Started today at the crack of dawn. We were floating before the sun came up, so we were able to see this beautiful sight from the water! What we forgot to mention yesterday is that we clocked a record..43 MILES in one day. Needless to say, we felt pretty dang good about that and decided to float slow today and take in our surroundings. The early morning stillness and the cool breeze made it feel like the fish would be really active this morning. There’s something in the air when the sun is coming up that tells you the fish are out, hunting for their breakfast and are ready to snap at the first thing that moves in front of them… boy were we wrong..again. After a few hundred casts and swapping lures a couple dozen times, we came up empty handed. We’ve come to the conclusion that there are absolutely zero fish in this river, because if there were, it would mean we are bad fisherman, and thats just not true. At least we can grow our own food! Thanks again Irene and Baba 🙂 We built another garden box this morning and planted some seeds for even more fresh veggies in a month or two. We tried telling Skully that all they need is a little water and sunlight, but he insisted that the seeds would get cold and lonely out there all alone and decided to keep them company.

No joke, he actually said that!

Knowing that we had put in 40 something miles yesterday, we weren’t in any rush to reach our daily goal of 20, so we took our time and scoped out an awesome spot for a mid-day break, lunch and a bath

It was another scorcher out there today, but this northern breeze couldn’t be better. Its cooling us down, keeping the bugs off and pushing us down the river at record time.

We had to yank the emergency brake, screeching our barrels as we came into Guttenberg, IA this afternoon.

Have to say, this has been the best stop of our trip so far!

That picture is just outside the public landing, but the view from the river as we came in was absolutely beautiful. Its a small town, about 2,500 people during the summer, and it is centralized right on the river unlike others, which are mainly set back aways behind the railroad. Gary and his friend Natasha greeted us as we were pulling in and gave us a quick introduction to the town.

We really should have been writing this down, but I’ll try to remember the important stuff for you. Guttenberg was settled a long time ago, by a lot of stone masons who built really neat (and sturdy) buildings in this colony before the railroad was created and about 3/4 of those buildings are still standing today. Gary..sorry we couldn’t get the details down, but it was a pleasure meeting you!

As Skully fended off friendly residents from our raft, we explored the town. There were no shudders slammed, ill-looks given, or children rushed off the street by their concerned parents as we walked through (perhaps the baths helped with this) but instead we encountered a thriving river town, thick with German heritage

Thats all for today 🙂 Thanks for reading! Just a heads up to anyone in the area, or looking to meet up: We’ll be in Dubuque tomorrow and easily Davenport by next Wednesday or Thursday. Give it up..HIT 200 MILES on the big murky today WOOP WOOOP we can officially start giving her nicknames 🙂