Day 1 - St Paul to Red Wing

We got off as planned from Watergate Marina just before 1:00PM. The weather was good with sunny and warm conditions. Being the Forth of July there was fairly heavy boat traffic between Prescott, WI and Red Wing, MN.  Conversely, the first segment from the marina to Prescott had light traffic but the river was littered with much floating debris that caused us to slow a number of times but we made it through OK.  We were delayed at lock and dam #3 by a barge tow that caused us about a 1 hour delay.  I bet I'll run into that same barge tomorrow but hopefully not at a dam where it would again delay us.

Thank all of you who attended our send off. It was more than Mary and I expected.

Mary and me modeling our brand new captains hats.
A very thoughtful send off gift from Erin and Matt.
Now we can cruise with real authority and not worry about those big boats.
When they see these hats they'll move right out of our way. 

Matt preparing the champagne.
See the high water in the background 

Our send off party.
Ellie and Aaron,  Aunt Peggy,  Erin and Matt, Joe and Terry, Ann and Bill, and Mary and me.
And thanks Dan for taking the photo.

Yesterday I said I would make an announcement about our "royal escort".  Well the boat leading us is that of our good friends Joe and Terry.  The wanted to come along with us on the first leg of our trip and here they are guiding us through the waters of downtown St Paul.

The river had a large quantity of floating debris.  Note the full length tree trunk.  I hit a few small pieces of junk and had to pull the motor up twice to shake loose whatever I had snagged. I was very pleased to not have an entanglement with a monster like the one here. 

See the person on the top of the staircase.  That's Matt in downtown St Paul looking down on us.  He had to have scrambled to cover the 8-10 miles from Watergate Marina to this bridge in time to see us pass. I will like to see the photo that he took of us.

A quick stop in Prescott, WI.
Mary and Terry doing what ladies do.  They're chit-chatting up a storm.

Mary puts a finishing touch on day number one with a fine refreshment.
And if your wondering what was for dinner?
Here you go: http://www.redwingbrewing.com/