The HUCK FINN--Adventures of a canal boat on North America's waterways

Photos, captain's notes, and crew's tales from the 26' canal boat HUCK FINN. Itinerary: roundtrip St. Pete. FL/St. Paul MN.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

For the Boyceville Bulldogs! During my 3 weeks in St. Paul, I made a side trip to Boyceville Wisconsin to talk to the 5th graders about my trip and to visit with Mrs. Sweeney's reading group. It was fun meeting all the kids there and I got a great t-shirt for a gift!

These are some white pelicans, on the Mississippi River, during their annual migration south from Canada. They go all the way to the Gulf of Mexico for the winter. (Some people do that too!) This picture was taken near Dubuque IA, on Oct. 25. How much farther do these pelicans have to go?

Randy the River Rat is still doing well, though he eats a lot and is getting expensive to feed. Maybe I should release him back into the river where I found him!
This picture shows what it looks like to have 25 barges coming at your boat. Thisw tow, being pushed by the tug in back, is 5 barges across, and 5 barges long, fully loaded with coal. It is southbound, probably taking the coal to a power plant for producing electricity. I stayed to the right of this tow, making it a "one whistle" meeting, or port-to-port. I have met or passed over 400 tows now during this trip. One barge can carry as much as 15 loaded railroad cars. Some of the tugboats have more than 10,000 Horsepower!






These mineshafts dug into the bluff are near Clayton, IA. This is one of the biggest silica mining operations in the country. Do you know what is made of silica? Hint: you see through it every day. When I talked to some people who live near here, they told me these shafts go back for more than 20 miles into the bluffs. Some of the empty shafts are now used for storing grain over the winter until it is transported the next spring.
I took this picture in the late afternoon, when the sun was shining through the dust being kicked up at the mines.

Now I am about 200 miles south of St. Paul, in Dubuque, IA. We travel about 30-50 miles per day. I haven't seen any more snakes in the locks!

A special HI! to Melissa, Courtney and all the other great kids I met at the school. I've been getting lots of e-mails from some of you and they are fun to read.

You have a good school and lots of really great teachers. That means you must have a great principal too. Got to go now, will send more blogs later! Captain Brion and JO

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Three weeks in St. Paul was both a climax and a turning point for the St. Pete./St. Paul adventure. St. Paul is an easy city to fall in love with...if you don't mind 6 months of real winter. But it does have the river (my good friend!), beautiful architecture, and a sufficient array of cultural activities. This view easat from the Wabasha bridge shows the southbound Amtrak passenger train leaving town. Next to it, a main highway artery, then the Mississippi. Downstream is the Robert St. Bridge and a railroad lift bridge. The roadside treeline has turned color from the shortening days and some Oct. frosts.

Much of the old neglected waterfront downtown has been revitalized with small parks, scenic walkways and creative landscaping. The city is beginning to reclaim its past identity as a true river town.

While in St. Paul, the HUCK FINN was tied in the yacht basin next to Raspberry Island at the southern end of the Wabasha bridge. It was an easy walk to town. Coffeeshops and internet cafes were not far. While I was there, most of the boats in the marina were being hauled out for the winter, but there was a hard core fleet of 25 boats, mostly houseboats, that stayed in the water with their liveaboard owners all year.

Soon after my arrival, I was written up as a feature story in the Pioneer Press. That led to a call from the Prairie Home Companion staff inviting me and my fiancee to attend the show as guests, sitting on stage during the live broadcast. We also got to see the rehearsal, ate with the cast and crew before the show, and met briefly with Garrison Keillor..


Here is a view from downtown St. Paul southward along the Wabasha Bridge. It is used regularly by walkers and cyclers, as well as motor traffic. Staged staircases on either side of the bridge drop down to Rasperry Island, home of the local rowing club and a small clubhouse for special events.

This is near the northern endpoint of commercial tug and tow traffic. The river becomes too small and small waterfalls and rapids occur a few miles upstream. The bridge is at mile 839.6 (miles above Cairo, IL, where the Ohio meets the Mississippi.)

While in St. Paul I met lots of boaters, and many strangers sought me out after seeing the story in the Pioneer Press. The notoriety was great fun while it lasted, but it was also nice to settle back into relative obscurity.

So far, the trip has been a grand success, peppered with just enough adventure, but no disasters. A year of planning seems to be paying off, as the HUCK has held together beautifully, with the exception of a failed autopilot. When I contacted the company (Simrad) they offered to repair it and upgrade its dated parts for free. So I shipped it to their technicians in WA state and had it back in a week, now workingly perfectly.




Behold the St. Paul skyline from the South end of the Robert St. Bridge. Not exactly NYC, but cosmopolitan enough for a River Rat.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Pre-sunrise trafffic. Mon. Oct. 2 rush hour for St. Paul 8-to-5ers. Amtrak tracks to the left, and a lone houseboat chugging upstream on the right. I'm at the city end of Roberts bridge, finding it a great privilege to be temporarily unemployed.

Today was eventful: A front page story in the Local News section of the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, including several photos. Later today I heard from Prairie Home Companion...MaryJo and I will be special guests on the Oct. 14 show, icluding dinner with the staff and cast, attending the rehearsal, and sitting onstage during the show.

I was only trying to get tickets to sit in the audience, so this is a great surprise, and one of the neatest opportunities in my life! We are truly thrilled.
Not far (20 steps) from where I shot the picture of rush hour is a tiny city park with a number of small sculptures and randomly placed poetic lyrics mostly about our connection with Native Americans. It's a serene and inspiring little niche in the corner of the city, tucked between the end of Roberts Bridge and a large generic office building.
there were several panels in the railing above the river. You can imagine why I was drawn to this particular one.
This entire trip started as somewhat of a dream, and in many ways is more than "real" as it unfolds. Though I have tried to take in as much as possible, there is much more I have had to pass up, for lack of time, or simple neglect. The trip deserves to be taken more slowly, more people could have been met and enjoyed, many places beckoned for a call but were passed by.

This tug has been converted to the Riverside Grill, where MaryJo and I will have our wedding dinner and ceremony on Oct. 15. I'll be thinking about all the tug captains who used to push huge tows up and down the Mississippi with this extra large tug. I'm glad she's still being put to good use, and was spared from the scrapyard.

The leaves are turning rapidly now in St. Paul, and beginning to lose their grip on the trees.
The recent 80 degree daytime temps will soon give way to frequent frost warnings, and thoughts of heading back South will prevail for this captain and crew.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

St. Paul Yacht Club Marine, mile 839.6, Miss. R. HUCK, at last, after 2 months and 2,000miles. This slip is at the foot of the Wabasha Bridge, on a channel betweeen the main river and Raspberry Island. The last few days have been too frenetic and fact-packed to begin to cover in a few blog entries.

I arrived on 9/27, after my last overnight at Hub's Marina in Hastings, MN.

This latest sunrise photo was at the Lake City, MN Marina where I tied 2 nights ago. Again, this marina was full of boats, but no boaters. Kids back in school. Crispy Fall breezes. Boats being hauled from their slips for winter storage...a season ending. So it was mostly just the HUCK and the ubiquitous tows, busy hauling coal or grain up and down river. I've actually become famiar to some of the tug pilots, having met them 2 or 3 times as they come and go in their 24 hour schedules.

Sunrises on the river are truly magical. I usually wakened before sunup to prepare the HUCK for the day's run. Waiting for sunrise became a daily ritual, knowing that any of them might be truly spectacular.

This last shot was snapped by Mary's husband, David, who was a little watershy and chose to drive backt to St. Paul and greet us at the marina.

Of course the blog entries will not be ending here. St. Paul is a beautiful city (yes, I know, Minneapolis is nearby, but I don't know much about it) and merits some camera lens attention. There's also lots of family/social activity, though you may recall I have dedicated this blogsite to mostly boat/river/travel activity.

So there'll be a few entries from happenings here in St. Paul, then a return to riverblog stuff in earnest during the trip back starting mid-October. Brrrrrrrrrr! Regards. Captain Brion