And here we are in West Virginia! Every day has had something more special than the last. Fabulous run up the Ohio!
Louisville was a hoot! The waterfront has 2 sections available to ‘transient’ boats like us. 50 amp. electric connections and water hoses to fill our tanks made this a great spot. Not to mention the ease of pulling into an over wide space—with 3 police boats at the other end of the dock! Or that it was free. We love free.
The Louisville Bats, a AAA farm team owned by the Cincinnati Reds were playing the Pawtucket Red Sox (owned by Guess Who?) at Slugger Field---get it? Louisville Slugger Bats…We had fabulous seats looking right down the first base line, and with air conditioned “Club’ privileges in case it rained (there was the threat, but no rain fell) for a whopping $10 each!
The place was beautiful---there were guys hawking beer, peanuts and cotton candy, and there were kiosks selling hot dogs and baked potatoes and popcorn. In right field there was a carousel and playground for the wee fans-to-be, and a team of announcers and videographers kept the crowd engaged in contests and games at every opportunity. Did I mention fireworks? Louisville got trounced, 9-1, but the fireworks were great! We were 5 minutes (by cab) from the dock. Fab.
In the morning we were entertained by swimmers, sculls, and a fair with 5K race, face painting, boxing, ‘boot camp’ training and a great crowd. It was a fundraiser for Wounded Wear, a line of clothing developed by a Navy Seal who was wounded in Iraq. He discovered two things during his recuperation. There were no clothes that fit over the medical apparatus he needed to wear, and people did not know that his wounds were war related. So he is making a difference on both fronts. www.woundedwear.org.
14 miles up the river from Louisville, we stopped at a little dock called RiversEdge, for fuel. Best price around--$3.59/gal, (most places are over $4.00) and as a bonus every $50 spent bought us a dollar credit. We got a 'free' pizza, newspaper and 2 candy bars! Love it!
Spent the night a RiverCrest Marina. It was shallow but we docked twice—once where the electric connection was only 30 amps, and again where it was 50. We're hooked on that a/c! Michelle on the house boat next to us recommended the Bistro for dinner. Nick the Greek provided great entertainment in addition to a good meal!
We were ready to leave at 6:30 Sunday morning, but there was no river. No trees, no nothing but fog. It was 68 degrees and the change to cool was dramatic! By 9:30 all was clear and we headed for Turtle Creek Marina. There we met Paul and Marty McGraw, the couple who put together the guide to the Ohio that we have been depending on. Their cd has photos of anchorages with great descriptions and lots of mile-by-mile information. They invited us to their fabulous home overlooking the river (the summer living room is back to back with the winter living room which focuses on the wood stove). Marty makes jewelry and Paul stitches canvas bags. They’ve lived all over the globe and are a fascinating couple.
Monday morning Paul drove me to the grocery store, and he went to the water tower to fill his portable tank to top off the 2000 gal. cistern they use until their new well is completed. Never saw that done before.
The rest of the day was maintenance---oil and filter changes, set up the Aero-Garden, etc. Mostly stayed away from the hot, muggy weather.
Our next stop on was at Rising Sun, Ohio. Again, the city provides free dockage—we just had to sign in at the police dept. On Main Street there is, of all things, a Harp Store. The Rees family has made harps for over 40 years, and has developed a “Harpsicle”---a hand held harp with amazing sound. After a tour of the shop—and factory, where harps were being built to ship worldwide, Fred placed an order. We’ll stop on our way down to pick up his birthday present.
Wednesday we expected to stop in Cincinnati, but changed our minds and blew by (at 7 mph.). Waterfront looks interesting---another place to stop when we’re southbound. Instead we headed for the next lock and dam, thinking we’d anchor for the night. Nobody was using the lock, so we zipped thru, and 3 miles up the river found FatBoy’s Restaurant. Tied up and chatted with 5 guys who kayak across the river every Wed. for dinner, then enjoyed having the 6 regulars at FatBoy’s tour YA. Fun.
We’d been underway for about 3 hours on Thursday morning when we noticed 2 stern paddle wheelers on the Ohio bank. There were actually 3, DRESDEN BELLE was rafted to the one we couldn’t see. Nosed YA in for a look, and were greeted by Connie who said come and tie up! We did, of course! Traded boat tours---they’re remodeling and got some ideas from our storage areas, and we loved checking out the DRESDEN BELLE.
At 5 p.m. a huge black cloud blew in, and we cast off and outran most of the storm.
At 5:45 we tied our lines to the town dock at Mayville, KY. Once again the dock was sorta flimsy and lacking in cleats, so we wrapped the lines around concrete pilings ashore. Felt very secure.
Our new friend Sally and her lab were walking the dock and she came aboard for a glass of wine and a chat. 5 minutes after she left the rain came---and for an hour there was nonstop lightning and buckets of rain. At 8 the rain stopped, at midnite it began again, and continued most of the night. At 1 a.m. our generator stopped with an ‘overheat’ message. Fortunately, when in the morning Fred flushed the hoses, all the gunky algae that we’d picked up washed out and once again there was power for a/c. Sally stopped by with a bag of peppers, basil and green tomatoes from her garden. Yum. And we’re off!
2 p.m. is not such an early start, and when the afternoon black cloud foretelling the storm of the day arrived, we simply pulled over to the side of the river and anchored. It was nearly dark and Knute held us nicely. In the morning the marina we’d opted not to shoot for---in case it didn’t work—Shawnee State Park, turned out to be beautiful, and easy to get into. We filled our empty water tanks, left a donation and returned to the river.
Greenup lock and dam was our next adventure, and at 1:15 the lockmaster reported 4 tows going up river ahead of us, (translates to hours of waiting) then suddenly he said, “Just come on up and I’ll slide you in”. In we went, and for the second time, our fender slipped into the well for ladders. Happily, we moved it before it caught on a rung of the ladder. At the top of the lock a southbound tow took up all but about 50 feet of the entrance. The crewman on the bow of the barge offered to shake my hand as we eased on by!
Two hours later we left Kentucky, and West Virginia is on our starboard side! Tied up at Huntington Yacht Club—free dockage with dinner and 50 amp electricity. Hooray! We were the ‘oldcouple’ (it said so on our check) as a high school was having its’ 30 year reunion at the restaurant. Walked the 200’ ramp that connects the ‘barge and grill’ to the shore, and investigated the old Railroad Station and Park before turning in. And the band played on.
Sunday morning was clear and crisp and boy is our deck clean! Has to be some benefit to all this rain---besides, of course, easing the drought conditions. R. C. Byrd lock and dam was empty and we sailed right through, and soon crossed the mouth of the Kanawha River. Point Pleasant has a beautiful long, long free public dock. We were instructed to go way north on it as the AMERICAN QUEEN was due to arrive soon. We did and she did—at 6 this morning, she came out of the fog with 300 passengers who headed off to be tourists in Point Pleasant.
At the River Museum, Fred spent 2 hours with Jack, who is responsible for bringing a $200K simulator to the museum. Fred drove a tug thru Houston harbor, a coast guard cutter nearly threw him when it heeled, and he had a generally good time. I grocery shopped, and after the QUEEN got underway at 2, local tour guide and creative head of development in Point Pleasant, Charles Humphries, explained his vision for the area to me. Amazing. Already there is a huge pavilion, a fabulous mural on the flood wall and an 8 track sound system (not yet completed) that broadcasts surround sound explanations of the mural ---or plays Pink Floyd or Violin or Banjo music, depending on what Charles chooses. I’d have sworn the Indians were shooting from canoes on the river!
The plans for completion of the $10 million project include a convention center, an arch over the opening of the flood wall, bricking and landscaping of the whole waterfront area, as well as renovation of a 4000 square foot house once owned by Lord Dunmore. Check out WikiPedia’s report of ‘Dunmore’s War’, the first battle of the Revolutionary War—where the British leader may have attempted to help the Shawnee Indians defeat the American Militia at Point Pleasant. Fascinating!
As Charles said, “You may be an American because of Dunmore’s War”. His (Charles’) plans for creating a very special tourist venue in this area will help make Point Pleasant a destination not unlike Branson, MO., or DollyWood in terms of numbers, but much more sophisticated and educational in content.. We’ll return in 2-3 years to see!
Whew. Tomorrow we head north again, and next week Pittsburgh! See you then!
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