Monday, June 1, 2015

Day 7: we are no longer in Dubuque

We woke to Dan, who had no problem waking us up, saying, "You city boys are always sleepin'!" and told us he'd be leaving til tomorrow and, in the best way possible, that he hoped not to see us again. We were genuinely happy to be woken up by Dan so we could say goodbye. Dan is a real champ (if you're just joining us now, see yesterday's post). Since the marina bathrooms were locked, Dan drove me (Clement) to a public bathroom half a mile away in the bed of his pickup, and that was the last anyone saw of that gentle giant.

Bennett and I walked a mile up the riverbank to C.R. Boats, where Clint sold us the spark plugs and fuel line connector we were sure we needed to fix the boat. 


After a good deal of socket wrenching, the new spark plugs were installed; alas, the motor still did not work. We also discovered an unconnected control wire... looking at you, Rich. In despair, we called Arvin, our motor's seller and motor's running namesake, who told us the motor was possibly totaled. This was the low point of the day. I almost kicked the door of the boat because I was so angry. Clint gave us a glimmer of hope when he told us it was possibly a blown gasket, but we would have to wait 5 hours for him to drive over.

Most of the rest of the morning and afternoon was spent in extreme boredom and frustration.


Piers took a walk and saw "like a hundred snapping turtles," Nick "watched a bald eagle for fifteen minutes," Bennett sent a long formal email to Sufjan Stevens' record label with a pitch for a TV show called "Sous-Chef Stevens," and I repeatedly and forlornly measured the boat's dimensions. A slight bump in the time-happiness graph of our boat was when Nick made "Beans Martino" for lunch. The crews thoughts on Nick's cooking:

"There were some culinary fireworks today." - Piers

"I wish someone hadn't eaten all the fried potato chunks in the Beans Martino, Piers." - Clement

*mwah* - Nick

"Nick really showed off his stuff today. He was a little flashy about it, but he lived up to the hype." -Bennett

We attempted a "fun" paddle upriver to a park, and quickly got caught in the wind and current. While we paddled desperately, somehow only spinning in circles, a man and woman drove up in a small dingy and asked if we were ok. No one knew what to say because we really wanted the answer to be yes, but knew it was no. After a brief pause, the man began to motor away, and said, "we couldn't have towed you anyway!" We somehow reached the other side of the marina, and exclaimed to no one that we'd done it on purpose so Clint could work on the motor easier. We soon settled back into our deeply-dug rut. Bennett and I got started on the mosquito net but did not finish.

If you've made it this far, you're probably waiting for something to happen, and so were we. And just like that, Clint arrived, found our problem and fixed it. 


"As they say, pay the man the money," Clint joked, and after a minor transaction we launched from the Dubuque Municipal Marina for the last time, and took off down the river. We changed the motor's name to Clint in Clint's honor. On the river, we saw more bald eagles, a few barges, lots of trains, and a beautiful sunset. 


Finally we arrived at the Spruce Harbor Marina and Nick whipped up a cheeky "Pasta Martino." 


After some dish washing, we will hit the hay, and tomorrow we will do our first lock.

5 comments:

  1. I would say fair winds but that obviously doesn't apply here. I will just wish you Good Luck and be safe.

    Landfall

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  2. this blog is cracking me up! good luck y'all :)

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  3. I like your blog. How was your first lock experience??

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    1. Pretty good. We've done locks 12-15 and are feeling like semi-pros.

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  4. Nice sunset image! Pleased to see the application of practical talent in the form of making a toilet. Could be a lucrative career out there.

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