Friday July 2^nd, 2004

The Excursion Flotilla passed through Redwing, MN on Friday July 2^nd. Dick and David met up with the Audubon Ark at Bay Point Park for an open house at about 10:00am. As Captain Ike Hastings and the crew of the Lilly Belle docked, we found that they had some passengers along for the ride. Don Arnosti, former director of the Upper Mississippi Audubon Society, and his teenage son and daughter had spent the night on the Ark as it traveled north to Red Wing. The U-Crew was able to provide some ground support to The Audubon Ark by giving Don a ride back to Wabasha to pick up his vehicle. We also met a new addition to the crew of the Audubon Ark. Erin Ida, a recent graduate of Saint Mary's University of Minnesota was acting as the new Audubon Ark intern and talking with stakeholders and giving tours of the Ark during the open house. Many stakeholders including State Senate DFL candidate Suzy Wollschlager came to the open house to learn about river issues. Dick and David distributed many copies of the Mississippi Monitor to the crowds of people at the Red Wing event as well as collecting more survey cards at the open house on the Lilly Belle.

The Delta Queen was in port at Red Wing all day. Other riverboats including The Julia Belle Swain, Spirit of Peoria, Harriet Bishop and Anson Northrup also passed through on Friday.

Later in the day, Dick and David drove up to Prescott, WI on the other side of the river to see what was happening. Although cruises had been originating from Prescott all day, there did not seem to be a lot of Grand Excursion traffic in town. The Rockin’ the River Music Festival was just beginning as we left Prescott to find our campsite at the St. Paul East KOA.