up late again. We gathered our gas cans and resigned ourselves to the fact that we needed gas so we were going to have to hike a good mile and half uphill in the rain to the nearest gas station. Perhaps it was our ragamuffin appearance of "just out of bed" and "haven't showered in 6 days", or maybe we just happen to be fortunate enough to cross the paths of the nicest people in town just as they pass by. Whichever the case, we hadn't gone more than a block from the boat when a brand new truck (Wade thought it was a Linclon luxury pickup, for those of you who know or care what that means) pulled over and asked if we wanted a ride. "Heck yeah!" Our hour trek uphill through the rain became a comfortable 5 minute ride just like that. He was obviously a well to do fellow, his truck smelled like expensive cologne, he was dressed in a suit, and when he started talking to Wade about his yacht that was stored in the same harbor we were staying at, it was confirmed. Lucky for us, he was just a super nice guy with a soft spot for river ragamuffins like us. He stayed in his truck and waited for us to fill up, grab last minute snacks from the gas station store, and drove us back to the docks.
We finally left Hannibal around 10 o'clock and I took first shift. As Wade mentioned previously, the landscape isn't as pretty as it was upriver (although it does still have its moments) so I read as I drove. There wasn't anyone else on the river, it was well marked with buoys, and it was fairly wide so I thought it was pretty safe to split my attention between the two. The rain stopped (FOR ONCE!) and the wind died down so it made for a pretty nice shift. I drove for an hour before I came upon Lock and Dam #22, another hour later we were at #23 without having to wait for a barge!Our luck was about to run out, though. We were chatting with the attendant and we told him where our destination was, when he told us to hang on and left us. When he came back he said he had just contacted the next Lock and Dam and there was some sort of accident, which meant we might not be able to get through. He advised us to call ahead and if it was closed down we should stay at Louisiana, MO - the only marina before Lock and Dam 24. We thanked the man and continued on our way, only Wade took over. Jenny looked the Lock phone # up on the Internet and I called it to confirm what the Lock 23 attendant said. There had been a barge run-in with one of the doors of the lock, so they were going to be down for a couple of days and no one would be able to get through.
It was a bummer having another stall in our journey, but it turned out to work in our favor. We arrived at the Two Rivers Marina, as suggested to us at 2 pm, which was about an hour and half north of the closed lock. It was actually open! For $27 we had a place to keep the boat, showers, the facilities to do our laundry, access to electricity to charge our batteries, and a courtesy vehicle to take into town!
Jenny and Wade were very intent on showering right away and doing laundry, but I wanted to go to town and get the supplies we needed so that was out of way. Well, I hate to say "I told you so", but by the time we finished showering and laundry the office had closed and the courtesy vehicle was not accessible to us anymore. It was close to 5:30, already!
We walked to the entrance of the marina and peered down the road, thinking we'd walk to town, but the bridge separating us from town was too narrow for us to cross without gettting hit by all the traffic. Scratched that idea. We went back to the boat and motored across to a rather shifty looking dock. The current was much stronger than anticipated so close to the shore, so getting to the dock was a task in itself. After three attempts to just get close to it, I jumped off the front of the boat onto the dock, rope in hand and tried to pull them in. Wade was trying to position the boat so he could grab the dock at the back of the boat and motored backward to line himself up. The dock was so slippery that he just ended up pulling me forward and (lucky for him) I let go of the rope before he pulled me right off the edge of the dock into the water. There would have been serious consequences for any results that ended with me in the water. . .
Anyway, we followed Wade's garmin into town and it was an estimated 2 miles to the nearest Walmart - the only store that would be open late enough and have the weather stripping, battery charger, and other misc. items on our supply list. Lousiana, MO didn't have any sites we wanted to see from my guidebook and we weren't in the mood to explore in the rain and dark anyway. The only thing my guidebook said about Lousiana, MO was that it was named after the Lousiana Purchase and it was established in 1818. Of course, it was raining, so our trek was not very enjoyable. The best part was watching Jenny march ahead, not being able to see the depth of the puddles, stomping through them and hearing the resulting moans of regret as if her shoes were actually getting more wet (even though they were soaking). Worked well for me, though, as I knew what puddles would sink down to my ankles and consequentially to sidestep these. =) We arrived at Walmart only to discover it closed a half hour before, permanently, and they had a new store opening in Bowling the next day - 9 miles to the west of where we were.
Agreed that today was not our day and went to pizza hut to at least dispel our hunger and get out of the rain. We ate too much to possibly consider walking all the way back to the boat, plus it was pouring now, so we called a cab and for $3 he brought us back to the docks. Another spotlight from buoy to buoy got us back to the marina across the river safely. We watched a movie (Secret Window - Jonny Depp. very twisted movie) and even put on some old Flash Gordon episodes!
Anyway, we followed Wade's garmin into town and it was an estimated 2 miles to the nearest Walmart - the only store that would be open late enough and have the weather stripping, battery charger, and other misc. items on our supply list. Lousiana, MO didn't have any sites we wanted to see from my guidebook and we weren't in the mood to explore in the rain and dark anyway. The only thing my guidebook said about Lousiana, MO was that it was named after the Lousiana Purchase and it was established in 1818. Of course, it was raining, so our trek was not very enjoyable. The best part was watching Jenny march ahead, not being able to see the depth of the puddles, stomping through them and hearing the resulting moans of regret as if her shoes were actually getting more wet (even though they were soaking). Worked well for me, though, as I knew what puddles would sink down to my ankles and consequentially to sidestep these. =) We arrived at Walmart only to discover it closed a half hour before, permanently, and they had a new store opening in Bowling the next day - 9 miles to the west of where we were.
Agreed that today was not our day and went to pizza hut to at least dispel our hunger and get out of the rain. We ate too much to possibly consider walking all the way back to the boat, plus it was pouring now, so we called a cab and for $3 he brought us back to the docks. Another spotlight from buoy to buoy got us back to the marina across the river safely. We watched a movie (Secret Window - Jonny Depp. very twisted movie) and even put on some old Flash Gordon episodes!
No comments:
Post a Comment