I was awake at 5am and paddling soonafter. It was 18 miles to the Lock and Dam#2 in Hastings and I told my friend Bill that I'd meet him there around 9. That's 6mph pace when I can really only keep up about 5mph on open water such as this. Large lakes greeted me this morning as I kept paddling on. I kept out of the shipping channel and chose to follow islands as best as possible. The wind wasn't bad and soon I could see Bill up ahead waving from the shore.
I looked over my shoulder and in the distance saw a bridge. I didn't remember that being there before. I looked back in Ina few minutes and it was gone. What was going on? Later it rounded a bend and I realized I was looking at bridge supports on a barge headed upstream. It turns out these are heading to Clearwater on the St. Croix River for their new bridge. It had priority and radioed ahead so went ahead of me in the lock.
Jeff and I paddle to Red Wing together then meet Bill at the boat ramp. I load my canoe into his truck and we head to his new house in Cannon Falls about 20 miles away. The difference between the river sights and the rows of farmland and limestone hills just a few miles off is quite stark. The river somewhat separates me from the surrounding scene. At Bill's we start with a side-by-side tour of his 14 acres then go out for a ride in his Slingshot, a 2.4l engine in a 1700lb three wheeler. It's fun as hell!
Back at home, Bill mentioned he had a generator that wouldn't run well. Bad gas in the carb. I offered to clean it for him and was soon drinking a beer and wrenching in the garage. Ahh feels like normal, back to the old times. Sure enough, it was a clogged jet and we soon had a running Honda 2000 generator. All in a day's work.