May 26, 2011
We are up at 6:30 and feeling good from a good nights sleep. Coffee is the first thing on everyone’s mind so we hit the Continental breakfast and back to the room. It’s a little chilly up here in the North but we head outside anyway to get the “Joanie Belle” ready for launching.
It doesn’t take long to reconstruct the boat and get it loaded. Tom has been a big help in getting us ready and making sure the motor is ready to go. We head to the boat ramp and shove her in the Mississippi. As the motor cranks and burns off some old fuel, we contemplate our first day on the river. 
We are finally on the water heading downstream to New Orleans. It’s been a long time coming. Leaving family behind is tough sometimes especially for such a long time. I will miss them. Our first stop was at a small marina where Tom had stopped to see if things were going OK with the motor. Tom has been great on this trip, making sure things are right and helping any way he can. I can tell that this is eating him up not being able to go down river with us. So far so good. Our first day was a day of experimentation and organization, trying to get our berrings and figure out how everything is going to work. As the days and miles slip by we will eventually have everything where we need it to be.
Lock and dam #8 was our first lock and we locked through quickly.
The afternoon went by quickly with a chilly wind at our backs.
Lansing, Iowa is our first stop. Spotting a tiki bar on the right, we veered in to dock. We figured on walking around town before partaking in a much needed beverage. The walk around town was nice and we found a place called Millies where we ate a light supper and talked about our first day on the Mississippi.
We headed back to the tiki hut and enjoyed some conversation and drink with the locals. Unable to stay at this location for the night we mosied on down the river to a marina near Lansing where we pulled in for the night. It is deffinately cold here, around 30 degrees. We did’nt really plan on these temps and after a nice nightcap we bundled up in our sleeping bags and slept the night away.
Livin' Life 
May 29, 2011 at 1:45 am
Boat looks good! Too bad about the cold weather. I’ll try to bring you some heat from South Florida is a 6 days!!! Later!