I'm here on the Mississippi pool 11 this morning. Utterly glorious for near mid July. Mostly calm, not a cloud in the sky, and the temps are outstanding (meaning, not oppressively hot and humid). And the river level are damn near perfect for this pool. Background...I got here about noon yesterday - and I have noticed something though that I did not think I would see given all of the above.
After 40 years, I know the traffic trends here pretty well. Good times or bad, the river here is usually "economy-proof"...people get their boats out always during summer. This time of year the river is always busy on weekends (yes, even on a sleepy Sunday morning) unless the river levels are so high that they swallow up the beaches.
So, I expected that the river would be jammed up this weekend - even given that it is the weekend after the 4th of July. However, yesterday late afternoon we had the typical 3pm to 6pm rush of traffic...but it was noticeably down numbers-wise...and the big and fast rigs were almost non-existent. No usual parades of big cruisers and speedboats - we'd get one here and there, but it was mostly more of the smaller cruiser/pleasure boat types that I'd term are more "economical".
And this morning, sheesh. You'd think it was a Tuesday morning, not a Sunday morning. Sunday mornings are usually busy with people from the sandbars down river ferrying campers and their gear up to the public ramp, along with fishermen, and those trying to get their last ride of the weekend in before the sun gets too high. The river is DEAD - I don't believe there's been 25 boats total gone by so far (been up since 530am), and usually by this time we're over 100.
I can only assume the reasons are the economy and gas prices. For example, my boat, which is pretty economical, a lock to lock run is about 8-10 gallons (5-7 mpg given wind, average speed, etc) - today, that's a $50 boat ride if not more. For the big rigs, it's double or even triple that.
So, just curious...has this summer's economy kept you off the water at all? Cause it sure's hell looks like it is keeping a LOT of boats parked around here.
After 40 years, I know the traffic trends here pretty well. Good times or bad, the river here is usually "economy-proof"...people get their boats out always during summer. This time of year the river is always busy on weekends (yes, even on a sleepy Sunday morning) unless the river levels are so high that they swallow up the beaches.
So, I expected that the river would be jammed up this weekend - even given that it is the weekend after the 4th of July. However, yesterday late afternoon we had the typical 3pm to 6pm rush of traffic...but it was noticeably down numbers-wise...and the big and fast rigs were almost non-existent. No usual parades of big cruisers and speedboats - we'd get one here and there, but it was mostly more of the smaller cruiser/pleasure boat types that I'd term are more "economical".
And this morning, sheesh. You'd think it was a Tuesday morning, not a Sunday morning. Sunday mornings are usually busy with people from the sandbars down river ferrying campers and their gear up to the public ramp, along with fishermen, and those trying to get their last ride of the weekend in before the sun gets too high. The river is DEAD - I don't believe there's been 25 boats total gone by so far (been up since 530am), and usually by this time we're over 100.
I can only assume the reasons are the economy and gas prices. For example, my boat, which is pretty economical, a lock to lock run is about 8-10 gallons (5-7 mpg given wind, average speed, etc) - today, that's a $50 boat ride if not more. For the big rigs, it's double or even triple that.
So, just curious...has this summer's economy kept you off the water at all? Cause it sure's hell looks like it is keeping a LOT of boats parked around here.