Sunday, October 17, 2004

Mississippi Hot Tub Adventure Celebrated my birthday with son Jon and friends on a houseboat cruise on the Mississippi last week. Thursday night, a group of us boarded the biggest houseboat of Huck's Houseboart Vacations on the upper Miss. at the La Crosse Boat Harbor. Hack & Meg Noyes and Charlie & Gail Thon, Jon and I all slept on the boat Thursday, after a brief party with Jeff Nickey and Mark Brothers, who stayed on Mark's boat. Friday a.m., we had breakfast at the Happy Peddlar on the south side of La Crosse. Then Lee and Marilyn Fahrney and my TV crew, Art Welter and Duane Rodriguez, joined us on the boat, piloted by Mike "Huck" Ehrlich. Fall colors were peaking on the bluffs as we headed upriver with a stiff north wind in our faces, through Lock & Dam No. 7, and tied up just below Lock & Dam No. 6 at Trempealeau, where a van from the Trempealeau Hotel picked us up and brought us to the hotel for lunch. Jeff surprised me with a birthday dessert sporting a candle, and Duane rolled tape as the gang sang Happy Birthday. After lunch, some of us hopped in tht hot tub on the party deck, from where we waved at onlookers at Lock & Dam No. 7 and passing boats. The tub was especially welcome, as the weather turned foul and rainy after an overcast morning. Huck's boat is a beaut: 62 feet long, 16 feet wide, sleeps 12, with four private bedrooms and a party deck, complete with wet bar, water slide and of course the hot tub. We watched eagles dive for fish, shared the channel with quarter-mile-long barge strings and took turns steering the boat. Huck told us that boat had been booked every day from Memorial Day through the end of September, and he is booking up fast for 2005. After docking again in La Crosse and saying our good-byes, Jon & I had dinner at the Mexican Fiesta on our way out of town, heading for De Soto. We stayed overnight near the Bad Axe at Mississippi Sport & Rec., woke up at 3:00 a.m. and headed for DeSoto, where we met Danny Datillo, our hunting partner for the morning. Danny ran us across the river to the Iowa side. Jon & I camouflaged the blind, while Danny ran back across the river with his Go Devil to pick up Art & Duane. They made it back jjust before 6:00 a.m., which gave us enough time to set out decoys, settle in and wait for the shooting to start. More on the hunt tomorrow. Later... 9:46:34 PM    comment []

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