Spring 2024

5/20 Well, here we go! It's been a long winter of maintenance. Sanding, grinding, painting, varnishing ... whew! A couple weeks was spent in the paint shed...

After lots of painting, including the bottom, it was back to the slip ...

On January 16, part of the Demopolis Lock concrete gave way, causing a total shut down of the Lock. There's much traffic that leaves the Tennessee River heading for the Gulf of Mexico, and vice versa, plus all the smaller boat traffic. Obviously, this causes much heart-burn for all concerned. Early in the repair process, the Corps really had no idea of how long the repairs would take. After a while, a guess was made for 5/30/24. If this were the case, Lady Chateau would have to go through New Orleans and up the Lower Mississippi to get to Cairo and home. It's much longer, much slower, and there's few places to stop. In all, not our preferred choice! Here's how it looked on Day 1 of the failure...

The Corps of Engineers had to remove the damaged concrete, haul it out, place underwater forms,

pour concrete, and replace doors. All of this isn't easy and quick, and it understandable why guessing a re-opening date is tough, but the contractors did a great job and the Corps did a great job and things finished earlier than expected. So, off we go on 5/20!  

Fall 2023

10/25/23  Yep, it's again that time. Without a destination, here we go!

We're not in a hurry, so we don't need to put in long days. Today's goal is about 8 hours, and that means we don't have to leave real early. An 8:00AM lift was scheduled for the Stillwater Bridge, but oh, oh ... no lift operator is there! After a few calls, it was determined that "someone" forgot. Eventually, an operator was sent and we got to look at the Bridge for an extra half hour ...

Whew, we made it through! The weather wasn't too cold, so the ride was nice. We snuck through the shallow spots at the Kinnenick River, and made it through the Prescott Bridges, on to the Mississippi. We didn't have a wait on Lock #3, and were out on to Lake Pepin. There were some nice colors ...

Prior to departure, we knew of a little part that needed fixing. The spring to one of the push rods was broken and needed to be changed. We had the part and decided to put it in while moving, but upon installation, one other part broke. Oops! So ... family to the rescue!! Marcia drove to pick up that part and Eric and Bear drove it all the way to Alma, WI. It saved our bacon! Here's the location ...

Here's the broken part ...

And here's the Delivery Team ...

Mission accomplished!

        

10/26  We tied up at the Alma Courtesy Dock. It's a great spot, and just below the Lock. It's a misty, rainy, foggy morning, and it looks to be that way all day. But, we zip right in to Lock 5 with no wait ...

There's many cameras and posters along the way ...

Another train for me to watch ...

10/27  Off to another rainy, foggy morning.

It was another good day for locking without waiting, and that sure makes things easier. Dubuque is the destination, and an early arrival is nice.

10/28  In the Spring, we were detained by flooding and closed Locks. We had to park it at Clinton for a few weeks while we waited. Jean and the Crew were so very nice, and we talked as we went past and she sent a few pics ...

It was too early in the day to stop, but it'll be a definite on the way home! We pass a ski hill ...

And the prettiest little town on the River ... Lansing, IA ...

Once again, the Locks had no wait and we made it to the Quad Cities ...

10/29  It's getting colder! Brrr! We're off prior to the tow traffic backing up at Lock 15, and down to Burlington ...

The City has put in a great floating dock. We'd like to get off and in to town, but it's cold and rainy, so it's a Football Sunday!

Our view of the Burlington Bridge ...

10/30  We don't have every far for today's travel, so it's an easy 7:00AM start time. Keokuk Yacht Club and Robbie Means is the destination ...

Spring 2023

 It's Springtime in Mobile, Alabama! It's been a great five months in Mobile, and there were many accomplishments on the maintenance punch-list, but the ice and snow are melting in Minnesota, and we can head north. There was a lot of time spent in the paint shed. The transom was painted ...

All of the hull windows were painted ...

A bunch of other work was completed, and here, we're leaving the shed to go back in the water ...

The old transom graphics were getting pretty bad, so a new one was applied ...

I've not ever tried this, so it was a learning process. It could have been better, but it's not bad for a rookie!

After a day of grocery shopping and loading fuel, we're ready for departure. Here's one of the Crew after knee surgery ...

It's a beautiful, warm evening before our 5:00AM departure ..

And a little relaxation with the Crew ...

4/2/23  We're off to a beautiful morning. It's light winds and a comfortable ride across the Mobile Bay to Downtown Mobile ...

The first 216 miles of this stretch can be a bugger. When it rains, the River level can go up 10 feet in a couple days, then back down in a few more. When the level increases, all of the old fallen trees and branches float into the River, and then we'll have to play "dodge-em". It can make for a long, stressful ride. Knowing the the River was up and on it's way back down, we waited an extra day on our departure. We don't know if it helped, but our time on this section was pretty good. We travel up to the first Lock at Coffeeville, AL, and find a spot for the evening. Ahhh ...

4/3  It's awake to a rain storm. Although the rain was hard at times, at least we didn't have the tornados that occurred farther north. Today is 100 miles in relatively slow current and little debris, so it was pretty nice. The weather was nice and warm, too!

Here, we're approaching the Demopolis Lock, our only one for the day ...

Fortunately, there wasn't any delay and we made into Kingfisher Bay Marina. Because the price is a little less, we'll fill up. 

4/4  We typically are in a hurry to get back to Minnesota, and to do that "hurry up", we'll do pretty long days. This time, we're not in so much of a hurry, so we can take some shorter mileage days. This gives us a reasonable stopping hour for today, just above the Lock.

4/5  Another easy day (pretty cushy!) We need to travel about 90 miles in 2 days, so we thought that we'd  anchor about half-way. Well, the weather started coming in with wind and rain, so we thought it better to travel a little further and ties to the upper wall at a Lock. The staff there was so accommodating and allowed us to do so. Thanks! Here, we can eyeball some of the commercial traffic using the Lock ...

Spring 2022

4/25/22 It's starting to get warm in Ft Lauderdale, and that means that it's time to get going. It's been a good winter, but now we're looking forward to being back in Stillwater and a great summer. As everyone knows, the fuel prices have gone through the roof and we need to be prudent shoppers. We loaded fuel a few weeks ago but didn't fill up. The thought was that the prices would go down. Well, it hasn't. Silly me! So, we'll have to find a spot prior to arriving in Apalachicola, where the pricing is a little more reasonable.

The wind has been blowing for weeks in South Florida, and today is another day of that. So, it'll be the long drudge up the Intracoastal through Stuart and tie to the pilings at the St Lucie Lock. It was after 8:00PM when we shut off the engines, but it'll be a good nights sleep!

4/26 It took a while for the operations, but we departed the St Lucie Lock at 8:30. Although they open at 7:00AM, an eastbound tow took some time to get through, but we're not in a hurry. Todays destination is the dock at Moorehaven. It's on the west side of Lake Okeechobbe, and this is where the shallow water gets our attentions. Plus, if it's windy and rough, the spay gets the boat so very dirty. Today, though, it's a perfect day. Just a slight breeze on our stern and a blue sky. Here, we're entering the Port Mayacca Lock. If the Lake level gets low, the gates on the lock remain open, and we can pass right through ...

It's about 25 miles across the Lake and then around the rim to Moorhaven where there's a great little stop with a great dock ...

There's some cleaning to do and a little straightening up, but there's time for a look at a beautiful monument to fallen members of the services ...

While we're looking around, a relic from the past chugs by on the tracks ...

4/27 Today isn't too long, so it's a reasonable departure time for us. We couldn't leave too early because the first Lock of the day doesn't open 'till 7:00. It's another beautiful day and we arrive just in time to enter with with two sailboats ...

The ride for today takes us through Ft Myers, and over to Cabbage Key for the night. Our Crew looks ecstatic!

There's so much small boat traffic while we're here on the Intracoastal Waterway. It's a ZOO! But, we get to our spot, through the anchor, and see another sunset ...

Here's a few of the dwellings on the Island ...

4/28 After cooking dinner last night, one generator shut down because it had overheated. The Captain took off the Captain hat and put on the Mechanic hat. After a quick inspection it was found that "seaweed" had clogged the raw water intake. The Captain "skillfully" completed the repair, but was worried about a re-occurance. There was much seaweed in the water and the only way to prevent another episode was to not run the generator. That's fine, but there then was no electricity, and no air conditioning ... and little sleep. Be that as it may, the morning was beautiful and off we go for Sarasota as the sun was greeting us for the day ...

 Another beautiful day! There was so much small boat traffic as we went through Ft Myers, and we're thankful that today doesn't have so much. The forecast for the jump from Clearwater to Apalachicola looks to be good for Monday, so we'll go slowly on the ICW and save some fuel. Today will find us in Sarasota just by downtown. It's a great spot and we'll get in early enough for some relaxation. This is our view as we approach Sarasota ...

4/29  We're off to Clearwater! We have dock reservations at the City Marina for Saturday night, so we'll find an anchorage for tonight, and then move over. First, though, we need to find fuel. First before that is going through Tampa Bay and the Sunshine Causeway Bridge. That's it, way off in the distance ...

We earlier checked around and found a helpful guy with a truck and a dock, so that was our plan. Unfortunately, his price went up 50 cents in two days, so he suggested looking around. I'm glad that we did. We found a marina that would give a us great (really? A great price?) price and stopped along the way. After fueling, we continued up the ICW right into a storm. This time of the year has the temps high, and the humidity high. This is a good recipe for storms. As the ground heats up, the clouds form and them dump all of the humidity ... along with some wind, too. We were stuck in rain so hard-hat we couldn't see and the anemometer showed 50 knots. Whew! That rinsed off the salt from the boat.

After about 45 minutes of holding position by a bridge for a reference point, we continued up to our spot for the evening. Our Crew seems to be satisfied with our anchoring ...

4/30  We have a little time to spend prior to moving over to the dock, so the captain did a little painting project ... woo hoo! Here's where we're going ...

It's a great spot that's right next to the Gulf Beach. I can get off and run and there's many stores close by for a scooter ride.

5/2  Today, we cross! We've waited a couple days for good weather, and we have it! Because it's going to be a very long day, we were off the dock pretty early. One concern for us is that closer to the shore, there are crab traps. These crab traps have floats with lines on them that if we run over, may get caught in our prop. We don't want that! So we had about an hour of darkness as we were offshore which makes it tougher to see those buggers, but we did well and missed the all. The seas were small and we had a mostly following wind.

There's not much traffic going north, but we did see a few shrimp boats ...

There's an inlet at Apalachicola, but it has shoaled in. That means we have to use the inlet that's about 20 miles to the east. This makes our ride a little longer, but at least we can make passage inland. We reached the Carrabelle marker #1 about 9:00PM, just after the sun set. After the ride to Apalachicola, it was after midnight ... whew!

5/3  Morning in Apalachicola, and it's time for a little more fuel.

We're fortunate to buy from a distributer and get a little better pricing. But still, boy, it's expensive.

We're off to Panama City ...

Eat of Panama City is a good sized shipyard that builds some pretty big hardware ...

Panama City has a fairly good sized port for international commerce ...

There was a hurricane a few years ago that has left its impact on the area. The marina that at which we enjoy staying has been demolished. So, it's a night at anchor ...

5/3  Today, we're off for the Pensacola area. There's a stretch between the bays of the two cities that's long and narrow ...

Of course, we all need to keep up on our nourishment!

This section takes us past the inlet at Destin ...

Riding towards our anchorage for the evening ...

5/4  We're off to Mobile and a transition point. This is where we'll lose one Jim, but gain another. First, we'll travel some canal miles to get to Mobile Bay ...

A tow off in the distance ...

And we're out into the bay. It's an almost 20 mile ride up the Bay. If it's windy it can be very rough, but today is great ...

Downtown Mobile, waaaay off in the distance ...

Dog River Marina is our destination, and here's what we see as we approach the bridge over the Dog River ...