Day 47: Recovering and more exploring.

Princeton, Camanche, Clinton, IOWA

I woke up today feeling good. I looked at my foot and the soft tissue had rebounded together. The rest of it is just a top layer wound. It is still not pretty, but it is healing. I opted to just put a non stick pad over it and wrap it today. I have been using bandages the past few days to keep it closed. I went downstairs to hang out and play with the kids for a bit. Both Liz and Andy were home today. It was fun watching them interact with their boys today. They are good kids. I see a noticeable difference between my nieces that are about the same age and these boys. Boys are much rougher and simply funny to watch them interact. We went into the basement. They had legos everywhere and to my surprise, they had 4 old school pinball machines. They worked and even came with a little side of nostalgia. I played one with their 6 year old. It was a great time. We played until their grandma arrived for them to go out for the day.
Once they left, I took Andy’s truck and went for a drive. I drove up to Camanche and Clinton. I wanted to use my down time to explore some towns I would be going through in a few days. It was nice to get out and see the open fields of corn that fills this area. I rolled through Camanche and decided to head up to Clinton. It was a larger small river town. I went to the waterfront that was blocked by a levee. I have a feeling I will be running into a few more of those along this adventure. I walked up on it and went to The City of Clinton Showboat. It was a dry docked old steamer that had been renovated. Now they operate a theater program out of it. I got a little tour. I think I will be able to better capture some images from the river. I watcher a tow boat bring 9 barges downstream. There was one of three rotating train tressels on the Mississippi River. I believe I already passed the other two up in Minnesota.
I watched as the tracks rotated. They cleared a route for a tug to meet the barges and help guide it thought the clearing. It was good to see. The crew on both boats waved hi to me as I was capturing some images. I will be keeping an eye out for a barge as I approach this area of the river in a few days.
I headed back after this mini adventure. I stopped by a corn field looking for another “Wilson” for this adventure. The corn is too early in the development, so I will have to wait. It will happen though. I arrived back in time for Liz and the kids to go out to take some photographs. I got in the car with them as we headed out to the park. We met up with Jon’s wife (Tara) and two of their three kids. They all played well together and I snapped some shots that made me happy. I will be uploading all those images and giving them to both sets of parents. Their help on this segment of the adventure has been greatly appreciated. It is a way I know I can give back.
I made it back and my foot was hurting again. I did not secure it closed enough today as I wanted it to breath. It split back open a little bit. I will be getting back on the water tomorrow. This journey will continue. I will just be extra careful to keep it clean until it fully heals. This has just been a speed bump in my adventure. I have taken it as an opportunity to have some quality conversations and see the river from a different perspective. I could not be happier or more grateful for this adventure in its entirety. Tomorrow, the adventure continues and I am looking forward to all that will be coming my way this summer.
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This is adventure.