Mississippi River Trip: The Next Chapter

 

Knoxville Post Office

At Knoxville street

We woke up this morning looking for options for Tshhh.  The local library had free internet access so we went there and began looking online at roof racks, trailers, and the like.  End result:  The Impala just isn't designed for roof racks.  One company makes an aftermarket roof rack, then specifically recommends against using it to haul boats.  A trailer was an option, but would have cost $1000 or more by the time we got it rigged and we weren't ready to spend that kind of money on something that might not work very well (the Impala also isn't much of a tow vehicle).  In the end we decided to mull it over and wander around the town.  We found a new and used book store called The Next Chapter with fresh brewed coffee and decided to refill Larisa's caffeine tanks.

Swamp Fox Inn, Knoxville

At Swamp Fox Inn, Knoxville

The bookstore also had free internet and we started researching where we wanted to go next.  While I was computing, Larisa began to discuss out trip with the woman who runs the bookstore, Annie.  She is a pleasant woman with an open face and kind manner, and she and Larisa seemed to hit it off immediately - both of them are the kind of people you like immediately upon meeting, so I didn't find it too surprising that they connected.  I did some trip planning and Larisa explored the store, including a NICE used book selection downstairs.  After I had come up with some trip options I joined Larisa browsing the books while we discussed what to do with Tshhh, the trip, and ourselves.

It was our sad decision to store Tshhh in Knoxville and remake our trip into a hiking / photography expedition of the mid- and southwest US.  We approached Annie to ask her if there were any storage areas or marinas with long term boat storage in the area.  She thought for about 5 seconds and offered to let us store Tshhh at her house.  Can you believe that?  We hardly could, but apparently this kind of charity is common among Iowans.  We made arrangements to meet her when the store closed and follow her out to her home to store Tshhh.  Larisa and I left the store, happy that we had lucked into a nice new friend, but sad that Tshhh won't be part of our journey for now.

City Hall- Knoxville

We spent the day wandering the town, seeing the farmer's market (tiny, but we bought some nice fresh bread and some honey for Larisa), and collecting all of the boat related gear that we wouldn't need any more when we dropped off Tshhh that evening.  All of that done, we followed Annie back to a lovely home and managed to get Tshhh and our other gear stored up in between answering and asking questions of Annie’s two youngest kids, Asa and Johanna, and trying our best not to monopolize the dog Allie, a beautiful springer spaniel.  Asa was very talkative, and wants to be the genetic engineer who manages to clone the dodo.  Smart kid!  Johanna was a little shier, but talked about one of her friends coming back from Dallas soon and wanting to hang out with other kids soon.  Fantastic kids, fantastic family - we were truly blessed to meet them.



Too sad - we are leaving our boat

We went to Pella, IA later that night.  Pella was founded by Dutch settlers as a refuge for religious Dutch people.  It's a pretty little town that trades heavily on its Dutch heritage - lots of Van This and Van That businesses there. There is an historic Dutch village there, but not really.  Most of the buildings are copies, reproductions, etc.  The glockenspiel is cool though.  I'm going to try and link the  video to this post.

Knoxville, Iowa

City Hall, Knoxville

Sunset at the lake