Home Port for Alchemist

Well, we made it to Lighthouse Point around 2:30 pm on Sunday. Unfortunately, our slip on A dock was not yet ready but there was an open slip on B dock which worked out just fine for now. Our friends on A dock as well as friends from Alan's work stopped by. Thanks Debbie Tuggle for the champagne to help us celebrate!




A Dock Friends

 



Tom and his Family

  It was difficult to leave the boat last night after spending so much time on it. But responsibilities call and we have to get back at it. We are so happy to have ended the trip safely and with our fiberglass intact! We learned so much.and are much better boaters for it.  We are grateful for all the advice we received along the way from Kyle, Ed, Jeff, Cheri, Lee, Candy, John, Carol, Mike, Linda, Captain Scott and of course, Fern. And special thanks to you, for reading and sending emails of support.

Until the next big journey, this is Alchemist, out.

Home Stretch

We left Louisville City Dock Saturrday at crack of dawn thirty.  If we had only known what was coming, we could have slept late - really late!

Lots of healthy people in Louisville taking full advantage of the river for fitness.

Can you see the swimmer in training below on the other side of the boat? It was a cool morning but the water was at 75 degrees.

A nice Chris Craft runabout we saw below the dam.

And then the dreaded dam. We knew one of the locks was closed for repairs but when we called ahead we were told that the other lock was shut down as well. We slowed up and arrived at 2:30 only to sit for six hours until they called us through. So much for getting to Turtle Creek early to clean and recoup!

Barges backed up like crazy

Finally - we got in. I am not the most comfortable boating at night but the lock was nicely lit.

Another boat shared the lock with us and also stayed the night at Turtle Creek. It was a Passagemaker trawler that a really nice couple was bringing to Pittsburgh from Annapolis. He and his wife were retired of course and started the trip back in April.

I can tell you, It was a lot hader to see this building at night!

Turtle Creek at sunrise

We did not get the 9 am start we wanted because the boat really needed to be cleaned. The Mississippi River did a hurtin on our "once white" swim platform. We will have to keep working on getting rid of that brown. We ended up leaving around 11:30 so plan to be at our home marina now around 2:30 now unless we just decide to keep on going.

Getting Closer!

We had a great anchorage Thursday night but with the current up, the waves lapped against the boat and on occasion woke us up. On Friday, we started our way to Louisville with a much weaker current and yet another beautiful start to the day.

We came across a good number of large barges.

We only had one lock to go through (McAlpine) but locked through without a significant delay.

Caeser's Casino in Indiana

After locking through McAlpine, you are in the Louisville and Portland Canal that takes you back into the main river shortly after the railroad bridge you see in the photo below. We got into Louisville around 5 pm - nice and early.

The City Dock (below Tumbleweeds) was recommended by our friends Kyle, Ed, Linda and Mike. What a great dock! Water and electric available and no charge to stay there.

The guy in the photo below is docking his  boat all by himself. No crew onboard. Now that is confidence!

Alan says it is always more fun to watch the people on the dock - talk about "pier pressure"!

This little guy was fishing with his Dad on the other side of us. He caught three catfish in less than an hour! His Dad said that we was a born fisherman and always caught more fish than him.

So cute sitting there with his cane pole. Do you remember having one when you were little?

Below is a photo of the sun going down on Louisville. Alan grilled pork chops and we had the best table in the house.

Louisville at Night

Saturday we are heading to Turtle Creek Marina where we will recoup and clean up the boat. As you can imagine, after 1,000 miles it is pretty dirty! We hope to be at our marina (Lighthouse Point) in Aurora sometime after noon on Sunday. If you are local and would like to see our new boat stop by and see us on A Dock!

Calm After the Storm

The temperature dropped a bit following the storm but was still pleasant at 68-70 degrees during the day. Below you can see Evansville which we passed shortly after starting (at the usual crack of dawn).

Evansville Gambling Boat

Below you can see construction underway on the riverfront project in Owensboro, KY.

We made it through two locks (Edinburgh and Cannelton) with ease. We have now gone through 15 locks and have only two more to go. Our friends, Ed and Kyle, provided us with a detailed overview of the Ohio River and we agree that the Cannelton pool is the prettiest.

Farmland

The storm the night before blew in a ton of rain onto the bridge and aft deck carpets so I spent the day cleaning them. Thank goodness we brought the rug shampooer with us.

We anchored on the KY side at mile marker 690 and saw another beautiful sunset.

And had another full moon.

We plan to stay in Louisville Friday night. On Saturday we hope to get above Markland Dam but have heard that one of the locks is under repair and the waits can be extensive. With any luck, we will get through it on Saturday. If so, we plan to stay above the dam Saturday night and then arrive at Lighthouse Point sometime on Sunday.

Wet and Windy Wednesday

So what is it they say "Red sky at morning.......Sailor's warning"?

But it was a beautiful sunrise.

Now that we are heading upstream, our miles per hour have slowed to 9.3 at 1300 rpm as compared to 12.3 mph when we were on the Mississippi going with the current. Since the lower Mississippi, Alan has been using the auto pilot to steer the boat - a lot easier on him vs. constantly turning the steering wheel.

On the Ohio, they seem a lot more likely to allow you to go into a lock with a tow boat.

During our morning lock through Smithland Dam, Alan said that if we only had bagels - then we would have "locks and bagels".  Hey Captain, keep your day job!

Above the dam, we started to see some beautiful cliffs on the Illinois side with lovely homes.

Not sure if you can see in the picture below, but it looks like next to the steps the owner has put in some type of homemade rail transport system. I guess to get things up and down the bank more easily.

At mile marker 881 is Cave in Rock. Wonder why they named it that?

There is a ferry that runs to the town of Cave in Rock.

Below is Cincinnati Island. A good friend of ours tucked away behind this on his boating honeymoon.

Ah, the stories it could tell....

Around 4 pm the rain set in and got progressively worse. As we neared our destination (Nu Plaza Yacht Club Marina) at mile marker 797 it was nasty with whitecaps on the river and winds blowing at 35 knots. Alan did a great job approaching the dock - fortunately the wind was blowing us into it and we had lots of help from the marina. I know one thing - we ALL took a soaking!

The rain continued well into the night and we rocked gently. I felt much more at ease being tied to a dock vs."being on the hook" with high wind. 

Mad Dash to the Ohio River

Tuesday's goal was to get out of the "Big Muddy". We got our usual early start and we traveled just under 200 miles - another long day. We did not have any locks to go through on the Mississippi and Lock 53 on the Ohio had its wickets down (due to high water) so we passed right through.

Lots of tows along the way - really big ones.

We encountered some debris along the way.

Town of Cape Girardeau, MO

Towards the end of the Mississippi, there were hairpin turns. If a barge was coming, you basically had to move out of the channel and wait for them to pass.

Last bridge on the Mississippi

Below you can see the Ohio River veering off to the left.  Mile marker 981 on the Ohio River chart. It felt great to get to the Ohio River. Even though we still have almost 500 miles to travel, it feels like we are back in familiar territory. It also marks the "halfway" point of our trip from Chicago.

First bridge on the Ohio River

Olmstead Lock and Dam is under construction at mile marker 965 and is supposed to eventually replace Locks # 52 and 53.

We found an anchorage right off the main channel at mile marker 944 on the IL side (near Metropolis, IL). Alan grilled out!

It turned out to be a beautiful spot to see the sunset.

A downbound pleasure boat came along and anchored below us.