St. Lous to Green Turtle Bay October 22-November 1, 2013

To resume our saga now that the internet is reasonably stable---it has been absent or ailing for some time now!  That’s my story and I’m sticking with it!

Back at Port Charles Harbor, the boat was hauled and the ‘shudder’ refused to show up when the workmen were there, so we’ll just continue to wonder about it.  Hate when that happens, but the good news is that there was no huge expense or time delay involved!

There are no marinas in St. Louis, but there is a barge that allows overnighters, so we gave it a try. We were about ½ mile south of that beautiful arch, and less than that from Busch Stadium.

  Three days later that neighborhood would be mobbed with (now dejected) Cardinals fans!  Jim, the worker-bee loaned us his car and we drove uptown to the Broadway Oyster Bar for some kickin’ jambalaya!

And on to the goofy 200 miles---St. Louis to Cairo.  First, let me say that the River can be beautiful!  Especially wearing its fall finery!

Riding south, with the current really pushing us, we arrived at Hoppes marina well before noon.  We paused long enough to buy 150 gal. of diesel fuel, then continued on to the lock at the Kaskaskia River.  Surprise---no lock wall.  It’s been removed for repairs, so we anchored, and in the a.m. rejoined the river. 

This is the stretch of the Mississippi where, you may rrcall, when going upstream we left the Diversion Channel at 6:30 am.  After a 7 hour slog, we were forced to anchor in the disappearing wingdam 20 miles short of the Kaskaskia River..  Going downstream WITH the current is a whole different ball of wax. 

Fogged in at Kaskaskia, we couldn’t leave until 9:30 am, and 6 hours later turned into the Diversion Channel! 

There is always something.  While putting the anchor down, I noticed what I thought was a Styrofoam cooler floating downstream toward us.   Fred looked at it and saw the bow of a sunken boat.  Guess who was right???  We put Chucky down and rowed to the object, dragged it to  YOUNG AMERICA, put Chucky away and attached our find to the davit to lift it from the water.  You guessed it!  A fiberglass skiff about 18’ long!  Called the Coast Guard to ask what to do with it.  My techno-savvy self was able to email a photo,

and when they saw it, they suggested that we tie it to the shore and abandon it.  Not possible, so as a second choice, Fred got out his drill and ‘aerated’ the bow section that was refusing to sink. We cut off the long polypropylene rope that was floating with the boat  (and just begging to wrap itself around someone’s propeller), and set the little feller adrift. 

In 7 minutes—and well before it got out to the shallow water at the mouth of the creek into the River where mayhem was possible, it disappeared to Davy Jones’ Locker.

Next?

Saturday morning we threaded our way among a very steady stream of towboats to Cairo, IL, where we happily made the turn into the Ohio River.  By unanimous vote, we’d decided to postpone the Lower Mississippi Sleigh Ride. Cairo to New Orleans (950 miles) would be a month of constant vigilance and uncertainty, and as we’ve had about 3500 miles of ‘new’ experiences this summer, we’re both ready to return to ‘familiar’.  Maybe next year.  It will be there if we decide to return!

Our speed dropped from 12.5 miles/hour to 6.7 as we headed up the Ohio. 

The charts show 3 locks ahead.  About 11 miles from the junction of the two major rivers, is the Olmstead L&D which is under construction. A few miles further upstream are the antiquated (1929 construction) Lock #53 and then Lock #52.  Both are considered to be “beyond their design lives and unreliable”.

interior of lock #52--nothing for us to tie to on the crumbling cell wall.  We floated.

The Olmstead has been under construction since 1987 when its projected cost was $775 million.  As of 2011, (the most current Army Corps of Engineers info I found and the source of my quotes) $1.4 billion had been expended, with the project 45% complete. The locks are built; the dam is not. Expected completion date is now 2024 at a cost of $2.9 billion.  The Corps estimates that “on an annual basis, approximately 90 million tons of waterborne commerce passes through this area” and “the completed project will have net annual benefits of approximately $640 million, returning more than the construction costs in less than five years”.  When Olmstead is operational Locks 52 and 53 will be removed—that is part of the predicted timeline and cost estimate. It is a muddle.  I won’t get political, but if you are interested, there is a fair amount of chatter about Congressional funds and Kentucky politics online….

We went through Lock #53 at 5:10 pm, and headed for a dock that the chart showed was just ahead, next to a launch ramp.  Oops.  No dock—launch ramp’s there, and a fishing boat launched as we watched, but there was  nowhere to tie our little boat.  So with dark fast approaching, we slowly crossed through the Rocky part of the River, labeled “Do not anchor here” to the Kentucky side.  We anchored well out of the channel, in a wide open space with no apparent rocks and virtually no protection from wind or current.  Times like this we are very, very happy that Knute weighs twice as much as is necessary for a boat our size.  We slept soundly, and at 7:30 am were off to the next adventure!

Lock #52 on the Ohio has a large chamber (1200’ long) that was closed for maintenance.  As only the smaller chamber, (600’ long) was operational we expected delay while large tows were taken apart and locked up piecemeal.   At 8:30 am the Coast Guard reported on the radio that Lock #52 was closed until further notice as a barge sank in the small chamber!  Naturally, we scooted up to see what we could see.

Rip Rap loaded barge, like the one that sank Sorry you can't see the huge stream of water being pumped out of this barge before it would be allowed to enter Lock #52

We saw the towboats we had passed yesterday ‘parked’ along the side of the river, and a barge loaded with rip rap (large stones used mostly to build wing dams and reinforce shorelines) below the waterline in the small lock.  There were no clear estimates about when traffic would begin to move, so we motored back to Fort Massac near Metropolis, IL where there IS a 50’ dock by a launch ramp.  We tied up and went for a walk.  Yes, Metropolis boasts that it is the home of Superman, and yes you can buy any number of souvenirs there!  We didn’t.

At 2:30 we returned to the boat, and drove back to the lock.  Large amounts of water were being pumped out of another barge (see photo above) that was blocking other towboats from the entrance to the large chamber which was suddenly able to be open and ready for traffic.  The Lockmaster invited us in as we were small enough to get past the barge.    By the time we exited the lock at 3:17 pm, the lockmaster said he had 58 towboats with barges backed up waiting to use the lock!   I just checked the ACOE website * (Thursday morning) and there are still 43 towboats with a combined total of 479 barges waiting to lock through    What a disaster!

*We show on that list as one of only two Recreational Vessels to lock through.  Cool, I’ve never looked at that site before!

Our next stop was (is) our old friend Green Turtle Bay.  We’re their most frequent non-midwestern transient---this is the 5^th time we’ve been here!

Mike and Linda Borum (and Louis the Sea Dog) live a couple of hours away in Nashville, and bless her heart, Linda drove over Tuesday and brought us to their home.  We had first row balcony tickets to the Grand Ole Opry (the only day this week with seats available) and what a treat! On the schedule to perform:  Barry Gibb (think BeeGees) and Ricky Skaggs (think BlueGrass)!! Barry Gibb has just begun to tour (alone, as brothers Maurice and Robin died in 2003 and 2012), and sang with the Opry backup group. 

Hair: grey.  Falsetto: intact!  He was fabulous!  Then Ricky Skaggs followed with 3 or 4 songs before inviting Barry back onstage.  You’d have thought Ricky Skaggs sang Disco all his life!  They were really, really fun to see and hear.  It was an exceptional evening----made all the more so by the unexpectedness---going to Nashville?  Wonder what’s happening at the Opry?  SCORE!!!!

In the morning, Mike fed the fish in their beautiful pond--complete with waterfall! He and Louis went off to work,

and Linda took us on a trip to Whole Foods for a bit of shopping and a bit of lunch,. Then we were treated to a quick tour of Nashville---including a run down Music City’s Broadway with the windows open to hear the [any time of the day or night] music! 

And now we’re back on the boat.  The predicted Hallowe’en storm brought such a windy day that travel on the Kentucky Lake was out of the question.  In the evening the tornado warning whistle blew, but winds didn’t reach scary levels in the marina basin.   Something else to be thankful for!  The list is ever so long!!!

Today I treated me to a wonderful massage at the Spa here at GTB.  Fabulous.  The wind is still blowing a bit, so I’m guessing that it’ll be tomorrow when we head down the Tennessee River toward Mobile.

Happy November---can you believe it?  Be well and remember to breathe!