St. Paul Yacht Club Marine, mile 839.6, Miss. R. HUCK, at last, after 2 months and 2,000miles. This slip is at the foot of the Wabasha Bridge, on a channel betweeen the main river and Raspberry Island. The last few days have been too frenetic and fact-packed to begin to cover in a few blog entries.

I arrived on 9/27, after my last overnight at Hub's Marina in Hastings, MN.

This latest sunrise photo was at the Lake City, MN Marina where I tied 2 nights ago. Again, this marina was full of boats, but no boaters. Kids back in school. Crispy Fall breezes. Boats being hauled from their slips for winter storage...a season ending. So it was mostly just the HUCK and the ubiquitous tows, busy hauling coal or grain up and down river. I've actually become famiar to some of the tug pilots, having met them 2 or 3 times as they come and go in their 24 hour schedules.

Sunrises on the river are truly magical. I usually wakened before sunup to prepare the HUCK for the day's run. Waiting for sunrise became a daily ritual, knowing that any of them might be truly spectacular.

This last shot was snapped by Mary's husband, David, who was a little watershy and chose to drive backt to St. Paul and greet us at the marina.

Of course the blog entries will not be ending here. St. Paul is a beautiful city (yes, I know, Minneapolis is nearby, but I don't know much about it) and merits some camera lens attention. There's also lots of family/social activity, though you may recall I have dedicated this blogsite to mostly boat/river/travel activity.

So there'll be a few entries from happenings here in St. Paul, then a return to riverblog stuff in earnest during the trip back starting mid-October. Brrrrrrrrrr! Regards. Captain Brion