Red Wing

The day broke way to early for the crew who diligently stayed up until 0530 making sure the boat was safe and lightening the load of bottled liquids. With the demise of the Queen boats, we were probably the biggest passenger carrying vessel at the city front this year and we got held up off the wall because of the excessive sand flushed into the river from the storm sewer. We gazed longingly at the bright lights of Brad's Harbor Bar, with his Jamaican crew and thought, if we could have put10 miles behind us, we could have made last call.
Robert Wilson of the infamous Red Wing Wilsons, stopped by to see us. As an old salt of many years, he declined to accompany us on our adventure. Jerry Barth, father of Treasure Island Marina manager, Summer, drove by and wished us well. It is nice that in Red Wing, elderly gentlemen of Jerry's years can drive by the riverfront and enjoy the beauty of the river, unlike the City of St. Paul's Harriet Island, where they took that away. Mike Wilson, the most notorious of the aforementioned family, stopped by to wish us well and present a cap to Gene. It was stolen, I mean acquired, from the city of Red Wing's Public Works. It is heads above anything the City of St. Paul's Public Works has given to Gene. I believe the only thing Gene has gotten from St. Paul is a middle finger digit.
After a tender farewell to the Jewel of the Upper Miss, we cast off. Problems with the boat didn't go away, but the scenery of Lake Pepin and the beautiful weather forced those thoughts back down to Hell and Buck kept us going and safe. The huge For Sale signs, with Gene's cell phone number on them, kept Gene busy with pontoon boaters looking to move up to something larger. What do you call tire kickers on the water?
As we departed Lock 5A, I strained for a glimpse of the notorious Freddy's Float, hoping I might see some stragglers in wet t-shirts holding over, but alas I think Freddy only operates during the prime t-shirt weather. Carnivale in Rio and Freddy's on the 4th of July are on my bucket list. No wind, trees reflecting on the river (causing a false bank), a slight haze, and the lights of Winona had the able pilothouse crew tightening their sphincters. it had me wishing had brought some Mark Twain with me to show them that they were better equipped than the old Steamboat men. I have neglected to introduce the pilot house stalwarts. First of all is our main pilot, Mike Cassidy, the only one armed pilot I have ever worked with. Mike had a water related incident a while back that caused a temporary loss off his right arm Gene's son-in-law, the unflappable Jerry Deyo, handled the searchlight duties.. Jerry did fine and probably went to sleep thinking is red right ascending or is it red right descending. At least we didn't have an Intercoastal sailor trying to tell us it is red right returning. Tom O'Rourke did a fine job piloting and reminsced how much finer the accommodations were, than the last time he went downriver on the Lois E for Tom Moosbrugger. A beautiful city front in Winona beckoned the weary crew and we secured for the night. We were in a town before last call and we turned to the one person we knew had intimate knowledge of the Winona nightlife, Gene's daughter Shiela Deyo. Shiela had spent many years while at Winona State studying the subject and had just recently assisted her youngest daughter, Maddie,in the same subject. I washed the grime of hell off of myself and put on my finest off-white shirt and pants for our excursion. When asked why the light colors I pointed out that I did not want to be left behind and they could see me in the dark. Buck came up out of Hell and after two days of suffering was ready for Winona's finest. Shiela rained on our plans and told us that last call was in 10 minutes. Once again if we could have put 10 miles behind us, we could have made it. I said there is always Wisconsin across the river. They have been welcoming Minnesotans for years. Then someone with more sense point out that we had no car. buck lamented the morality of Minnesota and we decided to once again help lighten the load of liquid we carried to get more weight off of the boat