From the Captain's Journal:        

River Date 8  (14 July 2008)

We did make it through Lock and Dam 19 at Keokuk. This is reported to be the largest of its kind on the Mississippi River. It's menacing as you approach given the the local stories of 10 people a year being sucked into the pump house to their deaths. In fact, the only boats that can survive next to this structure are the large barge tugs that make the mistake of getting too close. Even then it will take up to 6 other tugs to pull it away. We were hugging the opposite shoreline to enter the lock. We appeared to drop about 25 feet from our view of before and after looking at the entrance gates. The exit or down stream lock gate gives some perspective as to how large this thing is. You can see the water line clearly marked on the walls. The other side of the dam was extremely turbulent and full of nasty trees and other assorted ground up tree parts. It nice to get out and away from the heavy currents below the dam.

After leaving the lock and eating lunch in Kiekuk we headed south to make our way to Quincy Missouri for the night. Our new technology upgrades, laptop and navigation sofware have worked great for the small chutes and passages along the Mississippi main channels. Floating down the chutes is possible this year given the high water. Peaceful quiet of the passages are beautiful.