What's round on the ends & high in the middle? OHIO

October 11, 12, 13, 14, 2001

October 11

Brian washed the outside of the boat this morning while I finished the laundry.  The washer uses a lot of water so I try to save laundry until we are near a marina and we can refill the water tanks.  We left Hoppies, as scheduled, at noon, and did a short trip to the Kaskaskia Lock (41 miles).  Because there are no marinas or safe places to anchor in this area, the Corp of Engineers allows boats to tie to the lock wall overnight.  It is just off the Mississippi on what else – the Kaskaskia River.  The trip was especially short because instead of moving at our usual pace of 8 mph, we were racing along at + or – 12 mph!  That can make you almost giddy….  We have gone through our last lock on the Mississippi.  It was in St Louis.  From that point on the river flows free to New Orleans.  We, however, will not be following the Mississippi and we will be going through many more locks.  Some very very large ones.  The rivers are extremely shallow this fall (about 23 feet lower than when we went through June 2010). 

Building a wing dam

Wing dam with a channel buoy

Spring and early summer of this year they were above flood stage.  We have seen hundreds of wing dams along the river.  Normally they would be under water.  Wing dams are long piles of rocks that extend part way across the river.  They are installed to direct the fast moving water into the center channel and reduce the amount of erosion along the banks.  We have never seen them exposed before – meaning we’ve never seen the water this low.  Now I see why I did so much damage to our previous boat when I missed a turn in the channel and drove in to one of them.  We came to a very quick stop!    

 

October 12

We got our first rain of the trip this afternoon.  Inside the pilot house it was very cozy and it didn’t change our plans.  Now that it’s just the two of us on board we are wearing our man overboard bracelets.  They are kind of like the ‘I fell and can’t get up’ fobs that you have seen on TV.  If one of us would fall in the water an alarm would automatically go off in the pilot house.  Hopefully, the Captain would then turn the boat around and come back to pick me up….guess it depends on the day....  Also, if we slip and get hurt, we can push a button in the middle which also sets off the alarm.  How did we ever survive without technology? 



Since we are below the locks, the tow boats and the number of barges they push has gotten considerably larger. Today we saw one tow with 26 barges. To go through the locks, their size was limited to 15 barges. As we get further south they will be even bigger. When we approach a tow coming towards us, Brian calls the captain to see which side of the channel we should pass on. One whistle means we pass on our port sides. The two whistle means starboard. As we go past the pilot house of the tow boat, Brian steps out, closes the door behind him and does a two arm wave to the captain. They usually open their door and wave back to him. Just a way of politely saying “thanks for not running over us”. The further south we go the more colorful the names of the islands, bluffs, etc. We just passed Hanging Dog Island north of Dog Tooth Bend. I guess Minnesota has more than it’s share of colorful names -- Pig’s Eye and Beer Can. At the end of the day we anchor after 110 miles.  

October 13

We woke up at 6 to get an early start on a long day. The goal of 96 miles would put us in Green Turtle Marina for the night.  When we looked at the AIS screen first thing in the morning there were 39 tow boats on it.  AIS is Automatic Identification System – a program that identifies any other boat with AIS within a 20 mile radius and plots it on our electronic chart.  Normally we will see 2 or 3.  We were anchored near Cairo, Illinois.  Cairo is a busy port that is at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.  It has river frontage on both rivers.  The river is very wide here and it looks like a parking lot for barges.  There are hundreds of them waiting to be filled and taken to their destination. 

Imagine about 500 barges and tow boats tied up like this 



In less than an hour we made the turn onto the Ohio River and ended our voyage on the Mississippi. While on the Ohio we are pushing upstream.  Instead of traveling at 12 mph we are now at 7.8 mph and using a couple more RPM’s.  

A new lock and dam is being constructed in Olmstead, Illinois.  Work began in December of 1995 and it won’t be completed until 2016----wow, 21 years! Two other locks will be removed as Olmstead will be capable of controlling all of the water by itself.  We had two locks to go through today.  One was easy; we went right over what used to be the spillway wall.  The second one had a barge going in when we arrived which caused us about an hour wait.  Then instead of taking us in, as most locks would, they took another tow.  Another hour and 20 minutes waiting.  Nothing to do but chill and relax.

Can't you just hear Jimmy Buffet in the background

Passed Paducah, Kentucky (now, it sounds like we really are in the south) where the Tennessee and Ohio rivers converge.  Our speed improved (8.5 mph) but not enough to get us to Green Turtle tonight. Another anchorage.  This time behind Towhead Island – very picturesque.  And, we are at the convergence of the Ohio and Cumberland rivers.  Total miles today:68    

Hope this helps others that are geographically challenged

October 14

Sprint just contacted us and said that they turned off our data roaming.  We had used more than our allotted number of something bites.  And, it wouldn’t be turned on until our next billing period begins, October 26.  We asked what the charge for the overage would be -- $437!  Yikes….  We made it to Green Turtle and I’m using their Wifi.  Sounds like a good time to catch on postings.

Historic Smithland, Kentucky -- Gower House built in 1780
Luxury inn for travelers including presidents Polk & Taylor.

The entrance to the Cumberland River, which was adjacent to our anchorage last night, looks like a stream.  It would be tough to pass a tow in this area. 

All of the rivers have one thing in common--
massive erosion along their banks.

The only community that we pass today is Smithfield.  In the mid 1800's it was a thriving community with many businesses and three newspapers.  It was a strategic staging area during the Cival War.  If you look closely at the photo of the Grower house you will see the erosion of the banks and the white line above it is riprap for the floods.  Also, the dirt on the bridge pillar shows how high the water was -- it's dropped about 30 feet since the spring flood this year. 

I'm sure that if they put one more rock on this barge
it will go straight to the bottom of the river!

From the river it looks like the main industry in this area is rock excavating.  The quarries are very large and the equipment for grading is extensive.   

How cute!  The smallest tow boat we've seen 
Little Toot 

 Just before we arrived at the marina we went through the Barkley Lock.  This is one of the newer locks (completed in 1966) and the biggest lift we've gone through on this trip. ....53 feet.  I tell you, as you pull into the chamber and they close those doors it is a bit scarey.  The dark areas on the walls and doors indicates how far we have to be raised.  I yelled up to the lock master and asked him if he had checked the seals on the doors and he assured me that all was in good shape.  Just think of the pressure of the water pushing against the doors...  Well, obviously we made it just fine.

At 1:10 we pulled into Green Turtle Marina.  Lots of friendly faces and helping hands to tie us off.  We are immediately invited to an impromtu party on the dock.  It's not that we look like we are fun -- they invite everyone that is traveling south and staying for a couple of days.  We go and it is fun.  Most of the people there are from Minnesota or Michigan (Brian and I both grew up in Michigan).  So we immediately fall into easy conversation.  As we walk back to the boat, another Krogen like ours pulls in.  This one has a family of four on board and they are from Miami.  The kids look like they are about 12.  What a great bonding experience.  Then, we get back to the boat, the phone rings and it is Barb and Sandy Cobb.  The Cobbs are great friends from Minnesota who are on their way to Florida.  Their route almost takes them right by the marina tomorrow.  So, yea!!!  They are coming to spend a night or maybe two with us.  What a great day this has been!

33 miles today and 932 total for the trip.

Gotta Smile -- We're lovin the ride!