August 1, 2015. Bellevue, IA to Savanna, IL. 17 Miles.

The tractors and trailers were ready for us this morning. Here are 3 first time Rumblers--we've talked to these guys all week, but I can't remember their names.

Joe and Tammy have been on all the Rumbles that Bill and I have done.

And here is John, who has been on 7 Rumbles to our 5. We always spend time with him on the Rumble and then do not see or hear from him until the next one.

Bellevue looked lovely in the morning sun. I walked around a little before we got on the boats.

This morning Larry loaned me a Sirocco, kind of in between, not as sleek as the Caribou and not as large as the Storm. It's been rather hard paddling a different boat every day!

Rex and Lori (landing chair) entertained us for a couple of minutes, and then we lined up for the annual group photo.

The river was smooth as glass when we loaded up and launched the boats.

We went into a slough right away, came out into the river, then entered another slough. Eagles and buzzards flew overhead.

We had a break in the morning, and then had lunch on the Illinois side of the river.

At the end of the day Rex led us into a slough that was supposed to take us down to the Lazy River Marina, our final takeout. He'd told us this morning that we were not gong to try to get through this way, but apparently changed his mind.

I was following the boats in front of me, when they all started turning around--Rex's original perception was correct--the slough was impassible. Everyone turned around and went back out into the big water.

We paddled down river almost to Savanna, then turned upriver (and upwind) to navigate our last mile to the end of the ride.

We loaded our boats on the truck and then called Connie, our hostess at Roberts Roost B & B. She and her husband Dennis met us at the house and showed us around. She had sent me a voice mail yesterday, offering to come to the marina and take photos when we landed, but unfortunately my phone has been turned off all week and I did not get the message until we'd already arrived.

We made ourselves very comfortable at Roberts Roost, and it was hard to leave it to go to the banquet! But we did. Savanna is a great motorcycling destination, but kayaks were in the majority tonight!

We spent a comfortable night at the B & B, ate breakfast and drove home on Sunday. Thus Great River Rumble 2015 ends.