Okay, okay … I've been getting such a hard time from all the nosey viewers that I'm not keeping up on the blog. Everyone guilted me into posting new info for this Fall, so, here's the contributions …
10/20/15 Yep, it's again that time of the year. The trees are turning and the thermostat needs to be turned upside-down. Let's go to Florida! We've wrapped up the charters, installed new appliances, completed our Coast Guard requirements, and now it's time to go. It's been a fluid situation as far as crew helping us go, but we grabbed a couple folks on the dock, told them it'd be fun, and off we go …
Leaving town …
Putting the old bridge in our wake …
And seeing the future …
The first day is an easy ride to Red Wing. We tied to the wall at the City Front, walked into town for a meal, and enjoyed having those first few hours under our belt. I always get first day anxiety about the engines, the electronics, and all the moving parts. It must seem to do some good because the first day went well.
10/21… We're off in the dark and on our way to La Crosse. That gives us a beautiful morning crossing Lake Pepin …
The Locks were a little tough and we made into the La Crosse Harbor just as the sun was going down. The temp was warm and we had a full night of sleep. The next day is one of the most picturesque ares of the Upper Mississippi. Just below La Crosse, the River opens up to a very wide section with tall bluffs on both sides. The camera doesn't give it it's due, but here's a try …
This area is just above Lock #8. Here's our approach …
As we neared the Lock, the Lockmaster told us that he'd need some time to clear the approach area of the floating grass that's built up. After waiting for a while, we said "look out. Here we come!" We pushed tons of the stuff out of the way and made it in. The Lockmaster told us that actually, that grass is a good thing. Apparently, the good water quality leads to more grass growth. Who'da thought we'd need a mower at the Lock?
It was a beautiful day and we made it through Lansing, IA …
Just below Lansing, a temperature inversion thingy happened and we entered a wall of fog …
It was pretty cool, and it lasted some distance, so we sparked up the radar and kept on plugging away. When the fog lifted, it was a beautiful day on the River …
We usually stop at Marquette at a great little dock with a nearby Casino, but we decided to push through and have a long day to Dubuque so we could take an extra day someplace else, downriver.
10/22 … The weather has changed, but we're still happy to be moving south. Along the way, there's a ski hill? What the ...? Oh, yeah … southern Wisconsin is known for it's skiing ...
Here's a little traffic going through Clinton, IA …
We're heading for the Quad Cities, but first, we need some fuel.Fred, of Fred's Gas in Le Claire, IA is such a helpful, nice guy. Here, he's even working in the rain!
The timing for the lock was perfect and we zipped right through. We were able to get to the marina at the Casino before dark and go in for the buffet. Ahhh … unlimited desserts!
10/24 Off to Keokuk! The locks weren't too bad and we made good progress. Passing through the Ft Madison area, we see one of the more interesting rail and vehicle bridges. A little wait and then we're through …
And, who'd of thought that Fort Madison really had a Fort??
10/25 Here at Keokuk Yacht Club we're taking a day off. A little exercise and some chores is great in the sun …
Robbie is our good buddy from town and the Yacht Club. He's been so kind and helpful over the years and it's so nice to see him and his wife, Diann.
If any directions are needed, there's always these signs …
10/27 Alton, IL is our stop for today. The weather's pretty lousy and cold, so no fun outside. We traveled with the Coast Guard bouy tender for a couple days. Here we are in Lock 25…
And, finally down to the Marina ...
10/28 More cold weather, but gotta go. Here we're leaving the Alton Marina …
And going through with a small boat …
I post this only as a thought that this vessel might later have gone through the wrong waterway in St Louis. There's the Chain of Rocks Canal that diverts vessels around the Chain of Rocks (duh!). If one takes a wrong turn and travels on the river, they'll have big problems. I don't know where they went, but we didn't see them after this encounter. I'm just sayin'.
This year the River is very low. When it's this low, we see all the modifications that have been placed in the River. Here's a nasty wing dam. Hey Paul … look familiar?
Down through St Louis and to the the 50th Anniversary of the Arch …
Today's stop is at Kaskaskia Lock and Dam. It's an easy ride from Alton and once again we arrived in daylight. Nice …
It's a seldom used lock that allows us to tie for the evening. There's no electricity, but it's off the River and there's nothing else for miles and miles.
10/29 We have 117 miles of downstream travel to get to Cairo, IL. That's where the Ohio joins the Mississippi River and we take a left and go upstream to Paducah. Before Cairo is the only other sort-of-town; Cape Girardeau, MO. It's a very nice little town with a beautiful riverfront and new bridge. And for you conservatives .. the boyhood home of El Rushbo …
Cairo (kay-ro) is very industrial. It's the confluence of three major rivers and offers much barge traffic. And, for the rail-loving captains, some interesting views …
About 20 miles upstream is the site of the new Olmstead Lock. Construction started in 1991, and it still continues. Cost over-runs, design issues, funding problems have all beset the project. One estimate has the original cost going from $ 1.3 billion to $3.1 billion. Also, construction was supposed to be 8 years, but now it's questionable if even 2024 is possible. Another example of your tax dollars at work …
The Olmstead Lock is being built to replace locks 52 and 53. They are of vintage design and are operational in only higher water. Once the water reaches a certain level, the miter gates are lowered and vessels travel right over the dam. I know, it makes a skipper quite nervous! Yesterday, all three locks required locking through. Today, all three are down and we can zip right over them. That may have saved us at least 6 hours!
Here's a shot of the strong current as we're going over the pass. It's going about 7 miles per hour and the towboats require a helper boat just to make the 1000 yard stretch ...
10/30 Thursday was a long day, getting in at 9:15, but it could have been a lot worse. Getting through the Ohio Locks meant that we could relax (just a little) before bed. Today was a cushy start time of 7:00. We even had sun!
… and then we were out into the Tennessee River …
It wasn't long before that fog started rolling in, again …
The fog was short-lived and we made it to Kentucky Lock. Here, we had to wait about three hours for traffic, but a nice tow driver offered us a place to wait …
And then we moved towards the lock …
Once inside, we realize how tall this really is …
After a 50 foot rise, it's out of the lock …
The Marina is just around the corner. That makes a nice, short day for us!
Here's a view of one of the piers at Kentucky Dam Marina. It's quite a long walk to the end where we tie.
10/31 The Cavalry's here! Marcia flew in and we picked her up at the small Paducah Airport. It's about a 40 minute ride in the courtesy car, and it was nice to get off the boat for a while. Oops, this isn't such a clear photo ...
11/1 Off we go to Pebble Isle Marina. It'll be an easy day and we can get a few things taken care of. A shot of coming in the channel …
And some fuel from Billy Bob …
11/2 We're off just as the daylight is coming on. We have the river to ourselves and no locks in our plan. It started cloudy, but turned pretty nice … just how we like it!
The Tennessee River is, apparently, known for it's river bottom. The sand and gravel seems to be quite coveted. So, we'll see bunch of these operations along the way …
An early tie-up found us at Clifton, TN. It's a nice, little Harbor with very pleasant proprietors, Sonja and Gene. Here, we're tied up as I get to go for a run!!
11/3 We were hoping to have an easier day, today. The Tennessee River is really pretty easy navigation. There's very little current and hardly any commercial traffic. What we do see are more of these sand dredges …
There's a few of these to pass, and I guess they keep the river very deep, so that's a good thing. We made it up to the Kentucky Dam and sure enough, we have to wait. It turned out to be almost three hours, too! It's quite frustrating because we're sure that there was enough time in between tows going up and down to get us through. Here we're approaching it …
It's a huge facility. There's two lock chambers. One's also a double, which means that we should be able to go through the small one while the big one is being used. But, no … the lock operator didn't want to push that many different buttons (we think). Here's the chamber being emptied …
And it the lock chamber …
Looking at the big doors …
We made it down to Whitten Lock before we stopped. It turned out to be a long day, but it put it in a good spot to have an easier next day. At least one of the Crew is happy to be stopped!
11/4 An early departure put us in the Lock before the sunrise. It has a drop of 84 feet, and that means some big doors …
Although we were up pretty early and had a long day, the Crew is still happy to be going south!
We finally start to see other vessels. Until this point, we've seen very, very few boats, but at this lock, it was a full chamber …
11/5 We made it to Columbus and stayed at a marina, last night, which was a nice treat. Then up early and into the lock in fog …
Marcia LOVES getting up at 5:00AM!
At the Tom Bevill Lock, there's an old snag boat. It was powered by steam and used to keep the channel clear. It's now on land and can be boarded to see how things used to be …
We went right through the lock and on to Demopolis. Not before someone was so happy to be driving…
And past the cliffs of Epes …
11/6 We made it down to Demopolis Yacht Basin by 8:00PM for another marina night (this is getting cushy!) Up early and out of the Lock by 5:30 gave us a good start on the day.
No fog and a blue sky made for a nice day. Plus, the cook decided we needed to try the local foods, so we had grits. Yep, grits! Well, there were mixed reviews, so what does this diner think?
It was our plan to stop at Bobby's Fish Camp, but their dock was full and we decided to press on. We've stopped at our favorite park bench in the past …
… but thought that we'll keep going. The Coffeeville Lock had no traffic, so Marcia told us to "get on through!" We made the radio call to let him know that we were on our way, and he found that it was a good opportunity to give one last North vs. South shot at us. He delayed the lock a bit (just because he could) but we finally got in and started down. That made MRB pretty happy …
… and left them in our wake …
A few more travel hours and we found our favorite last barge stop on the way south. We were glad to be stopped and excited for the last day on the river. A little fog and a little sun made for a nice start of the day …
And a shot for the sailboat fans who like to anchor on the river …
And into Mobile …
And the commercial docks and dry docks …
We pulled into Dog River Marina just as the rain is starting, but we're happy to be here!
11/9 We we scheduled to get hauled out, today, but the yard is so busy that they don't have any jack stands to hold us up. So, we'll have to wait, which is sort of okay because it's not really that nice out. It's kind of cool and rainy, so we'll sit at the dock …
11/10 Yahoo … we'll get pulled! Here, we're just in the well …
And then pulled out and waiting while they pressure wash the bottom …
We moved into our spot and got a start on the work. Then, a little time for apps and wine …
11/11 It's a beautiful day! I took a great run and we're back into the maintenance. Here's kind of a goofy shot …
And Marcia doin' her always perfect job …
Getting the primer on the through-hull fitting work …
I've got to buff and wax this??
All in all, a great day with Mom …
We're up quite a ways to do this. There's a marina behind us and boats in front of us…
Last year, we had BBQ from a local shop … Smokey Dembo. We loved it so much we wanted to try it, again. Earlier this Spring they were closed on the days we were here, but this time we nailed it …
11/16 Today was "paint the bottom" day. Just happy to be warm ...
I think they call this a "classic"?
Everybody sing along; "I wish I had a pencil-thin mustache …"
11/17 The bottom is painted and the touch up work has been completed. The props have been checked and returned and they're back on and ready to go. So, let's get in the water! Here's Marcia with the last trip down the ladder …
The travel lift, getting in position …
George, doing his thing …
The marina that we're in, Dog River Marina, really does a great job. They'd be the definition of "Southern Hospitality". Everybody is so helpful and courteous. Here's Chopper, the shipwright …
And Rudy, the foreman, with the travel lift crew …
Finally, back to the water …
11/19 Well, we made it into the water, and everything is ready to go. It was the plan to head out on Wednesday, but the weather was kind of rainy and windy, so we elected to take a much needed day of rest. We stayed at the dock and watched the very, very high tide that went all the way into the parking lot, All the water is where the cars should drive!
11/20 A good day of rest and we're off to the East. The Mobile Bay was very calm and we had a great ride down to the Intracoastal. It was our plan to go to Ft Walton and stay at the City docks, but after looking at the weather, we decided that sooner getting to Apalachicola might better position us for getting across the Gulf. So, we kept on trucking'! Finally, at 9:45PM, we got to the East Bay by Panama City and threw a hook out for the evening. But, not before a few nice views of the waterway. Here we are, going east on the waterway as we leave Mobile Bay …
And going through Pensacola Bay …
And Choctahatchee Bay as the sun was leaving us …
After a very short night's rest, we're off to Apalachacola as the sun is coming up …
Going past a big shipyard by Panama City …
And into the little town of Apalachicola. It's not very big, and now it's kind of touristy, but we really enjoy it. It used to be a major cotton shipping point, and then a big seafood town. Now, there's still the seafood, but for us, more of the real estate and Martinis are to be found …
Our buddy Howard from Jacksonville (ex Memphis) is so kind in offering to help finish the trip with us. He rode his motorcycle from Jacksonville to Apalach. Now it's time to load it up!
11/21 As always, we took close evaluation of the weather for a Gulf crossing. It looks promising, but it's a window that doesn't have a lot of extra room for error. So, we decided to go out and "give it a try", and then see what happens. There's an outlet to the Gulf that's just south of town, but after bumping bottom there a couple springs ago, we have found out that it's unusable for us. So, we have to travel about 30 miles to the east before we can get out into the Gulf. That's a bunch of extra miles for no real benefit, but I guess that's the way it is. We left early and got to the inlet at 7:30AM. As we're going out, we looked at each other and nobody wanted to say "it's too rough", so we kept going. Fortunately, the forecast was for increasingly better conditions, so that was encouraging. Once we got offshore, Marcia went around putting things down for safety. Lamps, bottles, plants … all that stuff was bouncing around. But, after a few hours, it turned out to be a great ride. Nice and flat …
As the new Crew is happy …
On the river system, one would expect trees and debris because of high water. Here, we're 50 miles out in the middle of the Gulf and we see this floating tree. If we were to have hit this, it'd be a lot of damage. It doesn't look like much, but it's about 15 feet long!
The wind did lay down and it made us so happy that we had to take a photo of the anemometer. We're traveling at 9.8 and reads 10.0. Nice …
1:00AM brought us into Clearwater Beach Marina. It's so nice to be here and we can now relax. Another day off and we'll be ready for the final push back to our winter home.
11/23 Whew, it's windy down here! That means that we'll have to travel on the inside … that being the Intracoastal Waterway. The views are nice and it's not rough, but that also means it's very slow going. There's bridges and no wake zones and it all keeps our average speed down. But, we do have some nice views. Here's the Sunshine Causeway Bridge over Tampa Bay shipping channel …
And a tanker, heading out to sea …
We arrived a little earlier than our usual quitting time, so we had time to get some exercise. Me, run … Howard, bike and walk …
Here we are before sunset …
And the view, out the stern …
Tonight, our Chief Chef made an outstanding batch of seafood gumbo. Hmm, hmm, hmm … we were all diggin' it!
11/24 It's a little rough offshore, so we'll take the ICW. It's pretty windy and it's the day before Thanksgiving, so there's really not much traffic. That's nice. We made it into Ft Myers early enough so I could get in a run, plus get the boat washed. Here we are …
Ft Myers is almost Minnesota South when it comes to it's population. There's lot's of friends down here from home. We had pizza with our buddy Brian and his brother-in-law, Mitch. And Jim Blomquist came by, too. It wasn't too late and we got to bed early so we could be off by 6:00AM. We got to the first lock for a smooth trip through …
11/26 We stayed in Moore Haven, last night, and were the first lift at the lock the next morning …
Today is Turkey Day, but we had a very long ride to get to our destination. We pulled in, had a great dinner (thanks to MRB!) and Mom and Howard watched the Packer game 'till the finish (sorry Packer Fans).
11/27 Our last day! We were at it at 5:00 so we could get in synch with the bridge schedules. It's a very long ride down the ICW on this stretch. Bridge schedules, no-wake zones, goofy people on the VHF radio … it's all very tiring! But, we made it in at 1:00 to our new home, Coconut Bay Resort. It's not like our previous home, but it'll do …
And Patti was here to catch lines …
Howard had some friends to visit, so we offloaded his motorcycle, he packed up and was off …
So there we have it. The 2015 Fall Trip is in the books for Lady Chateau. It was a great ride. Lot's of good food, great companionship, beautiful scenery, one small mechanical, and boat loads of thanks to those that helped. Your presence is what makes this trip.
Now, on to the Season!
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