Pirates Over 40

The last few days have been slightly challenging.  The heavy rains refused to let up and we spent a great deal of time in turbulent waters waiting on a barge to lock through!  We are currently in Dubuque, Iowa. 
This means we have only covered 33 miles in the past few days.
We truly enjoyed our time our time in Guttenberg.  We visited the local farmer's market and walked around to see the sites.  Rick always enjoys seeing some of the local establishments and the cute names they have. 

After waiting almost a full day of rain, we headed to the town of North Buena Vista.  People had told us that it was a "fun" place to visit and they were to have a special church fundraiser on Sunday that we should not miss.

The town of NBV has a population of about 160.  I think the campground area below makes it total over 1000!

We were met by J.D. and many other campers.  J.D. owns the campground and currently the gas dock.  He gave us a golf cart tour of the entire area and even treated us to some homemade wine that he has purchased over the years at the church silent auction.
The night on the boat was very rocky and little sleep was had by either of us but we were ready to check out the picnic on Sunday morning.

We were in line for the food by about 11:00 in the morning. They were hoping to serve about 2000 meals.  We decided that the stuffing served was about the best we have ever had.  The silent auction goes until 5:00 and we figured we needed to get going so did not stay the day.  Mistake!









We hurried towards Dubuque and the river seemed to get very wide and when the wind picked up, it was also very rough.  When we contacted Lock #11 they told us to hurry to lock through before a double barge.  We cannot hurry in this boat!!!  We spent almost 3 hours fighting the wind and the waves waiting to get through the locks.  We were accompanied by many other boaters but that really didn't help.  At one point the life jackets even appeared and Rick put one on to do something outside the boat.  This was the second time I thought about abandoning the trip.  I am sure there will be more!

After getting through the locks we were amazed at how calm the waters seemed.  It simply amazes us how the river can change so quickly.  We spotted Dubuque/Yardarm Marina and discovered they had an open slip.  It just so happens they were having "Pirates Night" and wonderful music provided by a group called Pirates Over Forty!  Most of you can guess that most songs played were by J.B.

We finally got a great nights sleep.  It got into the forties last night, but this morning the sun is shining and it looks like the rain has passed.  We plan to check out the Ice House District of Moline as there are docks where we can stay.

Dubuque is the home of Clarke where our nephew, Chase Gregory, goes to school.  It is beautiful in this area but I imagine he is running alot more hills in this area than he could ever find in Central Illinois!

Best wishes to all until next post.