Great day visiting with the folks at "F" dock. Boaters here on the Mississippi travel quite a ways from their homes to get to their boat moorages and once there it is a home away from home - their summer cabin. A great sense of community is apparent along the docks. Few of the boats are brands that we see in the NW and there are many houseboats.Our hosts for the day, Rick & Cath, transported us up and down the river by car and boat. They introduced us to their great friends on "F" dock. And listened to a lot of B.S. (boating stories). At the town of Bellevue, we watched the operation of one of the river locks. This lock is about the size of the Seattle big lock: 600' long by 100' wide.
We learned a lot about boating on the river. 9' controlling depth in the channel. No charted depths outside the channel so be careful. Many, many green islands and some sandy beaches. Many more green and red buoys marking the channel. No numbers on the buoys. Navigation is done by reading the milepost on a billboard on shore. Railroad bridges swing open to let a boat through after a phone call (and cookies for Christmas). Every boat gets hauled out and put on the hard for the winter from about mid-October to mid-March. The river freezes over and therefore the commercial barge traffic comes to a halt.
The "F" troop told us that it usually isn't as humid as we've had it this past week. (90 degrees and 80% humidity is tough for even them.) This compatible bunch enjoys yakking, traveling, and dining out together. (Didn't hear much about cooking - but that's all right with me!)
Great day!
