October 9, 2022

Burlington, Iowa to Keokuk, Iowa

The temperature last night was 46 degrees, and our sleeping bags will stay warm to 40 degrees, so we were fine.  We left Burlington about 6:45 a.m. and the waters were a bit choppy due to a 10-mph head wind.  Kip's Rainex worked great keeping the windows clear!

We went under one swing bridge fine, but the next one (the Fort Madison RR Bridge) only had clearance of 9-10', and we need over 13', so they had to open the bridge for us so we could get through.

We see so many beautiful houses along the river, but these two stuck out.  The house in the top picture added a deck over the steep hill, while the house in the bottom picture, well, he tried to add a deck, but the footings caved and scattered along the hillside.  It seems they don't really know what to do next (but we wish them good luck with that).  

We continued to Keokuk Lock 19, which has a 38' drop, the biggest drop we have had.  When you go in the Lock, you tie a line on the back cleat and through a spinner on the Lock called a bollard, and then the person in the front of the boat holds the line.  While the water goes down, the bollard floats down with you until you get to the bottom.  

We docked at South Side Boat Club in Keokuk.  No charge!  We walked into town to pick up a few supplies and took care of some maintenance items (fill water, etc.).  We have no place to plug in our power, so we just ran the generator to cook dinner.  We traveled 36 miles today.  There is a beautiful moon and sunset, as usual.