from Hannibal

The weather took a turn for the worse as we cruised to the Quad Cities.  Pouring rain, so we were driving at the lower helm.  I went out to place the fenders for Lock 14 and oh dear, the bimini top on the flybridge had blown down and looked trashed.  After a dismal lockthrough, we pulled into Safe Harbor where Looper buddies, Tom and Diann have their condo and adjacent dock.  Readers might recall them from our Great Loop Adventures.  It was great to see them again and be so warmly welcomed into their first class harbor and gorgeous condo.  Tom and Steve went to assess the damage to the bimini, it wasn't as bad as first appeared and Steve thought he had a way to fix it.  We all took a ride to the grocery and hardware store.  Diann is a great cook and she served us a delicious dinner and breakfast the next morning. 

Steve and Tom went to work on the bimini and Diann and I did a little yoga.  More rain was forcasted and after a week of travel days, we decided to take a break and stay another night.  Bimini repaired and all relaxed and refreshed, we went to dinner at the Lindsay Park Yacht Club, joined by Tom and Diann's neighbors and good friends, Ron and Carol Lee.  Great fun, great food and lots of good conversation.  We bought fuel the next day at about $1 more a gallon that we had paid on our Loop.  We passed by Muscatine the next day, one of our favorite stops on our previous fall trips, but their harbor is too shallow to get into. 

On to Burlington where again our usual stop did not have enough water for our shallow 3' draft, so we stayed free at Big Muddy's Restaurant dock.  The next morning, SUN came out. 



The Fort Madison Bridge (trains on the bottom, cars on top) is one of the few bridges we have to  request to be opened.  



We passed by Navoo, a huge historic Morman temple and early settlement.

We stayed at the Keokuk Yacht Club, a fun little place with very narrow entrance.  

Tonight we are anchored above Hannibal, MO because their Municipal Marina is being dredged.  The weather was in the 60's today, but sunny and calm.  It was a long day, 55 miles and three locks, at 2 of them we waited over an hour.  I uploaded these pics while we waited for one, so I'm going to post this now, let Steve have the air card, and will have more pics when we get to Grafton.  Should be there in two more travel days.  This part of the River is pretty desolate with towns and marinas few and far between.  The banks are still lined with trees and a few cabins, but the bluffs are gone and the scenery is rather monotonous.  The good news is that the downstream current is giving us a another couple of miles an hour.  Last fall when we brought the boat home in an unusual fall flood, it took away at least three miles an hour.  So with our base speed of 8 mph, we are traveling about twice as fast as we did last fall.  Downstream is GOOD.