Barge Tow at Night -- Happy Halloween!

Barge tow at night on the Mississippi River.  Scary -- or is this just
Dan's view of barge traffic on the river?

Can I Borrow a Cup of Sugar?

The Gammel Dansk in the chamber with buddy Loopers -- sharing the
lock ride down to the lower river level.

Fall Colors Near Alton, Illinois

Fall colors along the Illinois side of the river as the Gammel Dansk
and crew head toward the lock at Alton, Illinois.

Bronze Settlers

Dan and Tori check out the cool bronze statue collection of settlers
complete with their horses and covered wagon.

Depth Gauge at Lock and Dam #21

The water had been at 29 feet the week before they closed
this lock in Quincy, Illinois.

Looper Navy at Night

This is the 4:30 am view of our Great Looper Navy of 3 boats at the docks of the Quincy Boat Club on the Mississippi River in Quincy, Illinois.

Lock and Dam #20

Gammel Dansk gets a 28-foot ride down in the lock chamber at
Lock and Dam #20 at Keokuk, Iowa.

Below is Lock and Dam #20 filled with trees and debris from the flooding being cleared from the river.

Flying our Colors

This is how we have been traveling with our colors flying:  
Our Bainbridge Island Eagle Harbor Yacht Club burgee,
our Seahawks pennant and our Washington State flag.
The curious like to know why. We tell them the reason for our flags flying proudly is to show where our hearts still live. 

Here are the friendly flotilla members who took the picture above:

Dining with the Flotilla Crew

The crew of our 4-boat flotilla at our evening meal at

Big Muddy's in Burlington, Iowa.

We are comparing notes and sharing stories of the day's events
during our 72 mile water journey.

Barge Crewman

This crewman stood on a northbound barge headed as we exited
Lock #18 headed south.

American Pickers

Mary, Dan and Tori the Seeing Eye Dog visit the home base of the History Channel’s American Pickers TV show in LeClaire, Iowa  

Waiting In Rock Island, Illinois

The moon rising in Rock Island, Illinois

We have been off the river at a marina in Rock Island, Illinois the past two weeks due to the Mississippi River being above flood stage. The locks downriver have been closed to ALL north and south bound Commercial and recreational traffic. If the Good Lord's willing and the river don’t rise, we may begin southbound travels on Thursday morning. We have met other Looper boats, so we will be traveling in a group of 4 boats. 

Do you know when you have been in one place too long?

Answer:  When Dan takes up trapping a racoon.

So far the racoon is winning, robbing us of a loaf of bread and four bananas. We put a slice of bread with cream cheese salmon dip on one slice and another sliced bread with peanut butter creamy style in the back of the trap. Dan cut carefully thinly sliced bananas on the dock in breadcrumb style into the trap. The wiley critter ate the banana and reached over the trigger that closed the door and then made off. He left Dan a beautiful trail of white paw prints of cream cheese salmon dip. He did not even leave a note or a thank you on the extensive buffet spread. Dan wanted to take his Henry rifle on the Loop. No. No, Dan. No. He argued how handy a Henry rifle would be.  He mentioned he would like to fly the coon tail on the Gammel Dansk mast. He says we would be more respected in Tennessee flying that coon tail.
Not all problems are maritime related. 

Flying our colors: The Washington State flag. 

Note Trapper Dan’s trap on the dock and also note the absence of
a coontail flying off the mast. 

The Mighty Mississippi

Mississippi River at Bettendorf, Iowa.  The wind and the flood stage of the river is giving it the feel of being on the ocean.

Traveling on the mighty Mississippi. The river is quite calm up near Red Wing and Minnesota. It is becoming more formidable as all the little rivers empty into the Mississippi. It changes when the 300 mile long Missouri River and the Mississippi come together. We feel fortunate to have ocean experience in Alaska, Washington State and the SALISH sea in British Columbia, Canada. The Gammel Dansk is able to handle the big waves on the river quite smoothly. OK, some of it was not as smooth as we would like. One of our planned stops was Appalachacola, Florida, to see Mary's childhood and high school friends from Mary's hometown Excelsior, Minnesota. So lucky to have started late, because we would have been sitting in the harbor there. Mary's friends refused to evacuate and have emailed us they are OK except for the loss of trees in their yard.

More "Rolling on the River" footage below...

Clinton, Iowa

Near our marina, water flushing out of the Mississippi
 to lower the river height.

Floodgates are closed to prevent flooding. The river is running high because of the downpour of rain for the last few days. Hurricane MICHAEL is in the Gulf about to make landfall. We will be traveling through that area in November. In the meantime, we are off the river taking a break behind the floodgates in Clinton, Iowa.

Old lighthouse no longer in service.  

At one time many of the towns along the river had this type of lighthouse helping the boats moving up and down the Mississippi river, using the lights to navigate. See the line on the lighthouse?  On 4-28-1965 the river flooded to the crest of the 24.85 foot level. Note how high the water would be 

above the parking lot.