NORTH SOUTH EAST AND WEST

September 21, 2011 Grand Rivers, KY USA

I got up early today because I had 138 miles to travel from Little Diversion Canal to Green Turtle Bay Marina in Grand Rivers, KY.  I would travel on the Mississippi, Ohio and Cumberland Rivers and travel through 3 locks.

During the night while Rich and Carol slept I could feel the dew forming on me.  When they finally got up to get me ready for the 7 AM departure time they found I was sitting in a fog bank.  So, I sat for the next hour and a half waiting got the fog to lift. We finally left at 8:30.

The trip down the river was fun, I could really fly with the current pushing me forward.  I was doing well over 22 miles per hour.  There were not many tows so I didn’t have to slow down at all.  Going around a corner a call came over my radio.  A small tow had gone aground and he asked me to put out a big wake in hopes it would lift him high enough to get going again.  I tried my best, I know I can put out one heck of a wake.  I don’t know if it worked, but the tow thanked me.

I saw much bigger tows than I had seen before, One I saw had 31 barges that he was pushing up stream.  Given the standard size of a barge, that tow was 175 feet wide and 1200 feet long.  Pushing against the current that tow was sure churning up the river and he was only moving at 4 knots.

Most people think that the Mississippi River flows from north to south, it does, generally.  In some places it flows east, it other places west, and others north, then south again.  In some places the river meanders forming horseshoe bends and creating places of multi directional flows.

Next came the Ohio River and I had to turn up steam, what an awaking.  I went from 22 miles per hour to 16 as I now was traveling against the current.  The Ohio River at Cairo, IL, where the Ohio and the Mississippi come together, is a major staging area for barges and I had to travel very slow as there were barges and Tows on both sides of the river and in the middle.

The two locks on the Ohio that I would have to go through are controlled by wicket dams.  Depending on the level of water in the river the wickets can be raised or lowered.  When lowered, boats and tows can travel right over them. When raised, they must travel through the associated lock.  The first wicket dam was down so we were able to go right over it.  I was not so lucky with the second lock.  I had to wait for about 45 minutes as a tow cleared the lock.

Finally, I got to the Cumberland River.  The Cumberland River is narrow and the banks are steep.  I passed several quarries along the way with tows tied up along them.  I didn’t’ see very much boat traffic, except for one bass boat that came charging at me putting out a large rooster tail. I slowed down but he did not.  He hit my wake and the boat was launched into the air.  I thought he was going to flip over backwards, he did not.

I got to the last lock, the Barkley Lock and Dam.  I had to wait an hour for a tow to clear.  As I waited I watched the sun go down.  The lock is a “new one” and is a 57foot lift.  The chamber is huge.  When I emerged from the lock it was dark. Luckily I had only half a mile to travel.  That was the good news.  The bad news was that I had a winding channel to travel in the dark with no moonlight or shore lights.  Fortunately, MY WAY knew where we were going and could lead the way to Green Turtle Bay Marina.

I will be in Green Turtle Bay for the next two or three weeks