Jul 30

It was very mild yesterday evening so I decided to forgo the tent, just put down my air mattress and sleeping bag. Bad choice. The dew came on early and by midnight I was soaked. It got down to fifty degrees and with a wet sleeping bag, I was pretty chilled and miserable. I slept off and on but it was a long night.

Got an early start, just wanted to get on the river and let the paddling warm me up. So I didn't walk to town for coffee or breakfast - but I did have some leftover Pringles and a diet Coke. Breakfast of champions. The river was calm and I got a good start on the day. About eleven o'clock, I had gotten ten miles and came to the Willow Island lock. Going into the lock, the river was glassy, but thirty minutes later, as I paddled out, the wind had kicked up and it was just as rough as it's ever been. Couldn't turn back though, no place to turn back to, so I paddled on. Took me all afternoon to do the remaining seven miles to Marietta, Ohio.

Now I had read about Marietta, that it is a river-friendly town, very historic, a home for the recently retired Delta Queen. I got a room at the Lafayette Hotel, right on the river bank. And I have found it all to be true - Marietta is a very river-oriented burg. It is, however, quite different than any of the towns either in West Virginia or Ohio that I have visited thus far. It is full of antique shops and gift stores. Some very expensive restaurants and taverns. And there are lots of tourists here. The Lafayette calls itself a "riverboat era hotel" and quite a few of the antique and gift shops specialize in items that I would associate with that bygone period. It's a pretty town, with a thriving business district and waterfront. I found a kayak shop and bought a bilge pump - I left the one I had at home and with rain a constant threat, it will come in handy.

Ate supper at the Marietta Brewery Company. Had some good beers, pretty stout ales, which I am not particularly fond of. But I tried a couple just make sure. But good bar food, huge burgers and good onion rings.

On the way back to the hotel, saw a sign that advertised a furniture business combined with a mortuary. I think there are several jokes there but I will let you deal with it yourselves. Maybe only in Ohio on the river. Also, ran across a hookah lounge - how many towns on the river have one of them ?

The only other question I have for Marietta, Ohio, is what is a public loafing place ?