Comments

I love the the comments you have sent. Please keep posting them. They add an interactive aspect to blogging that I really enjoy.

It was brought to my attention that there is a little confusion on how to complete the process. Here is how it works: first, click on the red underlined word 'Comment' at the end of each blog. Second, write your comment. OK, thats the easy part. Now, before you can 'publish your comment' you have to choose an identity. There are three choices, I recommend the second option, 'Name/URL.' Type your name and then you will be able to publish. If you want to keep it anonymous than that option exists too.

I reply to the questions, so check the 'comments' again after a day or two for a response.

Thanks,

Justus

Day 16 - Pikes Peak

The View from Pikes Peak

Day 15 - Lay Over P.D.C. - Father's Day

Tim - Abandon all despair ye who enter here

Recommended reading

Father's Day

M/V Driftless

My parents and Grandpa Marvin joined me this evening. We dined on Prairie du Chien's famous Pete's burgers with some fellow house boaters on their boat, The Driftless. I got to be honest, dinner was more like meatloaf on a bun than a hamburger. They were tasty, but could have been even tastier with some fixin's, of course that could just be an acquired taste I picked up living in the south. Marvin is an entertainer at heart and would make friends with a light post if it could talk, so he didn't waste any time meeting our neighbors, Tim, Sara and Eva, who live nearby in Mcgregor but spend a good deal of time on The Driftless. They invited us in and Tim (who turns out is very well known and respected in town) told us of life growing up in Prairie. He shared child hood antics and local history with us. He's as much a river man as anyone I've met and a hell of a nice guy. He is a bearish man and by appearance someone you wouldn't want to cross. Both he and his wife have worked in correctional facilities and by the sounds of it, have a family full of law enforcement officers. I couldn't help but wonder if that made getting a date for their daughter a little more difficult. The company was grand and the stories pursued into the night. It was a great fathers-day and an amazing introduction for The Big Getter's new crew.

Day 15 - Lay Over P.D.C. - There Aren't too Many of us Crazies Left

Mark invited me to come along in his V-hull 14 footer for the afternoon and I was delighted. The boat ramps here in P.D.C. are all submerged so we headed for Mcgregor on the Iowa side of the river. Jumping wakes, surfing waves and cutting doughnuts so tight that the gunwales are almost submerged is what he is all about. Fishing doesn't interest him and I guess most of the folks up in these parts just don't understand that. "Gas is a bargain!" he says, "compared to what it will be in a couple of years, so I try to burn as much as possible right now." He's got a dry sense of humor and we got along great. Down stream a few miles we came across an old man in a tiny boat with a tent on top. I assumed he'd been out fishing for the weekend and lived somewhere close by. "Where are you going?" I ask him as we get close. "Home" he says in a weathered voice. "Well, how long you been out fishing?" I say. The old-timer rasps, "couple of weeks now." I sure wasn't expecting that answer so I asked him where his home was. "East Texas" he said. Well, that got my attention and we immediately started swapping stories. I told him of the Big Getter and he told me of building a catamaran and sailing it around the world. As he motored off Mark and I were admiring his spirit, ability and I commented on his age when I thought he was out of ear shot. Evidently his ears work just as well as the rest of his body because he yelled back, "You don't find many like you either." I got a good chuckle out of that and then he really made me laugh when he said, "There aren't too many of us crazies left!"

Day 14 - Lay Over in Prairie Du Chien

  
 
 
 

Im in Prairie du Chien right now and enjoying the Rendezvous festival that happens to be here this weekend. It's a recreation of an annual event that took place a hundred plus years ago when the indians of all tribes and settlers would set down there spears and guns and gather here on the eastern bank of the Mississippi to trade wears. It's a weird mix; kind of a massive flea market intertwined with fair ground activities and food, a massive anachronistic dose of costumes, tents, weapons and native american food. There is also a hint of a greatful dead parking lot scene. Does that make sense? Oh yeah it has a real active Mid-Western hospitality element too. There are black smiths and loom weavers, leather tanners and entertainers. I have found every food-on-a-stick possible and some that don't seem so possible. The locals are out in full force and many out-of-towners too. Most of the business employees are dressed up, I bought a coffee from a girl donned in raw hide, and bought a burger from a yankee soldier. Settlers are busy doing there everyday deeds while listening to their ipods and sipping cold cokes. Its been a wonderful lay over day.

Put-in Sequence

Day 13, 10 Miles - Below lock 9 to Prairie du Chien

I read that the Mississippi River rose a foot and half in one hour yesterday at Prairie du Chien. At Lansing, Iowa the marina attendant told me that the water was four feet above normal and 

considering the river is half a mile wide there that’s a lot of extra water. I started seeing signs of floodwater on Wednesday, the 11th. Most notable is the debris floating downstream. Trees are standing in three feet of water and many docks are inaccessible due to their non-floating walkways or stairs. The dam at lock 9 was under water and the lock gates served no purpose. Here in Prairie du Chien the main marina is an island of boat slips and the river walk has taken on a literal meaning. I have spoken with many people who are pumping out their basements, building levees out of sand bags or just abandoning their homes with hopes that the rising water will cease. Flooding means hardship and misfortune for many, but I welcome the excess water. The current is pushing along and I feel safe on my boat. I’ve been able to make more miles per day and with more ease than I expected. The debris causes some hazard but I am being attentive and swerving down the river like a go-cart on an obstacle coarse. This morning I had so many sticks and leaves built up on my anchor lines that I couldn’t pull them in. I changed into my bathing suit and went for a brisk swim to clear out the floating islands that had amassed on my ropes. Before I jumped in however, I tied an empty water bottle to a 50 foot length of rope and let it tail behind the Big Getter. The current was strong and I was worried that if I lost hold of the anchor line I might be washed a ways downstream before I made it to land. The water-bottle-tail created insurance that I could grab onto.

Mechanical Beasts

The commercial industry does more sputtering than spewing and more gabanging than gushing. The noise pollution is obvious but I haven’t seen any three-eyed fish yet. Often as I pass by factories I wonder what goes on behind the windowless walls and barbed wire fencing. Smoke stacks and piles of coal, conveyer belts and monstrous backhoes are foreign to me and intrigue my curiosity. The dredgers dig and the barges tote and I wish for a glimpse inside those mechanical beasts.

Day 12, 29 Miles - Below Lock 8 to Below lock 9

Our acquaintance was fate,

he served as first mate,

and there wasn't a fish that was safe.

He was tried and was trued,

came without a bad mood,

and never complained of foot chafe.

He's a good man to know,

who speaks rather slow,

and hunts stoves with best of the rest.

I'd steer and he'd stare,

tell stories and swear,

our friendship I'd never have guessed.

One might say he is gruff,

but don't care for stuff,

he is rich in love and in life.

I said farewell,

he just grunted "ah hell,"

and headed for home and his wife.

Lansing's now lonely,

and I am the only,

bound to do all the work by myself.

He forgot his green mug,

I've named it the Tug,

which sits solemnly upon his shelf.

Lansing

Day 11, 21 Miles - La Crosse to 2 Miles Below Lock 8

This was the first 15 barge tow we've seen. John said he was gonna put a mile between us and the barge but it ended up being quiet a bit less. I am starting to see tugs for the second time, of course they are heading in the opposite direction. A nice head wind hit us today and we beat across a no name lake to lock 8 where we said good by to Adam. Unfortunately we couldn't find a boat landing so we let him off on the railroad tracks. He was a great help and I think would have enjoyed staying onboard a bit longer if he didn't have a return flight to Israel tomorrow. I explained to him about the nonexistent public transportation here in the united states so he is going to try his thumbing skills out. Not long after we had passed through the lock I noticed that he had forgotten his shoes. I hope hitching is easy barefooted. The wind continued to howl so we dropped anchor the first place we could. About the time dinner was ready I noticed a boat in the distance coming down a side channel. "Was that boat there before?" I asked John. "Sure wasn't" he replied. I took a closer look and could faintly make out a sheet of plastic flailing in the wind, a tell tail sign of Evangeline. "Ah hell thats Bill." John agreed with me and we threw ona little more food in anticipation of company.Dinner was ham, carrots, beans and rice with a special sauce care of Kyle and Emily. We all chatted for a while and then I took Max and Bill back there house in the dinghy Drum-Man. The wind continued to rip but the clouds were awesome and the sky turned pink with the setting sun.