Mississippi River houseboat

I might be opening a can of worms for you guys that frequent the river. I rented a houseboat for a week in July. I’ve done Voyagers several times so not inexperienced. We are heading south to spend a week with our kids and take in new scenery. We leave from Alma, Wi. Anyone else do this trip? Is it better (cooler places to visit) if we go north or south? I’m not really going to fish much, this is family time. I’m not sure if I’ll tow my Ranger Reata. Any advice other than “stay home” is appreciated. This is a big deal for us to travel south of Brainerd.

No houseboat experience, But spent a fair amount of time on and around the Mississippi when I lived in Winona in my younger, wilder years. I would hope no one on here would respond in the way you described. I think if you know what you’re doing and are a courteous boater, a houseboat putzing down the river wouldn’t even turn a head on that area of the river, they’re a pretty common site.

I would personally head south towards Trempealeau and LaCrosse, lots of cool little river towns down that way – Sullivans in Trempealeau is an awesome spot to grab dinner and there’s some great taverns as well that are family friendly. Not sure if there’s a public dock in Fountain City, WI, but also some cool old river joints there. My wife and I had our first date at the Monarch tavern and the Golden Frog’s a great place as well.

Love and miss the river, it’s a whole sub-culture of people and almost all of them are great! Have fun!

I second Sullivan’s Great supper club. Check out the Peal Ice Cream shop in LaCrosse too.

You should send a PM to BK. He’ll be able to help with all of your questions. I’d go south for sure. Not much to look at north of red wing.

I would just say make sure you study how to navigate the river if you haven’t spent time on it. It’s a different animal than being on a lake. Navigation of the locks are also something to read up on…assume you are doing this but worth mentioning.

Towing a boat going downstream seems a bit tricky but I assume the houseboat company has a system to keep the boat in place. I’d be concerned with the Reata getting into the back of the houseboat.

Sounds like a fun trip.

My $.02 as someone who lives 2 miles from Pool 4 and has done the houseboat thing in my younger years:

If you are starting in Alma WI (presumably above that dam, I’d definitely at least go up through Wabasha and into Lake Pepin for a day. Wabasha added a brand new city dock that’s very easy to tie up at with even houseboats. Their “Riverboat Days” festival is the last weekend in July (not sure if that lines up with your dates). There is live music under their bridge Friday nights and at Slipperys on Sundays. There are quite a few sandbars to stop at from just below Wabasha up to the foot of Lake Pepin. If it’s a weekend you can basically match your interests to the crowds. There are areas with less traffic that are quiet and areas with 200’ slip and slides, and everything in between.

After that I’d definitely head south though. Nothing above Lake Pepin is really worthwhile for what it’d take in time to get above Lake City or so. As already noted, BK would be a good source of intel.

Also if you aren’t really focused on fishing and are already kind of hesitating on towing the boat behind, I’d not bring it. It’s just something else to deal with and my guess is you will use it half as much as you think you might.

If you are going thru the Great River Houseboats Fun in the Sun they are located south of Alma on Pool 5. Alma Marina above the dam also has boats but not as many as Great River Harbor. They are also a Honda dealership and rent small fishing boats to tow. I would not want to tow a large boat behind. Bluegills at that time will be on the wing dams and fishing should be really good. Explore both above and below but Pool 4 above Alma can get crazy with boat traffic. It is a lot quieter south of Alma on 5. Some nice beaches with the Weaver bottoms right behind the sand beaches. A canoe or Kayaks would also be good. You will regret not having a boat or something along to explore.

We have the boat 7 days. Sounds like going south is nicer. I rented a 14 foot with a 15 hp Honda. Thanks for all the advice.