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October 15, 16, 2011

October 15

The day begins with a little bit of spiffing up of the boat, because we are expecting company from home!  Then we borrow the marina car and drive into Grand Rivers for a few supplies.  As it turns out, less supplies than we planned.  This IGA is a poor excuse for a grocery store.  I'm not looking for exotic foods -- just some basics.  When we checked out we only had 3 bananas and a box of confectioners sugar.  We also stopped in a very cute store that we remembered from before, So Cool.  They have a little bit of everything and it is all fun.  Brian leaves with a sunscreen protective shirt with a sailfish embroidered on the back, a Pirate Book (that he said he was buying for the Grand kids, but I caught him reading it this morning) and a dress and t-shirt for me.  Ok, if I have to choose between a good grocery store or a fun whatever store---we can always find groceries!   

 

Barb and Sandy Cobb arrived around 2:00 after a little tour of the area (they got lost).  We spent several hours catching up on life in general, went for a walk and then jumped in their car to go for dinner at Patti's 1880 Restaurant.  This place is a destination for people that really like to eat.  I'm trying to be politically correct.  The food is very good and the portions are huge.  The second thing that you notice is how absolutely overdecorated the restaurant is.  Artificial flowers hang from every conceivable location in quantities that would easily fill the shelves of all the Michael's craft stores in the Twin Cities.  This is no exaggeration...  Back to the boat and it is time for a serious game of Chicken Foot.  We have to play a game or we will fall into a food comma.  When we quit the game for the evening, I am clearly in the lead.  Everyone agrees that the game will be continued tomorrow after breakfast.  The worm turned and by morning my luck had turned with it.  Barb wound up the grand champion with me in second place.  Guess that lets you know where the boys finished. 

October 16
After a leisurely breakfast and the completion of our game, Barb and Sandy head off for Nashville and a visit with Sandy's brother.  Then they are on to Florida.  Brian and I enjoy a walk around the marina, do a couple more projects and this beautiful 80+ degree day is almost gone.    

Walking into our retirement

Muddy Waters from Miami, FL

 Another 48 foot North Sea Krogen is docked next to us.  We first saw their boat in Alton, MO while we were waiting for a lock to open.  Jennifer and Mike are doing the Great Loop with their two children, Keenan & Daria.  They are now headed back to Florida for some time on land.  We got together to look at each other's boats and compare notes on storage and living on board.  Their boat is a widebody -- no walk around on one side which makes their salon another two+ feet wider than ours and they have 3 staterooms.  It is beautiful inside with granite counters, new upholstery and a 4 drawer Subzero refrigerator/freezer.  As we upgrade some of our interior, these are things that we will definitely consider.  Keenan is my new hero.  He showed me how to recover some pictures from email and put them in my picture file.  What a nice family -- Just the kind of people that we hoped to meet on this trip.

Keenan -- computer wizard

Monday morning we begin our trip up the Tennessee river to Chattanooga.  This is an area that we have not explored before.  We are very excited about it because we have heard wonderful reports from so many others.
Gotta Smile -- We're lovin the ride!
           

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!   

  

Meet me in St Louis -- Or somewhere near by

October 8, 9 10, 2011

October 8, 2011

This is our sixth trip up or down the river and we have never stayed at the Grafton Marina.  It has been recommended to us, so this is the year that we give it a try.  We arrive around 2:30 on the 8^th and it is bedlam!  The gas dock, where we need to check in, needs a full time traffic cop to direct boats in and out.  Unfortunately, he’s not giving tickets for stupidity and driving too fast in a congested area.  This is a big week-end in Grafton.  The motorcycle crowd is in town, there’s some kind of festival and everyone with a boat is on the water (87 degrees and sunny).  Unlike Timberlake Marina, this marina exceeds the guide book hype.  Once we get to our slip, we are away from most of the activity.  Gail and I decide to walk to the ship’s store while the guys do a few tasks.  Across the street there is a very loud band playing at a restaurant.  Gail casually asks how late I think they will be playing.  Well, I can now report --- until 2:30 AM.  After we pay for the slip and the guys catch up with us we walk the full length of town (probably 1 ½ miles each way).  We stop periodically to check out stores, but only buy a few apples.  By the time we get back, it is time for dinner.  While Gail and I whip up a really good chicken dish with garlic, capers and tomatoes, Brian and John are in the cockpit talking to several other guys that came by to ask about the boat.   

Shiver me timbers, Matey!
Part of the Grafton extravaganza.

Lock wall coming up with the
Alton bridge in the background

'Downtown" Kimmswick

On Sunday the 9th we travel through St Louis.  This is the biggest port we have been through so there's lots to see.  The banks are lined with barges waiting to be filled, dry docks repairing barges and tows, and all types of docks unloading the barges.  Until you spend a little time on the river, it's easy to think that everything is transported by trains and trucks in America. 
Of course, one of our favorites sites on this leg is the Arch in downtown St Louis.  I managed to get a shot without the cheesy casino and all of the other carnival sideshows that surround it on the riverbank.  Our destination for the night is Hoppies Marina adjacent to Kimmswick.  Kimmswick is a small village of homes that were built in the early 1800s.  Many of them have been turned into shops and restaurants.  We spend an hour exploring the town.  Everything closes at 5:00 Sunday and doesn't open again until Tuesday.  Just as well, I managed to find some very cute Christmas gifts for JAC (2) and Addison (3).  This marina is a favorite of ours -- not because it is luxurious (several barges lashed together) , but because of Fern.  Fern is a legend on this part of the river.  Probably in her 70's, she knows the river better than any towboat captain.  She tells boaters where it is safe to anchor, where the river is too shallow to enter, where there are under water hazards and when it is safe to travel during high water times.  Brian has called her daily on other trips to get updates and check on conditions.  She has never given us bad advise.  John, Gail, Brian and I pile into the loaner car for a farewell dinner in town.  This is not a car that you want to travel more than a few miles in.  We have used it on other trips and named it the 'Death Mobile'. One of the small idiosyncrasies is the turn indicator that turns on the emergency flasher and the lights in the wheel well in the backseat.  They all flash, but they don't indicate a turn.  The breaks need to be pumped about five times before you stand on them to stop.  In spite of dark roads, hills and sharp turns, the van takes us to town for a dinner of fried foods: fish, chips, onion rings and dill pickles and delivers us back to the marina.  Yummy......   This is the end of the trip for John and Gail.  Tomorrow morning they will drive back to the Twin Cities.       

No, the trip hasn't been that hard on me.
This is Brian giving a squeeze to his other blond, Fern!

Like I said -- Not luxurious, but a favorite with most boaters

October 10

John & Gail getting into the "Hey Taxi" taxi

John and Gail ordered a taxi that took them to the airport to get a one way rental.  They were on their way at 9 AM.  We enjoyed their visit and they were a great help.  John did all of the 1^st mate duties except sleep with the Captain!  Now I have to get busy.  Gail was great at keeping the boat picked up, making meals, commiserating about how much we hate computers and laughing at my stupid jokes.  I’m sure they will be back on board again for another ride.

As we were walking back to the boat, we stopped to talk to Dean, a young man that is canoeing from Itasca (the headwaters of the Mississippi River) to New Orleans.  He started his trip August 16^th and it appears that he will only make it to Memphis, TN.  He has to get back to work as a massage therapist.  We decided that he could probably use a hot meal so we invited him on board for eggs, toast, apple strudel and coffee.  This gave us a chance to quiz him about his journey.  We thought he was experienced at canoeing, but NO!  He learned to paddle on his trip and as he told us – “He’s really good now”.

Before we got to Hoppies, we had decided to spend an extra day there. It’s a good place to do some clean up and relax. Jennifer called and said she would be back in St Louis around noon and could come for a visit. Great!!! We had time for a long visit, pizza at Imos , another grocery run and play a couple quick games of Chicken Foot. As we walked her to her car, who do we run into but Dean….. He said he met some really nice people that offered him a bed. He and his canoe may be riding to Memphis on a Chris Craft now. I think he was ready for some R & R. I kidded him about smoking and being tipsy and he ‘begged’ me not to tell his Mom. My lips are sealed.

Gotta Smile -- We're lovin the ride! 

And, we thought we were living minimally!

October 6 & 7, 2011

We just sailed past a slab on stilts with a toilet, chaise lounge and table….no walls. I’m guessing it’s a bachelor pad!!! Now that really is minimal living.

Our first lock on the 6^th was next to the Keokuk Power Plant.  When it was built, it was the largest in the world.  This is our first BIG lock:  1200 feet long, with floating bollards.  We dropped 38 feet and instead of the lock doors swinging upstream, this one slid down.  We drove over it.  When the water was at the bottom of the lock we could see the concrete buttress that supports the wall.  Pretty impressive. 

Wall coming up at end of lock

Wall all the way up - Buttress at base
Dark area on wall is how far we came down

Tied to the floating bollard

At the end of the day Brian figured our miles per gallon at 4.3…not good for a car, but really good for a boat.  Our fuel tank holds 1000 gallons.


One last change to that computer note
and then I'm out to hold lines!

Gail and John model stylish outerwear
required in the big locks

Friday morning we are up early (well, John and Brian are up early) so we can get close to St Louis and see Jennifer by mid afternoon.  She has started working for Peabody Energy, which has their headquarters there.  The engine is purring and ready to go at the crack of dawn – 6:30.  We make great time for two and a half hours.  Opps, a tow captain has made a tactical error!  He placed the front edge of the first barge on the lip of the lock door.  As the water began to recede and the front barge was tilting, it was evident that they had to start over by bringing the water up and rearranging the barges.  This amounts to a two hour delay for us.  Time to call Jennifer and tell her she will have to drive a bit further to meet us.  Having a car makes her part of the rendezvous much more flexible than ours. 

We have only one option for the night – Timberlake Marina.  Well, it is listed as a marina.  According to the marina guide there will be electricity, water, fuel and a convenience store.  The dock is so fragile that the owner says if the wind picks up during the night our boat and the dock may both float away.  When we ask the owner about water, he tells us he wouldn’t drink it.  This is from a very nice man who is missing his top six front teeth and the bottom front four.  They don’t use the store anymore because it was too much work climbing the extension ladder every time they needed to go in it.  The trailer park is mix of mobile homes on wheels and stilts.  When Jennifer arrived, she said it looked like the perfect setting for a slasher movie.  The sign at the entry reads “Timber Lake Marina – This is where the fun begins”.  Enough said----

Marina store with ladder to enter

We are about 60 miles from St Louis.  Jennifer picks us up and takes us back to town so we can see some of the neighborhoods that they are considering.  Beautiful old homes with heavily wooded lots.  Then a really great dinner at Brio.  We had a darling waiter.  When I ordered my standard Coke, he told me they only had Pepsi products.  I grudgingly ordered a diet Pepsi with 3 large wedges of lemon.  When my 3^rd refill appeared with no lemon, he stood there grinning and told me that he had managed to find a diet Coke!  Gail is sure that he found a Coke because they were running out of lemons.  Dinner is over and we have an hour to find Costco and pick up some necessities.  The five of us enter the store running, each with their assignments.  Mission accomplished everything is checked off the list and we are on our way back to “the Marina” with minutes to spare.  This is what memories are made of

Lists ready?  Everybody GO!

Gotta Smile – we’re lovin the ride!

It's Been a Week

October 4 & 5, 2011

We’ve been on the river for a week now and as of anchoring tonight we’ve gone 460 miles. Most nights we anchor about 5:30, sit out on the cockpit (aft deck), have a cocktail (diet coke), talk about the day and watch the tow boats go by. We’re covering about 60 miles a day. If we took off at dawn and ran until twilight with no stops to explore towns, we could make 100 miles.

Yesterday we went through the Quad Cities – Davenport Iowa. It has an unusual lock in that it is immediately followed by a railroad bridge that needs to swing open for us. The lock master was one of the nicest we have come across. (He just started this job a year ago after two deployments to Iraq and one to Afghanistan.) He lowered the water in the lock slowly so the railroad bridge would be open when he released us. If we get out of the lock, before the RR bridge is open we have to maneuver in a very tight area while we wait and wait….

Brian and John were able to straighten the arm of the hawse pipe that we thought was destroyed during the second day lock adventure. It took all of their muscle, weight and the leverage of a 24 inch pipe wrench to make it look presentable. We will have to have it replaced eventually; it’s not attached as securely as needed.

After a week of showers, laundry, dishes and normal use we were very low on water. Even though the municipal dock at Muscatine, Iowa closed for business on September 18^th, the water spigot was still working. While we went to lunch at the Mississippi Brewing Company, the boat filled with 400 gallons. Today we stopped in Burlington, Iowa for lunch at Big Muddy’s. These are always a great opportunity for some exercise. Most of the river towns are built on hillsides so it is more than a casual stroll.

The lock master in Gulfport, IL said that somewhere around 900 eagles winter there. We still get excited when we see them and we see them frequently. Female eagles are larger than males. The female will weigh 13 pounds with a wingspan of 7 feet----males 10-12 pounds with a 6 foot wingspan. They can fly up to 10,000 feet in altitude and dive at 100 mph. Watch your small dogs and cats when in eagle territory – they can lift up to 4 pounds.

Just before we leave for lunch, Brian discovers that one of the toilets needs repair. John drives most of the afternoon while Brian installs a new duckbill valve in the head. He didn’t see much of the afternoon’s trip, but he made the repair and all is functioning again—yea! I’ll never again say that he brought too many tools and parts with us. I think he could rebuild any system on this boat. He has the patience of a saint and the mind of an engineer…which makes him a great person to travel with on a boat. No matter how new or how well prepared you think you are---things are going to break. Calling for repairs is expensive and time consuming and sometimes just plain impossible on the water. I’m lucky to have him as my captain. ...but, don't tell him I said so!

Gotta Smile – we’re lovin’ the ride

Entering Lock 15 with RR Bridge at the far end

Gail holding the line as we are lowered

RR Bridge Opens as We Come Out of Lock



Davenport, Iowa the home of Oscar Meyer



Downtown Davenport



John standing on the roof of the pilot house to make sure we clear a bridge

Barges waiting to be filled

John and Brian with the 24 inch pipe wrench fixing the hause pipe



We wait in lock while a small barge gets a bucket of cement
for dam repair.  The repair will go into next year--one bucket at a time



Burlington Lunch

Note that steep hill.  Only one of several we walked!

Tug boats of all sizes move everything on the river