We woke up and got on the water right away as the weather was supposed to take a turn for the worse. Again we had to portage a lock and dam (#9) because of barge traffic. Hopefully this does not become the norm. The current also felt pretty weak. Or maybe we were being weak. Maybe we received too much pampering between family in Minneapolis and the Quillins in La Crosse.
As we came up on Bigley, IA we could see big storm clouds rolling in. We made a move for shore but were just a step behind. The skies opened up and we ended up putting up the tent in a rain storm. On an already flooded island no less. As the rain continued we could feel the tent bottom getting wet. Eventually it felt like we were on a water bed. I'm pretty sure the rain was draining down the outside of the tent and accumulating on top of the tarp between the tarp and the tent bottom. Everything was soaked.
Anders checked his phone for weather and it looked like it was going to clear up for a few hours. Thank goodness, because I did not want to stay on that flooded island. Especially with more rain on the way. We made it seven more miles to lock #10 and asked one of the lock workers if we could camp right alongside the dam. She said yes and that it was DNR property so we should be fine. As soon as camp was set up the skies again opened up. We retreated into a bar to grab burgers and watch the USA vs Nigeria friendly.
In the middle of the night (this was a Saturday) I heard some people talking outside of our tent. It went something like: "Is there really people camping there?"
"Yeah, they jumped out of their boat and just set up camp right in our backyard!"
Apparently the house right next to the dam was having a party. Although it probably was technically DNR property, it was also definitely someones backyard. They left it at that though and we slept just fine. A long day of paddling allows you to sleep through loud parties, thankfully.
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