October 2, 2022

 Down the river, down the river, down the river we goooooooo!

My prediction was incorrect ...  I thought Kip would be awake at 3:00 a.m. and wake me up stating that we needed to get going, but he didn't get up until 4:30.  We left Lake City at 7:00 a.m.

We were pulling the dinghy behind the boat with a bigger motor, and we noticed that the dinghy was standing almost upright in the water because the motor was heavier than the old motor.  This caused drag on the boat and worry about the motor coming off and sinking into Lake Pepin.  We stopped at the Eagle Center dock in Wabasha, put the dinghy on the swim platform, and the motor on the back deck.  Huge relief and we gained cruising speed as well.  

Our first stop is 58 miles down the river to Trempealeau, Wisconsin.  We went through three lock and dams:  Locks 4, 5, and 5a.  There were people watching boats go through the lock, and they were asking us questions about where we were going, if the boat had a bathroom, did we have room for four more people, etc.!

We snapped this picture of the Dam Bar for those of you who have had the pleasure of visiting it and want to relive the experience.  We are not sure how it stays in business because of the health hazards on the old barge turned bar, but it is a fun stop if you go through Lock and Dam number 5a (a casino boat was there when we went by).

We arrived at Trempealeau around 5:45 p.m.  

Unfortunately, on day 1 of our trip, we broke our own rule - we will make our meals on the boat.  We ended up walking to the Trempealeau Hotel and had a pizza.  And, yes, we do feel guilty about it!  Even with our rule-breaking, we had a great day.