AND UP DATE ON US TO DATE....

SORRY CAN'T UP-LOAD ANY PICTURES ON THIS BLOG THIS TIME;;;;
WELL THOSE WING DAMS ARE EVERYWHERE, AND KNOW WARNING THAT THEY ARE THERE EITHER UNTIL IT IS TOO LATE.
We started out doing so well until just before Lake City. And we got two new props put on there and then we were off again. There is not a lot to see on the shores of the Mississippi i.e.: tress, sand and rocks.oh yes and houses. We were a bit worried about going through a Dam & Lock; the first one was a bit intimidating but we were the only one in it and they helped us through, here are some pictures of the first lock.
We drop 12 feet in this lock; we just keep dropping as we go south. We have to drop 1400 feet by the time we reach the Gulf of Mexico so we have a few locks to go through.
Here is the next lock, lock 3..

Yeah we weren’t alone in this one lots of boats of all sizes were in there.
Here is the bone yard they are along the river edges where tress have fallen and are dead. The water is not deep so where they fall is where they stay. We see lots of this on the river.
Then we come up to a place called Maiden Rock where we hit our first wing dam and did in our first set of props. Here are some pictures of what and where we were at. And had them fixed. This is Lake Pepin it is just off from Lake City. There is a lot of Sailboats there.
This is a large Marina they have over 1000 slips for boats. It is a small place from what we could see.
Ok here are the props the first time.
They don’t look too bad but they are: so two new ones go on. All nice and shine and new:::
Here we are going back in the water. On a travel lift.
We are leaving Lake City behind us. We are out on the decks with binoculars watching for things in the water, Rose was on the main deck and I went up top and yes getting some sun in those un-fore seen places only Jerry sees cause there was no one around only the birds. Jerry was keeping close watch on the sonar too. We were traveling along the river very well, time just seems to fly by and before we knew it, it was going on 5pm.
So started talking about where we would dock for the night, and we were coming up to lock five. Got in to it and there were a couple of guys watching from above they were riding there bikes south. We told them what we were doing and they said great sounds like fun, but then everybody we tell what we are doing say it sounds like fun. Well it has been fun but just a bit expensive. Oh wait l am getting ahead of myself. We get done in lock 5 and then we come upon some pipe and a vessel on our port side. Down a bit we see and building sitting to our starboard side. Jerry says there is more room between the two buildings than the building and the shore so we are going between the buildings. And we didn’t even get even with them and bang we hit something killed us dead stop in the water. And Jerry say’s WHAT, those who know he can just see him say that l am sure. He starts the engines and boy do they vibrate when he gives them some gas so he backs off. Then this guy comes over the two-way radio and asks if we were ok and we said NO we had hit something, he said oh sorry hope you can make it to the next lock and the next marina, but if we can’t to call ahead and some one could come and tow us in. That was the U. S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS that said oh sorry about that. Got to love them army boys????
We made it in and through the lock and in to the marina it was only about 4miles but it was very slow going. We got into a slip at the dock and some guys came and helped us tie up and then one of the owners from the marina came over, Jerry talked to him and they said they could pull us out of the water in the morning and see the damages so that is what we did. They didn’t have a travel lift they have a trailer and old army truck. They backed the trailer into the water and one of their guys drove the boat on it and then pulled us out. Jerry rode on the boat as it was pulled out. The damages were bad as seen in pictures. Jerry was just pissed about it; they said you have Ins. We said yes. So we gave them a call and they said to take pictures and make a report on what happen. So we did. Pictures well I’m always taking pictures.
We left Winona Sunday morning about 9:45 AM and made it to LaCrosse WI and then one motor quit on us so we are staying the night here, so we made it about 40 miles and Jerry says it is a good thing we are not in any hurry.