Musings on Day 3 of our Mississippi River Leg

Kathleen, here, chiming in. I woke this morning in our spacious v-berth and my first thought was, “I’m one of those crazy people that lives in a tiny house, only it’s crazier because my home is floating.” This was brought on by the fact that we’ve been so excited to get off the boat and see things at the start of the loop that I hadn’t gotten my STUFF organized. So, I was constantly looking through the same 7 bags but unable to find the things I needed.

As Tony has said previously, we have about 150 square feet of living space on this boat which includes the storage space for boat necessities like Type I life jackets, boat cushions, dishes, food, etc. in addition to our clothes, instruments, games and whatever else one thinks they need. This is 1/10 the living space of our condo which I already thought was small.

I took some time today to finally “move in” to the space. I’ve organized the few clothes, sundries and books I brought, and everything has a home. I’ve already put a few things in the “I don’t need” pile for our trip home later in the week. Which brings me full circle in thinking, “why on earth do I have a condo full of stuff if what I have on the boat is all I need?!” Like I said, feeling a bit crazy. But it is great to be able to take the time to slow down and be deliberate in our choices of things that will be the most useful, and also in keeping our space free of clutter so we can fully enjoy this incredible experience.

Today’s fun involved a short 7mile trek downriver from Wabasha to Alma, WI. We hadn’t considered stopping here until our dock neighbors in Pepin suggested that we take a look. We got a late start because we were enjoying relaxing in the cool 66-degree weather now that the heat wave has broken. A few observations from our life on the river so far:  1. I’ve always thought Wisconsin was the prettier state to drive a car through, but from the Mississippi River, the MN bluffs are beautiful and definitely beat the scenery on the WI side. 2. I sure appreciate all the work the Army Corps of Engineers does to keep the channels deep enough to travel through. The sand dunes from the dredging piled just inland of the banks of the river on both sides are mighty! 3. We have people moving stuff along the rivers day and night  to fill our houses.  We see big barges moving along the rivers in the dark without lighted buoys, how scary would that be?! And the trains loaded with cargo blow by the marinas ALL NIGHT LONG.