Minnesota - We Visit the Town of Winona by Land and by Water

 On Thursday we had breakfast while the boat was still chugging northbound, entered the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin, and left Iowa and Illinois behind.  We watched the boat land at the city dock and we boarded a bus for a hop-on / hop-off tour of Winona.  We found out that Winona is an Indian word meaning "first daughter."

We hopped off at the city history museum that had some interesting exhibits.  Here is Karen with a sleigh.

Here is Francis with some heavy-duty equipment.  (Imagine that)

Here is Bill with one of Winona's old fire engines.

After lunch we joined a group from our boat to get on another boat.  (much smaller)

This is our tour boat above, and we were taken on a 1-1/2 hour cruise into the backwaters of the Mississippi for some unusual sights.

These houses on floats are used as cottages, and some are permanent residences.  Many are tiny and sell for  as much as $150,000 or more.  The people get a five-year lease and do not own the land or pay property taxes.  Some run on generators or have no electricity at all.  The buildings go up and down with the depth of the river and stay at the same location.

We found the boat houses to be a strange place in which to live or vacation!

Now here is a RV not on wheels, but on stilts and floats to manage the river waters.  We certainly enjoyed our small houseboat tour, and the captain filled us full of so many local facts that we could hardly digest them all!  It was fun.

The section of the Mississippi in which we are traveling this week has 29 lock and dams to lift boats higher as we go upstream.  They are built and maintained by the Federal government and charge no fee for any boat - large or small.

This picture on the wall above our bed is an accurate portrayal of the Upper Mississippi and its tributaries.

Tomorrow is our last full day on the river, so if you are still with us on this journey - come back to see if we make it.

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