Saturday, August 4 & Sunday, August 5 ~ HOME :)

After a stormy Friday night in Pepin, Wisconsin, we traveled all of ONE HOUR to get to our last stop before home; Lake City, Minnesota.  Here we met our good friends the Zahradka and Viall families!

From left to right celebrating with champagne: Ernie, Dave, Sam, Jody, Kelly, Al, Aliyah, and Kim and Charlie in spirit :)

Spent a great afternoon celebrating and catching up with these great friends.  Went to dinner in town and a few of us kicked up our heels at the Old Bank Bar where a great band played!

Girlfriends Kelly and Jody take a break from dancing for a photo op :) {Notice those cute matching jean jackets!!!}

After a chilly morning walk with Sam on Sunday, we were all on our way northbound for one last time!  Along the way, we passed the beautiful town of Red Wing.  This picture shows Barn Bluff, where you can actually hike to the top and get breathtaking views of Red Wing and the Mississippi River!

Shortly past the no-wake zone in Red Wing, we were able to get some great shots of all our boats:

Sam waves as Captain Al cruises "Casa Del Aqua" on the Mississippi!

Captain Ernie and First Mate Jody cruising "Monkey Island" northbound!

Johnson & Johnson's last cruising day of this great adventure!

Our last lock of the approximately 70 that we went through!!!

A very busy Sunday in Lock 3, as they had to lock boats on BOTH sides of the lock walls!

It was turning out to be a gorgeous afternoon, so we all thought it would be appropriate to take a stop in the cove just south of Diamond Bluff.

Fun was had by all, especially the kids helping Aliyah make "Ally the Alligator"! 

Left to right:  Jacqui, Krystina, Tony, Cassie, Zach, in front is Aliyah, and in front of her is Ally!

Even Gator (Zahradka's beautiful dog) enjoyed the beach :)

After a few hours, we decided to make our final northbound cruise.  Here we are coming into the beautiful Prescott area with the Miss Croix Marina (home) on our right.

The Johnson & Johnson is now home!!!

Thank you, everyone, for sharing in this journey with us . . . it truly has been a trip of a lifetime!  We want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers, as we made it safely through this adventure!!! 

Love, Kelly and Dave



Friday, August 3

Enjoyed a beautiful cruise day on the river.  As we continued north, we saw the following sights:

Sugarloaf Mountain in Winona

Boathouses in Winona

A floating bar (the old "Freddies Float") just below Lock 5A

A painted mural on a wall in Minnesota City

General Warren Dredge

And all of its equipment to ensure that the channel is deep enough for the boaters and especially the towboats!

Winona's Eagle Center (perfect place to see the eagles)!

Krystina and Tony on the top of the sand dunes before Lake Pepin

As the day went on, the temperature rose.  Captain Dave kept cool under the biminy with his good 'ol Prescott Navy hat . . .

. . .while with the hose, Krystina kept cool, as well as . . .

. . .Jacqui!!!

Once in Lake Pepin, we all went for a dip, where Jacqui showed off her Russian jump!

We pulled into Pepin Marina, where we met up with fellow boaters Pete and Sis Hanson.  We all enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the Harborview Cafe (one of our favorites!) and had a great time catching up after six weeks!  We ended the evening with a surprise bottle of champagne from the Hansons . . .what a wonderful evening!!!

Thursday, August 2

Woke up to sprinkles, but that didn't stop us from getting out to enjoy the great outdoors.  Krystina and Tony were up at 7:00 to do a little fishing . . . they were very successful catching 12 fish total in just two hours! 

Dave and I went for a long walk around Pettibone Park.  Since the weather wasn't supposed to clear until noon, and we had ALL of three hours of cruising to do, we decided to take our time leaving LaCrosse.  After a yummy quiche breakfast (thanks to People's Food Co-op), we saw our clearing sky, and headed northbound.

LaCrosse ~ Downtown Waterfront

Leaving Pettibone Boat Club and Pettibone Island on our right.

Near the bridge, there are many boathouses.

As we came out of LaCrosse's Lock #7, straight ahead was the channel with beautiful bluffs to our port (left), and on our starboard we saw . . .

. . . beautiful Mississippi backwaters!  When returning in a waterway, the red buoy is always on your right {red, right, returning :)}.  So, everything to the right of the red buoy is backwaters . . . A LOT of backwaters!

As we continued northward, we saw this corps of engineers' boat.  It had just retracted the outrigger arms which hold depth-sounding equipment for charting the depths of the river.

Ahhh, one of my favorite scenic parts of the Upper Mississippi River . . . Trempealeau, with it's beautiful bluffs to the port and starboard :)

Our spot for the night was Sunset Marina, which was just around the corner of Lock #6 in the above picture.  When we got into the marina, there was a lot of commotion on a rental houseboat.  It seemed there were many men getting ready for a river adventure.

So, if you're a woman on the Mississippi, either get ready to enjoy a free boat ride, or STEER CLEAR!!! :)

Krystina and Jacqui decided to have their own fun on the Mississippi River, by having Tony pull them tubing.

We ended the day with a wonderful dinner at Ed Sullivan's Supper Club, where we celebrated my birthday.  Just as our dinners arrived, we were told by the waitress that "Lucky Dog" had just phoned and said he'd like to buy us a round of drinks . . . that would be our friends Dan and Sally who joined us mid-way through the trip!  Sneaky :)  We toasted our good friends with our after-dinner drinks; Bailey's on the Rocks, Virgin Grasshoppers, and a Brandy Alexander for me . . . now that's a birthday treat!!!  Thank you, Dan and Sally!

Wednesday, August 1 ~ New Crew Member!

Dave and I enjoyed a beautiful walk across the Mississippi River into downtown LaCrosse this morning where we had a fantastic breakfast at Fayze's . . .if you ever get to LaCrosse, this is a great place for breakfast or lunch.

At 11:30, we were VERY happy to see Jacqui back on the boat!  After finishing dance class last night, she packed her bags and hit the road first thing this morning ... we're so happy to have our family together once again :)

After running errands to Walmart, and our favorite grocery store in LaCrosse (People's Food Co-op; downtown), we treated ourselves to a yummy ice cream treat at the Pearl (another must in LaCrosse)!

Once groceries were put away, we took a trip over to UW-LaCrosse, where Krystina goes to college, and got a peek at her new pad that she'll be calling home beginning this fall.  A duplex with four other girlfriends just two blocks from campus!  Jacqui and Krystina tested out the new chair donated from Grandma G . . . "thanks, G!"

Turns out two of Krystina's girlfriends were staying in the duplex for the summer, so they came and hung out on the river for a while.

Krystina and Amanda going out to jump some waves on "Sydney" :)

Tony and Paige go to meet up with the girls on the river.

After some fun on the river, we ended our evening at one of our favorite dinner spots; "Big Al's"!

Tuesday, July 31 ~ LaCrosse!!!

Dave and Tony started up the engines at 6:45 this morning, eager to make it the WHOLE way to LaCrosse, Wisconsin.  Traveled 110 miles in 13 hours, and finally made it to Pettibone Boat Club, in LaCrosse, where they had their live Tuesday night music . . . what a great way to end a beautiful day on the river (high 80's and low humidity)!

I'm getting ahead of myself, as it was an interesting cruise to get to this point.  Let me back up a little:

Started this morning with some very interesting birds lining up for ? (their breakfast, perhaps?).

After that, Krystina needed to get a little exercise . . . so out on her jet ski she went!

Not sure who's getting the workout . . . the jet-ski or Krystina? :)

After some fun in the water, we came to Marquette, Iowa.  We often stayed in Prairie du Chien on many boat trips in previous years, which is the town in Wisconsin, across from Marquette. 

Again, if you're interested in gambling, you get to go out on the boat in Iowa! :)

At times the river was soooo wide . . .

and at other times, a small channel, like this one looking back at Lansing, Iowa. 

Shortly after Lansing, we came across this sign (sorry about the blurriness . . . Dave was tearing up the river to make waves for Tony to jump with the jet ski) :)

For those of you that are boaters and have seen this sign, it's a new one that shows the borders of Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin  . . . wow, we certainly are getting close to the end of this adventure. 

And when I use the term "adventure", that's what I mean, as when we pushed out of Lock #8, the Coast Guard announced a tow with 15 barges was blocking the channel just south of Brownsville (which was about 15 minutes from our destination of Pettibone in LaCrosse). 

We chatted with some fisherman to see if there was anyway they could check the depth of the river on the east shore to see if there was enough water for us to get through.

Unfortunately the fisherman didn't even have enough water.  So, we floated south for a little bit and began to get the anchor ready, when we saw another tow coming to begin to take the barges apart.  After a short while, the one barge that was removed was all we needed to create a pathway to continue northbound . . . however, now Captain Dave just needed to "thread the needle" :)

We had to leave the defined river channel and enter unknown depths of water to attempt to go around the barges.  An additional concern was since the barges were blocking the main river channel, there was a lot of current coming around the barges . . . and that current was VERY strong!  Dave called the captain of the tow and he said we wouldn't be in his way, but he couldn't advise us as to what to do because of the swift current.  So, we eased our way to the gap and . . .

with a little throttle and careful negotiating of the current . . .

. . . we were successful!!!  Captain Dave only said, "Beer me!" after that!!! :)

Here are the two tows removing the puzzle piece :)

As we looked behind us, we thanked the good Lord that we made it safe and sound :)

A little music and a cocktail at Pettibone's Tikki Bar was the way to end the day! :)