Greetings from Bellevue Iowa! Great little town it’s functional yet not too sketchy while minimizing tourist appeal. My self and Rich got an early start today…well, early by our standards, on the river by 7:30Am, we made it through Lock n’ Dam 12 and pulled into town for fixin’s and sweets. Our return to the river was met with fury, hence me sitting here waiting for the lightning to stop.
On a public service note, myself and rich fulfilled our civic duty yesterday by reporting odd behavior in the local wild life. We pulled off the river yesterday to make lunch at a “private” boat landing and while sitting at the dock eating bananas and fruit snacks, the sickest looking remnants of what was once a raccoon came staggering out of the tall grass besides us. It showed no fear to our presence nor any interest in the fruit snacks I threw to it.
We thought it odd because normally animals are not so eager to be our friends. The fact that he was foaming at the mouth caused us to decide that we did not want to be friends with this woodland critter. I wanted to shoot it with a well aimed shot with the slingshot, but Rich convinced me that being on private property doing so would have “lawsuit” written all over it. So we Tracked down the land owner whom hastily called Animal Control thus saving the day!
Oh! We discovered a very scientific method to problem solving and decision making. I come up with ideas and decisons and Rich comes up with resonable reasons that they would not work, if he cannot come up with any that is the decision we go with. Yay Science!
Yay science indeed. We’ve been having some pretty interesting weather going down the river, as the cooler dryer days of Spring begin to turn into the hot muggy days of summer we’re going to have to get used to as we go further south. Yesterday we got alot of sun, but wound up drinking about a gallon of water each as the air got more and more moist.
We stopped at a place called 9-mile island, just south of L & D #11, where we met Jeff and his dog ‘Rabies’ (Interesting foreshadowing there). We talked to Jeff about what what we are doing, and he seemed pretty thrilled about it. He expressed interest in hiking up in Northern Minnesota, and we were more than happy to point him to Grand Marais, the Devil Track River Trail, the Porcupine Mountains, and the Brule River, all of which are fantastic places for short or longer hikes.
Jeff was also kind enough to point us to a fantastic restaurant at the Chestnut Mountain Lodge. Coming in from the water, we could see the cleared slopes that would be skiided down in the winter, but they keep the resort open in the summer too. They keep one chair lift open, so we got a free lift up the mountain, watching the river loom up behind us and giving us a great view of Pool #11 (Pools are the areas just north of the locks, named after the lock that creates them.) After eating a hearty dinner, we paid a couple of bucks to take scooters down a track that went to the bottom, which Phil dutifully flipped over on his way down.
All in all it was a great night, we found a great campsite, and we owe it all to Jeff. Thanks alot friend, and we wish you luck in your travels as you have wished us luck in ours.
R
ps. And look at that, the rain stopped. I take full credit.
