October 12, 2009

Columbus Day, 2009! We share Chris’ excitement of exploring new places by boat. OK, so our travel is not the same as 1492, but it is still just fine to celebrate this day on the water! Here is a good rule--which was reinforced for us last Monday night. Don’t go to sleep with the hatch over your bed open when the forecast is for rain. Sure does wake you up in a hurry! Didn’t keep us awake, though. Last Tuesday it rained--with thunder and lightning--all morning. By 11 the storm blew by, and we were once again pushed south by the currents of the Mississippi. At one point we passed (that is to say, overtook) a tug pushing 30 barges--he was doing 8.3 kn.--we were smoking at 10.7! (10.7 kn = 11.77 mph! WHIPLASH!!) Around mile 30 in the Big River, we slowed to chat with a guy in a wee canoe! He was paddling like mad to keep his little boat straight with the currents and wakes. He told us his name is Neal and he’s a journalist. From July to December he is conoe-ing from Minneapolis to New Orleans to write about good news in America. Hooray for him! To read about his adventure, google Mississippi River Canoe CNN We anchored for the night again, this time near Cairo, IL, just before the turn (left) into the Ohio River. SHARPIE’S DREAM once again rafted with us and Knute performed admirably. We slept soundly, knowing that a new adventure awaited in the a.m. The Ohio is a tributary which empties into the Mississippi, so when we made the turn, we were heading upstream. The Great Loop recommends this route rather than following the Lower Mississippi to New Orleans. That 900+ miles is even more commercial than what we’d just traversed, and docking and fuel for pleasure crafts are rare. So up the Ohio we went, toward Paducah, KY, and the confluence of the Tennessee River. There are 3 locks on this 60 mile stretch of the Ohio. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, Locks #52 and 53 are the busiest locks in the entire Inland Waterway system. Barge traffic from the Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers passes through this section on the way to or from the Mississippi. Tidbit of info: 0ver 96 million tons of cargo move along the rivers annually. One 15 barge tow (3X5) would require 870 tractor trailers to transport the same amount of cargo. Most of the tows we passed were bigger than 3X5--the biggest was 7X7! The waterway is extremely valuable, efficient, and unfortunately, in need of much repair and upgrading. Locks 52 and 53 on the Ohio are antiquated ‘wicket’ style locks. A wicket is a wooden fence fastened to the bottom of the river. When the water is high, (as it was when we crossed #53) the wickets are lowered to the river bed and boats simply ride over them. It is swirly and turbulent as you pass over the ‘fence’ but the lockmaster said there were 19 feet of water between YA and the wicket. Not so a few miles further east at #52. There, the wickets were up to dam the river and keep the pool levels high enough for the deep vessels to pass, so we locked through. Olmstead Lock and dam is under construction in this area, and will replace both 52 and 53 when it is completed. Our tax dollars at work! (The federal tax on diesel fuel helps pay for maintenance and upgrades.) Once we reached Paducah anchoring was the only option. No marinas and the barge usually docked and available for ‘transients’ like us to tie to had been mysteriously removed. No one seemed able to explain this, but we found a quiet spot that was secure. Next morning we were in the Tennessee River (again flowing upstream against us) and after a 2 hour wait while a tow split it’s load of barges to fit them in the lock chamber, we locked through at the Kentucky Lock and Dam. First time we've been in a lock with a tug and barge. This wasn't part of the 'split' load, it was a single barge waiting, like us, for a turn to enter the lock. Stopped at a state park marina for 2 nights, and agian found indoor things to do as it rained and rained and rained. The bass fishermen didn’t mind and the water was crowded with boats having a tournament. On Saturday we made a short run across Kentucky Lake, through Barkley Canal to Barkley Lake and up to Green Turtle Bay Marina. This is the ‘reward’ marina’ after all the rivers and locks, and it is very comfortable. Somehow I missed Monday this week. I just looked at the day clock, and it is Wed. as I finish writing this. Guess I’m doing a pretty good job of relaxing! We’ve taken the courtesy cars into Paducah a couple of times--visited the National Quilt Museum where we saw an amazing array of ‘art quilts’ using every medium imaginable--from wooden quilts to nylon screening with sugar packets to a WWII exhibit that actually contained quilts such as grandma used to make! Fascinating. From there we went to the Discovery Center where a simulator allowed us to crash a small barge tow, (we have utmost respect for those tug boat captains) and a real time video of the river outside showed today’s traffic. We attempted to back up a few days to watch YA go by, but the backer-upper stuck at one day. Such is life. We’ll be here at GTB until the weekend, and will let you know next week what the plan beomes then......... Be well......Fred and Linda