Day 55: The carnival and the kidnapping

Muscatine, IA
I woke today to the sound of thunderstorms. I got up and saw Brian in the garage. Steve and Lisa were not awake yet. I realized I was up too early and headed back to bed for a bit to “rest my eyes.” I was relaxing for a bit until I heard Steve and Lisa get up. They all had to leave to open show in Davenport. I wanted to get a few pics with them before they left. They told me to close up the place when I was ready to leave. I have encountered a lot of this when I have stayed with people on the river. There is a trusting and open community feel to everything. They told me to relax as much as I would like and I was welcome to anything in the fridge. I thanked them for their openness, hospitality, and fun memories. I got my pictures and waved bye to them as they left. I went back to lying down as another storm was coming. It began to rain and I slept for another hour and half. I didn’t mean to sleep that long, but it was comfortable and I was not in the mood to paddle in the rain. Once I was up, I went out to my boat to get some lunch. While making it, I was reloading my boat with my gear. It was going to be another good day.
I was ready to launch when Dale, the neighbor came over to help me get my boat back in the water. We talked a little bit while I was on the dock. The wind was strong today and the current was pushing my boat around. I took off and headed to the shore across the river to miss a lot of the wind. As the afternoon wore on, the wind died down and the river became calm. It was a quiet day on the river. I was on my way to Muscatine where I had a resupply of food shipped. I made it through Lock 16. Muscatine was about a mile from that. I pulled into the marina around 5:30. I realized I had missed the business day cut off. I was hoping I would be able to get to my food the next day. Otherwise, it would be on Monday. The clouds were rolling in I need to figure out what I was going to do for the evening. I grabbed my camera and walked up into the town. As soon as I cleared the marina, I saw a carnival in town. I thought this could be a fun opportunity to capture some good shots, but first I need to get food and see if I could find out where my food was located. I found the building and I could only hope to be able to access it in the morning. I grabbed a burger at the Mississipi Bar (spelled correctly). It was not that good, but I was hungry. I walked back down to my boat and sat on a bench to relax. I met John and Barb. They were in the house boat in the next dock over from me. I chatted without them for a bit before they invited me into their boat. They bought the boat from the scrap yard and put some love into it. It took them a bit, but the finished result was sharp. She was a retired teacher and he was a carpenter. They told me about the history with their boat and a bit about their lives. They told me that they were not going to stay the night, but I was invited to stay on their boat for the evening. They had the bed in the back of the boat that I could use. I would not have to set up my tent on the dock. I told them thank you. I was looking forward to enjoying the night out photographing now that I did not have to worry about the tent.
I was introduced to Steve and Miriam. John and Barb wanted them know it was ok for me to be in their boat this evening. I was talking with them a bit when their daughter Jamie showed up. I was telling her about what I was up to on this adventure.  I asked if she wanted to go on a mini adventure with me. She agreed. We went off to the carnival to capture some fun images. I got us up in the ferris wheel to capture some higher images.  We walked over to where a band was having a concert. I wanted to capture some crowd shots. I go them and then asked to go backstage to get some more shots. A security guard walked me backstage and I was vale to catch the crowd from a different angle. I had a blast doing that. We left the carnival and she wanted to take me to some other cool locations. I felt like I was being kidnapped for a photo safari. We went to an overlook and then across the river. I sat my camera on the top of her suv to get some good shots. Then, I spotted a way down next to the river. We trekked down throughout the muddy crossing to get to the river. I found a rock to set up the camera to get some great skyline shots. I was very happy with the results.They will be in the book. Jamie dropped me back off at the marina. It was a great night capturing some fun images. I went into the houseboat and hit the bed. I was tired from another fun day.