Thursday, August 22, 2019

Day 27 - Is this Heaven? No, it’s Iowa

River Mile - 651
Daily Distance - 27 miles 
Total Distance - 690.0 miles 

Today we launched in foggy conditions. We paddled for an hour in these conditions, in some cases with no visible reference point. Jon is really good at navigating in difficult conditions. In this case, he said, listen for the sound of cars on the road. The route we want takes us along the road. Sure enough, after 5-10 minutes of paddling blind, but listing to traffic, the fog cleared enough to see the tree line, right were we needed to be. Also, as we emerged from the fog, we realized we had crossed over into Iowa. On que, a fishing boat appeared out of the clearing fog. Just like Field of Dreams.
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1bAZXCv9FnTA-QceZDIF1gYSg-g2K6YN3
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1r066p0EnlYKZOcGgYZ9eSzaZFUxdZOPw

15 miles in, we landed at the town of Lansing, IA at the Shep’s Riverside bar and grill for lunch and to get out of the sun for a couple hours. We had a beer and lunch while we charged out phones and started preparations for tomorrows arrival in Prairie du Chein, WI. 
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1VtQjtpkn5Dup_s4BPz8KSSkENCVbisv0

The river today was more of the Lake Mississippi, but with fewer man made islands. We knew it was going to be difficult finding an island to camp on. There were a pair of islands 25 miles into our day, but when we got there they were really more like swamps.  The little town of Lynxville, Wi showed up on our maps, and indicated there was a trailer park / campground. We paddled into their “Harbor” better than Genoa’s but still not sure how a motor boat could get in there. We inquired about camping, it’s $30 a night, or the biggest Motel room is open for $60...Well that was a no brainer!

We settled in, showered and rested. Tonight we will eat at the motel bar, Hoochie’s 2. The Packer pre-season game will be on so we are looking forward to that.

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