Captain's log: 9-19-10 (Day 2)

Thanks for the wake up call Susie. I think I corrected the dates but I am a boater not a blogger. Keep me on track. .
     Today , whatever the date is, it is day 2. The good, the bad, and the ...... First the good:  overcast day but no wind, water like glass , a little warmer than yesterday. Must be because we are 51 whole miles farther south. That means we averaged 7.2mph. All and all a good day on the water.
     We went through our first railroad swing bridge near LaCrosse. Just as we were about to follow a bigger boat through the bridge started to swing shut. Hey why are they doing that? I call the bridge guy and he says there is a train coming. Ok ,I can live with that, I'll wait. Bridge guy says it looks like you'll fit. I say I'm about 16+ feet how high is the bridge? He says "about 18 feet but I can't guarantee that. Why don't you just creep up and see"? ...Well I can think of several reasons. Going downstream is one of them, but he's not opening it so........ Dorene said we cleared by a foot . I thought maybe two. Let's not do that again.

     The bad: We think we sucked up some weeds as we went thru our 1st lock today...because shortly after that our exhaust manifold began to overheat.  The GOOD news---is that we were able to alternate engines and limp into Lansing, Iowa for the nite. The better news---is  that our good friend and mechanic Joe talked us thru a preliminary diagnosis.... So, tomorrow we will begin "butt up out of the bilge"....cleaning strainers; hoses and checking water pump impellers.....
....and yes, ONE more eagle pic cause there were TWO (mates) that followed us for a longggg time...not sure if they wanted us to feed them OR just making sure we made it safely!!! ;-)  Thank You!!!