Wednesday, October 15
We started the day with showers ashore for the whole crew, well the human crew; the deck hands said they would bath themselves. Then we went up to Dockers, GTB’s great little breakfast and lunch spot. They have the greatest pecan pancakes.
Next we made sure everything was ready to travel and topped of the water tank. There are two ways to get to the Ohio River from GTB, thru the Barkley lock and down the Cumberland or
thru the Kentucky lock and down the Tennessee River. The Tennessee is 22 miles shorter but the Kentucky Lock is frequently backed up with Tow traffic. I called the Kentucky Lock on the radio (I had check the traffic on the internet, it showed one tow working nothing waiting) and he said to come that way and call him when we were thru the canal between the lakes. When we got there he was just finishing the down bound tow and then locked up a pleasure craft. We waited about 45 minutes and got through the lock in good shape (don’t ask the admiral about the window screen).
What a break we are now a least twenty miles
ahead of the other way and when we exited the lock there is a tow waiting to enter (he has two thirds of the exit blocked) that we squeezed by and continued down river. There is a second and third tow in the next five miles. That is at least a five hour wait if nothing else shows up if we had been a little later.
There is a tremendous amount of barge activity along the last ten miles of the Tennessee, not
only loading and unloading but repair facilities. One two mile stretch of one bank is almost continuous floating dry docks, with both barges and tows out for service.
We reached the Ohio which is at Paducah, KY. It is interesting, with flood walls the bases of which are twenty feet above the water. The gates are open and people drive down and park below the flood wall on the river bank.
Another five miles is lock 52. It is the busiest lock on the rivers, and old and slow. When I looked
this morning there were eighteen tows waiting to lock, estimate 21 hours. They are very good about working in pleasure craft. They have both a large and small chamber; we waited about half an hour and they got us into the small chamber.
When the water is high they have “wickets” in the dam and these are simply laid down, then traffic flows right thru the opening. When we went up the Ohio in May the dam was down, we didn’t see the lock, it was entirely under water.
It was now almost 4:00 and there is another lock
in twenty miles. The best (only?) anchorage on this stretch of the river is about two miles downriver from the lock, near the I-24 highway bridge. The channel is on the Illinois side of the river and there is still 8 to 10 feet of water on the far (Kentucky) shore. It is a bit open, but just enough current to hold the boat steady on the anchor. The barges are all lined up on the far bank waiting their turn in the lock. This is across the river from Metropolis, IL, The water tower with Superman on it is not visible from the river, we saw it from the highway driving down.
We started the day with showers ashore for the whole crew, well the human crew; the deck hands said they would bath themselves. Then we went up to Dockers, GTB’s great little breakfast and lunch spot. They have the greatest pecan pancakes.
Next we made sure everything was ready to travel and topped of the water tank. There are two ways to get to the Ohio River from GTB, thru the Barkley lock and down the Cumberland or
thru the Kentucky lock and down the Tennessee River. The Tennessee is 22 miles shorter but the Kentucky Lock is frequently backed up with Tow traffic. I called the Kentucky Lock on the radio (I had check the traffic on the internet, it showed one tow working nothing waiting) and he said to come that way and call him when we were thru the canal between the lakes. When we got there he was just finishing the down bound tow and then locked up a pleasure craft. We waited about 45 minutes and got through the lock in good shape (don’t ask the admiral about the window screen).What a break we are now a least twenty miles
ahead of the other way and when we exited the lock there is a tow waiting to enter (he has two thirds of the exit blocked) that we squeezed by and continued down river. There is a second and third tow in the next five miles. That is at least a five hour wait if nothing else shows up if we had been a little later.
There is a tremendous amount of barge activity along the last ten miles of the Tennessee, not
only loading and unloading but repair facilities. One two mile stretch of one bank is almost continuous floating dry docks, with both barges and tows out for service.We reached the Ohio which is at Paducah, KY. It is interesting, with flood walls the bases of which are twenty feet above the water. The gates are open and people drive down and park below the flood wall on the river bank.
Another five miles is lock 52. It is the busiest lock on the rivers, and old and slow. When I looked
this morning there were eighteen tows waiting to lock, estimate 21 hours. They are very good about working in pleasure craft. They have both a large and small chamber; we waited about half an hour and they got us into the small chamber.When the water is high they have “wickets” in the dam and these are simply laid down, then traffic flows right thru the opening. When we went up the Ohio in May the dam was down, we didn’t see the lock, it was entirely under water.
It was now almost 4:00 and there is another lock
in twenty miles. The best (only?) anchorage on this stretch of the river is about two miles downriver from the lock, near the I-24 highway bridge. The channel is on the Illinois side of the river and there is still 8 to 10 feet of water on the far (Kentucky) shore. It is a bit open, but just enough current to hold the boat steady on the anchor. The barges are all lined up on the far bank waiting their turn in the lock. This is across the river from Metropolis, IL, The water tower with Superman on it is not visible from the river, we saw it from the highway driving down.
Pikka likes to navagate, but she has a hard time consentrating.
It was another warm afternoon with a high in the mid 80s and a brisk wind. This evening we sat on the front deck enjoying temperatures in the upper 70s and watched a full moon rise while playing peek-a-boo behind some clouds. This may be the end of the warmth, the forecast is for a cold front with rain tonight and a high tomorrow only in the 60’s.
For now life continues to be very good.
Thursday, October 16
Neither of us got a lot of sleep last night. We were only in bed about fifteen minutes when it started to rain. It doesn’t take much rain on the upper deck, that than runs off to the lower deck, to be pretty loud. Along with the rain came some wind (not heavy) but it was enough to swing us on the anchor. We had been hanging on a current of about one mph but the wind was enough on our big surface area to swing us about 150 degrees. I had to go out and check that the anchor was well hooked and hadn’t pulled itself out when we swung. We spent the night swinging back and forth as the rain squalls came and went. One of us was about every half hour checking our position.
This morning the rain was ending but it was still low overcast and lots of moisture. We had hot oatmeal for breakfast and were underway by about 8:00. The plan for the day was to get through lock 53 (the last on the Ohio) and down to the mouth of the Ohio where it meets the Mississippi.
We got the anchor up and worked our way back to the channel. There were still lots of tows all over the river.
Twenty miles downriver was Lock 53, we caught a tow just a couple miles before the lock. I throttled back and was prepared to follow him; he was just a couple mph slower than we were. I called the lock and asked for lockage. He called the tow then called us back and said come on around the tow, the gates were open on the main chamber and we should come right in. The tow had only four rows of barges and the lock will hold five. So we went to the far end of the chamber, the tow followed us in and we locked down together.
Both 52 and 53 are due to be replaced by the new Olmsted lock, see Diana’s pictures. Because of this the only maintenance is that required to keep them functioning in the short term and it shows. Olmsted was started in 1990 with a scheduled completion of 2002. The current completion date is 2013, 2017, 2021, take your pick I have heard them all. Since it changes every year it doesn’t really matter.
The last six or eight miles of the Ohio are again very busy with lots of barge activity. There are barges parked everywhere, on both banks and anchored in the middle of the river. Large tows are going both ways while harbor tugs move barges from a staging area across the river to a loading/unloading facility.
After we got thru the lock in good time we also picked up about one mph of favorable current. This was going to get us to our planned anchorage by 1:30, a rather short day. Knowing there was supposed to be an anchorage behind an island twenty miles further up river. We decide we would start our battle with the Mississippi River current.
We pushed the engines up to 2600 rpm and gave them some work (normal cruising is 1800 – 2000). We were seeing current form 3.5 to over 5 mph. This is what was expected, I also believe the current is strongest in the first fifty of the 185 miles to St. Louis. We made it to the anchorage about 5:30; the water looked questionable, so we slowly tried to noise in. With the
depth finder still showing five feet under the center of the boat the bow was suddenly hard aground. Since we had good water at the back we just reversed off and went back out one hundred feet to ten feet of water and dropped two anchors.We watched a beautiful sunset, in a clear sky and the temperature began to drop immediately. High today of mid 60’s but a low tonight in the mid 40’s.
Friday, October 17It was a cool clear morning, 46 outside, 56 in the cabin. The admiral was happy when I started the generator and turned the heat on before she got out of bed. We immediately set about getting underway (after I start coffee brewing first). By 7:00 we were in the channel and making way
against the current. Our plan for the day called for 66 miles upriver in eleven hours. It doesn’t sound like a lot but with our top speed of 11.5 and current of over 5 at times it made for a long day. Actually we found that running at 2600 to 2700 rpm (about 80% of full power) gave us enough average speed to do our six plus mph. It also burns less fuel than wide open.
As we continued upriver we marveled at the change in the water level since we were here
Memorial Day weekend. As we went through Cape Girardeau Diana took a picture of the mural on the flood wall, it is similar to a picture in May when the water was high. I have also included a picture from yesterday of the junction marker where the Ohio meets the Mississippi. It is a red marker for the Mississippi and a green for the Ohio. Next is the same marker from May.Shortly after Cape G. we meet the McGees coming the other way. This is two couples (brothers
) that took delivery of a 59 foot Gibson the same time we got our boat. They spent the summer in the St Charles area and are just now headed south. We took time to get pictures of each other and chatted on the radio, and then we continued our journeys in opposite directions.By 5:30 we were nearing an anchorage that was recommended last weekend by Mark on the Nordhavn. We eased our way in behind the wing dam, found good water and dropped the anchor. The hour meters show 10.8 hours today. That is about all the day light there is now.
Saturday, October 18
Another up at the crack of dawn and underway by 6:50, sunrise is 7:15. The morning was clear sky, no wind and temperature of 48. The wind remained light all day and only a few clouds, with the temperature finally reaching the mid 60’s late in the day.
The plan was another long day, 70 miles into the current to reach Hoppies Marina. We again ran at 80% of full power all day. By noon it looked like we might be pushing too hard the starboard fuel gauge was looking like we might not make Hoppies at that power. The option is to run slower which will burn less fuel but will add an extra day (night at anchor) to the trip. I went back and measured the fuel with a calibrated wooden dowel which is more accurate than the gauge. It appears the gauge is under reporting by at least an 1/8, we keep on pushing.
We continue to meet many tows, since this part of the river has no locks they can push more barges. Five by five is very common and a couple of six by six. They are slow and cumbersome but they are moving a lot of heavy freight. One barge is the equivalent of about 45 truck loads.
This afternoon we watched a small ferry cross the river in front of us. Then two cars drove off and he reloaded with about eight cars and two motorcycles. These ferries are just a barge with a small tug on the side.
By 5:30 we had Hoppies in site and called on the radio. They said they were just finishing fueling a 58 foot cruiser and he was going to move to the other end of the barge, we were to pull in where he pulled out and we could fuel, and then spent the night right there. Pretty soon the little 58 foot cruiser pulled out from in front of the big yacht in front of it. We slowly motored into fuel dock, bow to bow with the “Water Gremlin” of Stillwater, MN. Water Gremlin is a well known company in our hometown of White Bear Lake.
We took on 120 gallons of diesel (not a fill but more than enough to get us to St Charles. We got the power connected and had an interesting conversation with Fern (the proprietor). She is extremely knowledgeable about the river and what is going on.
It was another long hard day but it gets us thru most of the stretch of heavy current and no more anchoring with tows going by all night. Again the hour meters said 10.8 hours.
Just as the sun was setting I walked up to the top of the walkway and got this picture of the 58 footer, Water Gremlin, and us on the outside of the barges. The boats on the inside are permanent residents. The area where I stood to take the picture was underwater less than a month ago after the remains of Ike. The ground still showed signs of saturation recently.
Another up at the crack of dawn and underway by 6:50, sunrise is 7:15. The morning was clear sky, no wind and temperature of 48. The wind remained light all day and only a few clouds, with the temperature finally reaching the mid 60’s late in the day.
The plan was another long day, 70 miles into the current to reach Hoppies Marina. We again ran at 80% of full power all day. By noon it looked like we might be pushing too hard the starboard fuel gauge was looking like we might not make Hoppies at that power. The option is to run slower which will burn less fuel but will add an extra day (night at anchor) to the trip. I went back and measured the fuel with a calibrated wooden dowel which is more accurate than the gauge. It appears the gauge is under reporting by at least an 1/8, we keep on pushing.
We continue to meet many tows, since this part of the river has no locks they can push more barges. Five by five is very common and a couple of six by six. They are slow and cumbersome but they are moving a lot of heavy freight. One barge is the equivalent of about 45 truck loads.
This afternoon we watched a small ferry cross the river in front of us. Then two cars drove off and he reloaded with about eight cars and two motorcycles. These ferries are just a barge with a small tug on the side.
By 5:30 we had Hoppies in site and called on the radio. They said they were just finishing fueling a 58 foot cruiser and he was going to move to the other end of the barge, we were to pull in where he pulled out and we could fuel, and then spent the night right there. Pretty soon the little 58 foot cruiser pulled out from in front of the big yacht in front of it. We slowly motored into fuel dock, bow to bow with the “Water Gremlin” of Stillwater, MN. Water Gremlin is a well known company in our hometown of White Bear Lake.
We took on 120 gallons of diesel (not a fill but more than enough to get us to St Charles. We got the power connected and had an interesting conversation with Fern (the proprietor). She is extremely knowledgeable about the river and what is going on.
It was another long hard day but it gets us thru most of the stretch of heavy current and no more anchoring with tows going by all night. Again the hour meters said 10.8 hours.
Just as the sun was setting I walked up to the top of the walkway and got this picture of the 58 footer, Water Gremlin, and us on the outside of the barges. The boats on the inside are permanent residents. The area where I stood to take the picture was underwater less than a month ago after the remains of Ike. The ground still showed signs of saturation recently.
Sunday, October 19
One more good, long day with a little luck at two locks and we will be back in St Charles. Our luck just ran out, at 7:00 the fog is thick, visibility less
than 1/8 of a mile. Finally after 8:30 it has lifted enough that it looks like we can get underway shortly.
Water Gremlin with a paid crew and lots of electronics is out before us. Diana got these pictures as she left. Then just after we left she got a picture of the fog clearing.
With a two hour delay the plan was now to go to the Alton Marina, just after the second lock and twenty miles short of St. Charles.
We set the power at about 80% where the engines run well and we get decent progress against the current. Not too far up river we go around the dredge Potter working to remove silting from this summer’s floods.
There is a tremendous amount of barge activity in the area around St Louis. Facilities of all sorts on both banks and large rafts of barges anchored in the middle of the river waiting to be broken into smaller tows to fit the locks. These barges collect large quantities of debris during flood stage. It just all accumulates on their bows. When they are later moved the debris is all turned lose again.
This morning the river was a mine field of debris, everything from twigs to logs and whole trees floating down river. I tried to pick my way thru it but there was apparently one submerged log that I did not see. I didn’t hear anything but suddenly there was tremendous vibration on the starboard side. We slowed way down and checked things out. In neutral there was no vibration, only in gear. Has to be the prop and shaft not the engine, that’s good. At idle there is vibration but it is deemed acceptable for short periods of time. We will still have two engines for locking and docking.
We proceeded on just the port engine; amazingly we are still able to make progress against the current. Now we need no major delays at the locks to make Alton before dark. We pass thru downtown St. Louis and its lovely skyline with the arch, but it is hard to enjoy at the moment.
We reach lock 27 which is in a cannel separate from the main river and are now able to relax a little. They are just starting to lock down another boat and we wait about half an hour. We get in and lock up without a problem. Now we are in the 8 or 9 mile long Chain of Rocks cannel which has almost no current. We can run a little easier (70-75% of power) and still make decent speed. Half way up the cannel we meet more of the Minnesota navy headed south for the winter. The “MIMI” belongs to the Hubbard family.
We reach the end of the cannel and are back in heavy current for five miles as we go by the junction of the Missouri River with the Mississippi. There are more barge facilities here; Diana got this picture of two tows in dry dock.
We soon have the Mel Price Lock in site, our last lock for 2008, the lock master says we will us the small chamber, the gates are open and we have a green light. While we are headed for the lock, a fishing boat dashes in front of us and ties up at the back of the lock. I have to go out and around him and with a tailwind that keeps blowing the back end away from the wall we have a bit of trouble getting tied up. Finally we are able to back into position and we lock up. The small chamber apparently has not been used for a while and when the gates open there is a large quantity of debris swirling in the turbulence
created by the opening gates. It takes us several minutes to pick our way out of the lock. I try and use the starboard engine when it looks questionable and protect the good port by leaving it in neutral.
The Alton Marina is in site less than two miles upriver. We get in and tied off, it is time to unwind, it was a tough day. This is a lovely marina; we are just a little too tired to really enjoy it.
Monday, October 20
We have just twenty miles with less current today; we take our time and are underway about 8:30. There is a relatively high bluff along the Illinois side of the river all day today, with many homes on the top. Old ones as we leave Alton then newer homes as we get further up river. Diana gets many pictures of the interesting rock formations.
Shortly before noon we have the large eagle marking the entrance to Polestar Marina in
sight. We pull into the Wahoo dock and tie up right where we took deliver this spring.
Our car is up next to the Wahoo office, thanks to Dave and Mary who moved from Nashville to here on their way home to Minnesota.
We make arrangements with Bloch Marine Services, to pull the boat, winterize it, shrink wrap it and repair the damage to the prop.
Now it is time to start packing.
Tuesday, October 21
We finish our packing, move the boat to the fuel dock, top of the tanks and pump out.
We carry the last of the items going home; it is again a van full, up the steep ramp to the car.
I will do a summary of the year as another entry and will include fuel information there.
By noon we are on our way to Minnesota. It is a long day but we make it by 10:00 P.M. and it feels good to have the long drive behind us.
One more good, long day with a little luck at two locks and we will be back in St Charles. Our luck just ran out, at 7:00 the fog is thick, visibility less
than 1/8 of a mile. Finally after 8:30 it has lifted enough that it looks like we can get underway shortly.Water Gremlin with a paid crew and lots of electronics is out before us. Diana got these pictures as she left. Then just after we left she got a picture of the fog clearing.
With a two hour delay the plan was now to go to the Alton Marina, just after the second lock and twenty miles short of St. Charles.
We set the power at about 80% where the engines run well and we get decent progress against the current. Not too far up river we go around the dredge Potter working to remove silting from this summer’s floods.
There is a tremendous amount of barge activity in the area around St Louis. Facilities of all sorts on both banks and large rafts of barges anchored in the middle of the river waiting to be broken into smaller tows to fit the locks. These barges collect large quantities of debris during flood stage. It just all accumulates on their bows. When they are later moved the debris is all turned lose again.
This morning the river was a mine field of debris, everything from twigs to logs and whole trees floating down river. I tried to pick my way thru it but there was apparently one submerged log that I did not see. I didn’t hear anything but suddenly there was tremendous vibration on the starboard side. We slowed way down and checked things out. In neutral there was no vibration, only in gear. Has to be the prop and shaft not the engine, that’s good. At idle there is vibration but it is deemed acceptable for short periods of time. We will still have two engines for locking and docking.
We proceeded on just the port engine; amazingly we are still able to make progress against the current. Now we need no major delays at the locks to make Alton before dark. We pass thru downtown St. Louis and its lovely skyline with the arch, but it is hard to enjoy at the moment.
We reach lock 27 which is in a cannel separate from the main river and are now able to relax a little. They are just starting to lock down another boat and we wait about half an hour. We get in and lock up without a problem. Now we are in the 8 or 9 mile long Chain of Rocks cannel which has almost no current. We can run a little easier (70-75% of power) and still make decent speed. Half way up the cannel we meet more of the Minnesota navy headed south for the winter. The “MIMI” belongs to the Hubbard family.
We reach the end of the cannel and are back in heavy current for five miles as we go by the junction of the Missouri River with the Mississippi. There are more barge facilities here; Diana got this picture of two tows in dry dock.
We soon have the Mel Price Lock in site, our last lock for 2008, the lock master says we will us the small chamber, the gates are open and we have a green light. While we are headed for the lock, a fishing boat dashes in front of us and ties up at the back of the lock. I have to go out and around him and with a tailwind that keeps blowing the back end away from the wall we have a bit of trouble getting tied up. Finally we are able to back into position and we lock up. The small chamber apparently has not been used for a while and when the gates open there is a large quantity of debris swirling in the turbulence
created by the opening gates. It takes us several minutes to pick our way out of the lock. I try and use the starboard engine when it looks questionable and protect the good port by leaving it in neutral.The Alton Marina is in site less than two miles upriver. We get in and tied off, it is time to unwind, it was a tough day. This is a lovely marina; we are just a little too tired to really enjoy it.
Monday, October 20
We have just twenty miles with less current today; we take our time and are underway about 8:30. There is a relatively high bluff along the Illinois side of the river all day today, with many homes on the top. Old ones as we leave Alton then newer homes as we get further up river. Diana gets many pictures of the interesting rock formations.
Shortly before noon we have the large eagle marking the entrance to Polestar Marina in
sight. We pull into the Wahoo dock and tie up right where we took deliver this spring.Our car is up next to the Wahoo office, thanks to Dave and Mary who moved from Nashville to here on their way home to Minnesota.
We make arrangements with Bloch Marine Services, to pull the boat, winterize it, shrink wrap it and repair the damage to the prop.
Now it is time to start packing.
Tuesday, October 21
We finish our packing, move the boat to the fuel dock, top of the tanks and pump out.
We carry the last of the items going home; it is again a van full, up the steep ramp to the car.
I will do a summary of the year as another entry and will include fuel information there.
By noon we are on our way to Minnesota. It is a long day but we make it by 10:00 P.M. and it feels good to have the long drive behind us.
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