John's Blog

I’m behind by a few articles. Here’s another one.

Here’s a summary of our ‘Muscatine Challenge’: paddling from Davenport to Muscatine (around 26 miles) in one go. We made it to Fairport.
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I was prepped and ready to go by 7:30. Bob arrived just before 8. Kim, Bob and I went upstairs for a cuppa and chat with Ellen. That ran 40 minutes. Bob later shared with me that he found Ellen to be intelligent, fit, and very pleasant to talk with. Said I was fortunate to have her as a MIL. I agreed wholeheartedly.
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We ended up putting in just after 9 AM, an hour later than planned. Bob took a few pictures along the way.
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Final preparations for putting in.
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Ready.
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That’s me under Crescent Bridge, just downstream from Centennial Bridge.
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Interstate 280 Bridge. The weather and river conditions were perfect.
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We paddled easy, barely dippin’ in. We met zero tugs during the trip except for a few small ’shuttle’ tugs that were busy hustling barges here and there at the quarries in Buffalo.
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We stopped for lunch on a sandbar sprinkled with a few green things at the downstream end of Buffalo. We named the island ‘Lunch Island’.
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The south side of Lunch Island.
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The north side of Lunch Island, looking toward Buffalo Shores Beach.
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Yet another picture of me, vibin’ on the perfect weather and river conditions.
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We got to Fairport around 4:30 or so I think. We agreed to end there. I called Kim who arrived 20 minutes later. Bob bought us a meal at a mom & pop restaurant back in Buffalo.
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I had the kayaks put away by 6 PM.
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So. We almost made it to Muscatine. A great trip. Bob (73 years young) said at coffee two day later that the only body aches he had were his feet. We figure that’s from him bracing his legs against the pedals.
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I plan on taking another shot at Muscatine later this week. Friday looks good. I’ll probably go by myself. Cheers.