Kentucky! Sept 25-30

Note to readers....if you click on the photos they pop out larger....just in case you did not know...
So we finally left Alton on 9/25. As we were leaving slip, Julie says "Hey there's no water".  Well I knew tanks were full so I went below to check the pump and you guessed it...DOA.  Luckily, I had a  spare (albeit less GPM and not a direct replacement) but with a little ingenuity and the Admiral piloting the boat through all the turbulence and tow traffic around St Louis, I got a spare installed and we had water to anchor out the next couple nights.  Not sure you can get to the Mississippi from the Illinois!


Which way?

 Julie even captured this photo of the arch while piloting (I was in the lazarette installing a water pump!!)

Then after I took over on the helm, the upper station VHF decided to quit.  It is not fun trying to communicate with fellow boaters and tows with a handheld radio, but that is all we had at that point.  Unless of course we piloted from below, with the reduced visibility there.  Neither of us prefers that with all the tow traffic so we made due.  Frustrating.
One of the boaters we were travelling with said this..."something on the boat is always broken, you just don't know what it is."  How true.
The first night we made it to Hoppies Marina, nothing more than a few barges tied to shore with fuel and electricity. The famous Fern (owner) usually gives a river briefing to help with the downstream anchoring spots.  But due to a family emergency, she could not do so this evening.  So we still gathered as a group and decided on Little Diversion Channel as a first destination.  No locks and a 110 mile day but doable with the river current push.  Hoppies moored with bow to current...mandatory to approach and leave docks in a 3-4 knot current...something this Lake Michigan boater was not used to but learned earlier at Beardstown.

It turned out to be an excellent choice.  We rafted with our friends on JimKat, each dropping anchor and backing to tie port to port so one boat's stern lines up with the others bow.  That way each boat effectively has a bow and stern anchor so there is space for more boats, as the boats do not drift at anchor with winds.  It was quiet and well off the river with no wakes or disturbances.  Nice! Note how far off the Mississippi we are!  And in 15' of water.

Cruising the Ohio on Sunday we ran across two separate groups performing baptisms in the river. Interesting approach. Here is one. Nice background at the boat ramp huh?

Day two on the hook was up for grabs.  We wanted to get through the notoriously slow locks 53 and 52.  Here we are in lock 53.  You can see why they need replacing! We weren't sure our fenders would survive with all the rough metal hanging out, etc....but we survived.

And here is the construction of the new Olmstead lock that will replace both 53 and 52.  It is seven years behind schedule and who knows how many dollars over budget...now to be ready in 2020.

Well we only made it through 53 so we punted.  Fellow GLGBA members Ben and Jane on Jammin Jane suggested Bean Creek anchorage near Joppa IL (although across the river on the MO side) as they had stayed there a few nights prior when also caught between the locks.  It was an excellent suggestion, well off the channel (although still in the Ohio R) with good holding, about 10' of water and no wakes to speak of.  This was the super moon and eclipse night but clouds precluded the moonrise and we were too tired to stay up for the eclipse.  Still a great night at anchor.

Super moon peeking out for a moment.....

Next morning we hit the river at 6:35 AM to get through lock 52 at a reasonable hour.  Well, it was still a very long wait as pleasure craft are not the first priority.  But we got through and then had to decide whether to take the Tennessee (supposedly lots off tow traffic and potential delays at Kentucky Lock) or the Cumberland (longer but less tows).  Two boats decided on Tennessee and three the Cumberland, all with Green Turtle Bay Marina in Grand Rivers, KY as the destination.  Who "won" you ask?  Well we took the Cumberland and arrived about an hour later than the others.  But we saw another river and it was a very scenic route. So we both won!
We had a different experience in the Barkley lock.   Doors closed for our 50+ foot lift but then reopened.  Hmmm, wonder why?  Well a few minutes later this small craft we passed about three hours ago entered the lock.  It is a truck camper mounted on some sort of small boat with a tiny outboard.  Brave souls!

Hindsight says we should have slowed to their pace as the lockmasters do try to get all pleasure craft in the area through the locks in a bunch.  So I still have to remember I am retired and this is not a race I guess!   :>)  And this lock was fast once all boats were secured to the bollards.  It was almost like being on an  elevator!  50'+ lift in no time at all!

And a Cat in the Hatt sighting again.  We met these folks in S Haven and they leave their boat signature sticker on each lock they navigate.  This is the second time we found their "mark"!!

We ended up slipped next to Jammin Jane at Green Turtle when we arrived on Monday.  We were telling them about our equipment malfunctions and Ben showed up with a spare VHF radio.  He said it was his "back up to his back up" so we should please take it.  Wow, how thoughtful.  I plan to temporarily install it until we can get a new radio in Florence AL.  Thanks Ben and Jane!!
Tuesday I installed the correct fresh water pump (Green Turtle had one in stock) and Julie and I washed the boat, which was pretty gritty as the last wash was before Labor Day.  So it was a work day.
Grand Rivers town is about a 1 mile walk.  So Wednesday before breakfast, we went out for a walk for exercise and combined it with a trip to the grocery store.  Two cars and a golf cart all offered us a ride!  We passed as we do need to get moving from time to time....may even have to try to do some laps in the indoor pool here.
I scheduled a follow up eye evaluation in Florence AL for Monday Oct. 12.  Given we have some time to get there, we are going to stay here for a while.  Its a nice marina (another floating one) and many of the folks we have met along the way are here as well. They have a special Looper barbeque (Looper-Q) on  Oct 1 and banners that read "Welcome Loopers, We've Been Waiting All Summer for You".  Nice place and very friendly.  Great ship store too.  A couple restaurants on site.  Like I said earlier, we're staying here for a while...
 
Sept statistics (plus August 27-31):
Miles travelled:  809
Travel days: 13
Engine hours:  90 (lots of idling at locks waiting, waiting, waiting....)
Locks:  14
Bridges opened:  5
Days on hook or free wall:  3
Gallons of diesel:  556

So month one of our journey is in the history books.  And many say the river system from Chicago to Kentucky Lake is the toughest part navigating with all the tows, locks, etc.  In hindsight it was not all bad, albeit a bit frustrating waiting and waiting for locks.  But we are here safe and sound and thankful for God's grace overseeing our journey.  Thanks for following our adventure.

Migrating South with the flocks of white pelicans...beautiful!!! Sept 19-24

We know it's time to head south as we have been following the white pelicans since the Brandon lock as they migrate to warmer climate.  They are very beautiful as they flock, but it is very hard to get a close view of them. 

I stole this pic from a website....too hard to get one but if you zoom in on the one above you will see the flock.

Travel days 5-9 took us to Spring Brook Marina in Seneca, Heritage Harbor in Ottawa (very nice facility...stayed a couple days), Illinois Valley Yacht Club in East Peoria (very welcoming club members and a nice facility), the Lodgston Tug Service barge in Beardstown (yes, just a working barge full of cables and pipes along the river's edge with no electricity or other facilities....but as they say, any port in a storm), and finally to the Alton Marina where we did catch up to our friends on JimKat. 
Sunrise departure

My turn to lead.

Foggy pass.

Ivy Club

 

  Apparently the Marine Traffic website is tracking us pretty well as a number of folks have emailed us and referenced tracking us there.  It will not always work as class B AIS (pleasure craft) is tracked on land by volunteers (not mandatory like class A commercial vessels) but I guess we can't hide!!  Unless we go stealth and leave it off!  But it is really nice to have to communicate to tows.  In fact one even called me by boat name he got off the AIS feed his electronics, to get a traffic report for pleasure vessels around the next curve from him.  So it really is a nice tool/safety device to have.
A pass on the one whistle.

We really cranked it up on day 9 and covered 104 miles!  We had a nice push from the river current and travelled close to 17 knots a good portion of the trip to Alton which is a great stop.  Everything floats.  Pool, buildings, etc.  Note the height of the pilings for the docks!

We rented a car and went to the Arch in St Louis one day.  Took the ride to the top of the arch.  What a view!  Had a great lunch on the garden level at the Four Seasons before returning to the marina.  Then a grocery run to Schnucks (very nice store) and some laundry duties.
The ride up

View from the top

Nice restaurant view too

 

Another day our friends Jim and Kathy (JimKat) offered to drive us to Grafton for a short visit.  We had passed that marina on our way to Alton and remarked that it looked like a cute town.  And we remarked that "you can't stop everywhere" so we were excited to get to see it.  But.....the morning engine room check getting ready for tomorrow's departure found a quart of oil in the drip pan on the port side and coolant down as well.  So we called CAT for service and Tim showed up a few hours later to diagnose.  The oil leak was the Walker Air-Sep crankcase ventilation system.  The fitting on the bottom had been bent over (my assessment is this happened during all the work done by CAT over the winter) and was leaking some of the oil it was supposed to return to the oil pan.  So Tim straightened, added sealant and reinstalled.  The coolant pressure test suggested the system is OK.  But the couple quarts of coolant went somewhere so I will just have to continue to watch it.  Hopefully the oil samples taken will confirm no issue in a few days.  So we should be good to go tomorrow.....a few BOAT dollars later that is.  We only have 45 miles (and two locks) to go tomorrow.

The next few days will be challenging with three nights of anchoring due to no facilities along this portion of the trip.  Hopefully we do not get windy nights.  So no posts... and likely no AIS tracking of where we are for all you stalkers either!! :-)

Making Steady Progress...Sept 15-18

The group we joined along the free wall in Joliet (including electricity....how do you beat that?)

So about that making up some ground (water) in the last post.  Here Tom is leading the flotilla out of Joliet.

 
But, boy, when they say tows have first priority do they ever mean it!  Our average wait time at the Brandon, Dresden and Marseilles locks was about 4 hours each.  So it is steady progress but not too many miles per day. 
Here we are after communicating with the tow captain, passing him on the "two whistle" (starboard to starboard).  The captain will let you know which side to pass or overtake him on, to hold up while he passes, to wait for the next straight section of river, etc.  They do not want to have a problem with a recreational vessel so if you don't contact them, they will contact you!

Being one of the longer boats in the group we joined up with, we are usually assigned the wall of the lock so others can raft off our boat. Twice have had a nice floating bollard to secure to (only need one line amidships)  and once just had bow and stern lines over the lock wall.  Given I only have one strong arm due to the rotator cuff surgery, the captain of the boat who rafted off with us came aboard and handled the stern line when we had to handle two lines.  That is the Looper comradery, everyone helps their fellow Looper.  Everyone we have met have been so much fun to meet and exchange stories, etc.  Meeting fun and interesting people was one of our goals for our adventure and we have not been disappointed!
Here we are awaiting a drop with lines provided by the lockmaster.

Had a little excitement in the Marseilles lock with another boater who was having difficulty with the swirling winds in the lock and keeping control of his boat.  So if we can't get exercise, we can at least get our heart rate up when visions of cracking fiberglass go through ones mind....  He did finally get secured to Sum Escape as directed by the lockmaster, but it took three approaches.
And here is one of the locks as it emptied!  Note we are secured to a floating bollard which makes the descent really easy.  No lines to handle, just need to be attentive if the bollard should jam and loosen the line.  One should have a knife handy, just in case.

We want to catch up to our friends in Alton, IL by Tues, but a no travel day on Friday due to not wanting to take a chance on weather, makes that very questionable.  But hey, we are retired and we should catch up to them at the rendezvous in mid Oct.  The most dangerous thing on the voyage is a schedule, so we will enjoy the pool, possibly take the marina courtesy car to town to restock, take a nice walk, or finally just generally relax for a day. 
Thanks for following our blog.....

Off again on our Voyage!! Travel day 3, Into the River system!

The eye doctor said I could travel but that the next 5 weeks still involves some risk of further vitreous detachment. So long story short, he wants me to see another retinal specialist in a month, unless I notice deterioration in vision. 
So we departed Portage IN (it was a great stop....Marina Shores Marina) and after a slight detour to check out a little more of Indiana (don't ask)  we made it to Calumet Harbor and entered the barge traffic and one lock.  We only needed two bridges opened as we can get down to 17.5 feet with our electronics mast laid back against the dinghy on the crutch Julie's brother fabricated....thanks Kevin!!

Here we are following a barge through a bridge....can't get too close due to prop wash.

Pleasure craft are second citizens on the river (meaning the barges lock through first) but we were able to enter our first lock after a barge was secured and we just free floated in front of him and were allowed to leave ahead of him.  Lock operators and barge captains are willing to talk and help, although they are a bit hard to understand!
We are currently in Dolton IL just past the I-94 bridge.  They even leave a night light on for us here!

Tomorrow we hopefully make Joliet or further.  May not post for a few days as we are going to try some long days and try to make up some ground (water)...  Thanks for all the well wishes.

Life at zero knots (at least as far as the boat is concerned)

So we encountered another delay in our travel plans today.  Here is a brief recap of our situation.
The day has been another blur, no pun intended....

Last night I (Tom) experienced large "floaters" and "waves of dots" in my right eye vision.  I called my opthamologist and he said it was likely the start of a vitreous detachment and I should see an opthamologist in the morning.  So I called Blue Cross for a reference and rented an Enterprise car for today.  Fast forward.... I actually suffered a retinal tear (not a detachment) along with the vitreous detachment and had laser surgery at about 4PM this afternoon. The doctor did see some leakage of gel into the "hole" as he fixed the area, so I have to go back to the doctor on Monday for a check up and I need to monitor vision, etc for a few days.  Given I do not want to be stranded without transportation in case there are complications we decided to keep the car. 

My nurse has been driving me around and taking good care of me.  She is an amazing person and I love her so much.   Thank you Julie!  I have no restrictions other than the follow up appointment and we pray the surgery was successful.

So we will be in Portage IN at Marina Shores until after this Monday  appointment.  Hopefully we enter the river system on Tuesday (pending good Lake Michigan travel weather)...and a good prognosis on the laser repair.

We still look forward to really starting our grand adventure and are praying for a good doctor appointment on Monday.

So if you are in the area, give us a call and stop by, we are just "killing time" at zero knots....

Still at Marina Shores, Portage IN

We were fortunate to find this marina to leave the boat for a spell given our hasty departure back to Spring Lake.  Very protected from L Michigan waves and a nice pool, etc and a good weekly rate.  And $2.59 diesel to boot, so we topped off.
Marina Shores

We came back to the boat with Sarah, Joe and Brett on Saturday evening, Sept 5.  They stayed overnight and left at 3 AM to catch flights out of ORD.  It was wonderful to have ALL of our children at the funeral on Friday and spend time with the rest of Julie's family.  And it was overwhelming to see the many friends who attended the visitation or funeral....a big thank you to all!
Sunday and Monday, we collected our thoughts, re arranged a few things on board and tried to find a repair technician for the air conditioner that failed while we were away.  It has apparently lost refrigerant charge...and it is the one we just spent big bucks on replacing both the compressor and air handler.  So one of the techs did not get something properly tightened and we lost charge.  I found someone but he can't come till Wed morning.  And after I set that appointment, we apparently overworked the other unit trying to beat the 90 degree heat and it pooped out too (for another reason).  So I called him and informed him we need that one repaired too.  At least the stateroom air is working so we can sleep!
Also had the nice task of making like a pretzel to swap out a shower sump pump that started leaking smelly shower water into the bilge as well as cleaning up the slimy mess.  Yuk!!  Stole the sump pump out of the lazarette that handles clean A/C condensate thinking I would rather have clean water in the bilge.  So that three hour project is done and we can shower on board again without the smell!  We will pick up a new pump (and a rebuild kit so I will have a spare for the future) as soon as we can.  No one around here stocks them unfortunately.

We are hoping for the A/C repairs to be done tomorrow as Thurs may be the only travel day on L Michigan for a while.
With all the repairs behind us (hopefully) we will be ready for guests soon!!
We are only 14 miles from the Calumet River and we cannot wait to start the river system!
And thank you to all who expressed their sympathy, well wishes, etc over the past few weeks.  Neither of us feels like we have really started our adventure or for that matter have retired.  It has been a whirlwind since retirement on July 17.  We look forward to settling in to a daily travel schedule and moving South....
So while we are sitting here waiting for a T-storm to pass, we thought we would provide a little update...So that is the life of a Looper for now!!

Family Update

Just a short note to let everyone know that Julie's mom passed away early afternoon today.  Julie was with Mom to the end of her time on this earth. Thank God for  the merciful end to Mom's 21+ year fight with autoimmune liver disease.  May she rest in peace....
http://www.vbkfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Marilyn-Bedwin/