Muscatine, IA
\nI 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.
\nI 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.
\nI 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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<\/p>\n