Day 6 - Savanna, IL to Muscatine, IA

This morning we woke up to muggy and overcast conditions.  You've probably seen it before, your windows are sweating on the outside so you know you'll wilt once you move outdoors. Our stay was at the L+M motel in Savanna, IL. A real mom and pop place or in this case I think it was mom and son. The room was  basic but nice. Mary wasn't too excited as the owners were dog lovers and they had a bunch of them roaming about the place. You know when you step over one to get to the check-in counter you're entering a doggy paradigm.

L+M Motel in Savanna, IL
The motorcyclist hang here as witnessed by the white canopy in front of the building. This is to park their cycles under to guard them from the elements. Notice the welcoming dog standing under the sign.

We left the Savanna city operated marina around 9:30 AM and were thanked for our patronage by a fellow named Frank. He had welcomed us just the afternoon before and said if we needed anything he'd be happy to help. Turns out that after we'd chatted for awhile we stumbled upon the fact that he knows my brother in law. Small world.

Downstream from Savanna the river opens up to a very wide expanse. Upon our approach to this area we stumbled upon a few islands that were populated with birds to such a density that they literally trashed the plant life there.

Creepy scene of bird overpopulation.  

When Mary saw the island she was creeped out and it did't help that the skies were getting darker and the winds had increased at roughly a 45 degree angle across our general course. We didn't know it yet but at this point we were only five miles from where we'd experience the worst conditions of the trip thus far. A small storm system seemed to peaking when we neared the middle of this large area. The wind driven spray from the Blue Fin, plowing through the white caps, came over the starboard side for a run of 2-3 miles and completely soaked us. I mean really soaked and I think I'd have felt drier by jumping in a swimming pool. The rough windy conditions stayed with us until we arrived an lock and dam #13 just upstream of Clinton, IA where we were greeted by our next surprise.  The locks were being repaired and would cause us to be detained for about 1.5 hrs.  Perfect timing as we were sitting out in the nasty rough water and now the rain had begun to fall. I told the lock-master I was going back up stream a mile to hide behind a wall and he should call me when he's ready to receive us. I found a nice hideout along a tree line growing out of a levee that blocked us from the wind and made the waters calm. Here we sat under the bimini cover and listened to the rain fall. Mary asked me if there wasn't something we could do and I said yes.  Enjoy the moment and build memories because you'll never be in this place in this circumstance ever again in your life. By the time we were informed by the lock master that the chamber was ready everything had changed with the weather. Now the wind had died down and the water had smoothed considerably.
If your superstitious you might already be piecing together the psychic signs associated with our experience. The creepy bird island, approaching storm, and lock and dam #13. I'm glad we're past this place!

When we arrived at dam #13 one of the crane arms
 was extended over the lock gate to the left.
That's a scene I hope we don't see again as it means long delays.
In this pic the water had calmed a great deal from earlier conditions.

 After getting through dam #13 it's only a short distance to Clinton, IA where we found a nice marina with a restaurant. We purchased gas and then took another check of the weather. Now it looked like a thunder storm was 5 miles out and closing on us fast. We decided to go to the restaurant to wait it out.  This made for our first weather delay so we celebrated at the bar in the restaurant.

Sitting at a bar in Clinton, IA waiting for a storm to pass. We drank coffee, not alcoholic beverages, because we were freezing from being soaked.

Most of the bad weather had passed by noon and the rest of the day was uneventful. We passed the Davenport area and completed our passage through dams #14, and 15 without too much delay. These two were the first we've seen where the water level above and below the dam are actually different. You can gauge the level change by watching the water line on the concrete wall of the lock chamber and in these we saw about 4 feet of change.

Dam # 15 at Rock Island, IL
The red steel curved gates are lowered or raised off the river bottom to control the upstream water level. The water flows under the gates to allow passage of silt.

The general water level conditions here, while still high, have improved a good amount. I can see where the water stain lines show on tree trunks etc and the level is a solid 3 feet lower than it had been recently. It's expected to continue to drop about 6 inches per day and at this point I no longer worry about excessive rains and flooding. The die is cast and I can now outrun any significant Mississippi level change that's not already forecast. The river tributaries could not possibly feed in enough new water to reverse the lowering trend in the time frame of my passage.

By mid afternoon the warm and sunny conditions that have so far prevailed over our trip returned.  The character of the water changed back and forth from calm to rough but nothing like this morning.  The last 30 miles from Davenport to Muscatine is on an east-west aligned segment of the river. There are a few of these on the river and they always seem to make for big changes when traveling through. For example, a west wind on an east-west aligned segment of river is trouble but it's rendered almost impotent on a north-south segment.

We arrived in Muscatine at 5:30 pm and tied up at the city marina.  We arrived after their office closed so we're on the honor system to pay them in the morning before we leave. We've been making good use of our folding bikes and trailer. Here in Muscatine we peddled 2.5 miles to the west end of town to find out motel. Yesterday in Savanna we had a two mile trip and in Dubuque it was roughly the same at about 2 miles. We've gotten the routine of deploying the bikes and trailer to their fully operable mode, with everything loaded and ready to roll, down to about 30 minutes. That includes looking around for things we might have left behind. It's a little unnerving when handling our belongings while on the docks.  On slip up and it's good bye forever as old man river swallows it for good.  It's almost certain at some point I'll report on what was dropped in the water.  I just hope it's not something expensive.

Tomorrow we off to either Burlington of Fort Madison.  Which one will depend on the conditions we experience and it's true what I've been told. That when traveling in a fast boat, the time spent at locks dominate all and make for the perfect schedule destroyer.