel.
We are starting our 2nd week on the river. Most of the weeds and junk in the river are behind us and it is much more relaxing to drive the boat. It was 72 and breezy this morning and 85, windy, hot and humid this afternoon. We went through Lock 15A with another boat that stayed at the same marina as we did. There was also a Tow in Lock 15 at the same time. When leaving the lock it was extremely difficult to control the boat because of the river current and the Tow current. The boat in front of us almost hit the lock wall. We waited 1 hour for Lock 16 and when we finally got inside we only went down 6 inches!
Today was a short day and we got to our marina by 12:45 but it took us about an hour to get tied up and settled in. When I called for reservation they asked me what size boat we had and I told her 38' with a dingy on the back and she said no problem. When we got here there were only 30' slips. So with the winds and the short dock it took a while to get settled; sure am glad I have my "landing loop".
Tuesday: We took today off. There is very high water in the Grafton and Alton, IL areas and we were told it should be down quit a bit by the weekend so we are taking our time.
We are staying the Muscatine Municipal Marina, Muscatine, IA. The dock is fairly new and was build using Federal Aid in Sport Fishing Restoration funds. That means that only transient boats and fishing vessels can use the facility. The poor locals have to use the old broken down slips.
We rated the marina a 4 due to the short dock and there is nothing here. No bathrooms or showers, and no grocery store or restaurant within walking distance.
CO's comments: Last year with a smaller boat we never had to worry about bridges. This year we have at least one or two bridge every day that need to be opened. That's one advantage of an Express; you don't have to worry about bridges.
Bobbie - What happened to Tif??? Is she ok?
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