Hello once again to all my friends, family and fans! Our journey continues, and we have had lots of adventures and fun. I will be brief as my access to this computer is limited to the amount of time my dearest humans are away.
Day 24: So the past 24 hours has been rather odd. To help you all understand I will go back a day or so to provide context. The humans brought me back to Laura, Blake and Henry's house. When we arrived I was certain that we had simply relocated to another home which, I must say was very suitable. The backyard had room to roam, plenty of good smells, and an endless supply of large lumbering Chippy. This breed of chippy are slow, slightly "delayed" but still able to vanish instantly. Anyway I was wrong. We did not stay. In fact we loaded our things back into the large floating kennel and proceeded to float on down the river. As if this was not bad enough, the night before we put back on I was stranded on the porch of the house like a common house cat while the humans met up with their dear friends from Wisconsin. Liz, Heidi, and Adam all came to the house stole the humans for several hours and simply left me but Blake rescued me from my screened in purgatory bringing me back inside. Anyway they came back in good spirits and seemed very happy to have seen their good friends. Once on the river we paddled for what seemed for an eternity looking for a suitable place to set up our portable kennel. As the day wore on we found nothing. As we rounded a corner we encountered a man in a canoe. The mans name was Tom and he asked if he could join us for a couple miles. The humans acquiesced and he joined us for several miles. Tom turned out to be an outstanding person and ended up being a veteran of the canoe racing world. He shared many stories and told us about two books related to paddling: Paddling with the Cree, All things are possible. He guided us around the Islands and showed us a wonderful place to camp. The humans really seemed to connect with him. We all said our goodbyes, he gave me some pats. All in all it was a wonderful day.
Day 25: We were within striking distance of Winona and the humans and I were excited to go for many long walks looking for chippy. As we passed through Lock and Dam 3 and had a brief conversation with the lock master we ascertained that the island directly below the lock would be a suitable place to call home for the evening. As the Sun went down the moon began to rise and what a moon it was. My nemesis Ryan sent my humans information about THE SUPER MOON (rather dramatic sounding in my opinion.) which was not that evening but had resulted in a larger than normal moon rise and I must say it was quiet spectacular indeed. We took a nice evening walk while watching it come up then called it a night. Here is the link that Nemesis sent them: http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/09/when_is_the_next_blood_moon_su.html
Day 26 Wind and Skunk Island: Our morning started as most do. The humans woke me abruptly, kicked me out into the cold damp morning. We loaded the floating kennel and began down river. The humans had been talking about some place called Lake Pepin a lot as of late, but as usual provided me absolutely not explanation as to what it was. After about 10 miles we rounded a corner and the river opened up into an endless expanse of water. This I assumed was Lake Pepin. The paddle was breezy but the humans managed an acceptable rate of travel. Shortly after lunch it happened...wind. I'm not talking about a couple gusts or even a stiff wind, no. My humans have been trained well and have paddled on blustery days before. No, this wind was hellacious and at times nearly stopped us. Backs and arms straining they pushed forward. They attempted to gain an advantage by following the left shoreline. Sadly this to yielded no significant gain. After nearly 6 hours of being battered by wind, waves and wakes we were successfully across the 25 or so miles of Lake Pepin. The map showed several "options". Goose Pond, which we thought would be an interesting coincidence or a number of sandy beaches. We quickly discovered that Goose Pond was not named in any colloquial or ironic sense. Nope it was a small beach, covered in goose crap...yea. After finding a nice little campsite just up river from the confluence of the Mississippi and Chippewa Rivers. The SUPER MOON (ugh that exhausts me to even say...its just a big moon) rise and lunar eclipse were nice but the best part, and I'm the humans would agree, was our many walks that evening. Well done humans, well done.
Day 27: This morning was like any with the humans. They banishes m3 from the tent while they hurriedly packed the inside of the tent. Once packed we went for a short but suitable walk (primarily because I have lowered my standards to suit the whim of my beloved humans). Once the floating kennel was loaded we were headed down river once again. We stopped and made several new friends at each lock. One of the Lock Masters even gave me some treats! Any who we stopped just north of a town called Fountain City which the humans seemed to be excited about since it was just north of Winona, Mn where our friend Josh Hesseler lives.
Day 28: This morning I woke up to promises of a short day. I assumed this was a lie and that we would be in the boat for the equivalent of an eternity. However in just a few short hours papa began speaking with a very excited tone. He indicated that we had reached Winona and was reminiscing about the days when he tromped around the streets of this sleepy river down. Moving on. Once we arrived at the levy. While we were unloading waiting for Josh to come get us we met two other gentleman who were paddling the Mississippi river. Caleb and his friend(dont remember the other fellows name) into town to resupply on food and supply. Dave had worked it out for he and Amanda to speak to a class of students of a professor he had while in college. They abandoned me in Josh's backyard while they spoke. We went for several long walks that afternoon. That evening we enjoyed the company of several friends in the backyard.
Day 29: Today was a great day filled with many many walks! Possibly too many. We went back over to the Winona State campus so that Dave could meet up with another past professors. When their good friend Josh got home from work we went to a big park where they threw frisbees at metal baskets while I ran, sniffed and explored. That night they had buffalo wings with their friend which they were very pleased about.
Day 30 Traveling: Blake and Laura came to pick up the humans and I to go Amanda's brother Grant's wedding. We got to see our other great friends Brian and Nicole along with their three adorable kids (Anne, Claire, and Margaret). They are great! They fed the humans and let us put.our tent in their yard. It was tons of fun chain the girls and the humans seemed very pleased to see their good friends again.
Day 31: The humans went to the wedding today. It was a beautiful wedding according to the humans. They told me their good friends Amber and Jehu Strange came! They were very happy to have danced the night away with so many friends and family.
Day 32: Today we head back to Winona from the Chicago area (where the wedding was). This morning we met at Amanda's brother Paul's house for lunch. Everyone was there! The humans were happy to see the family once more before heading back north. Oh, I almost forgot I made a new friend too! Blue is Grant's dog. He is great. We ran around Paul's backyard and even escaped for a trip around the neighborhood! What fun! Well today Grandpa Gary and Grandma Debbie are driving us back to Winona and tomorrow back to the river! Thank you once again to everyone who helped us get to the wedding and we live you all.
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