Grounding

We are back home in Murfreesboro and we left our floating home in Nashville at the dock.  Tomorrow we will pull Lifestyle II out of the water and take a look at the bottom.  It is important to look at the bottom, the running gear (prop and shaft) and the zincs.  Zincs are the pieces of metal that take the corrosion instead of the other stuff that is underwater.  It has not been all that long since we had the bottom painted but we have put almost 4,000 miles on that bottom paint.  Another reason to pull her is to see if I did any damage when I ran aground on Sept. 10.   It had been a long day on the upper Mississippi.  The night before we were able to tie up to a lock wall on Kaskaskia River. Safe tie ups and anchorages are few on the upper Mississippi River.  It is all commercial and very little services are offered for pleasures boats.  It is easy to understand. The river is muddy, unsanitary and the current runs 4 to 6 miles per hour. The day was ending and we were having trouble finding an anchor spot.  Finally out of desperation I told Denniese that I think I can get in behind one of the wing dams.  Wing dams are piles of rock from the banks of the river to the channel.  They keep the flow of the river directed to the middle and that helps keep the river channel deep and clean.  All went well until I got sideways to the current and the river pushed me up on and underwater wing dam that was not visible from the channel.  The boat healed over and we went from 20' of water to 3' of water.  Remember we need 4' of water.  The boat was out of my control as the water and the ground came together to control our movements.  The boat settled after a while and we were level but still hard aground.  I made the decision to call the U.S. Coast Guard to make a situation report, not a mayday, just to let others know of our position. The Coast Guard took a lot of time getting information and taking up our time while we were trying to get the boat free. Boat US was called to see if a tow boat was available. We even had friends aboard the Jolly Tolly call us to see if they could help.  No one could help, no one was available to help.  Finally we were directed to the County Emergency Management Agency of Alexander County, IL.  They asked all the usual questions and since no one was hurt they said it would be the next day before we could expect help.  By sundown we had done all the things we needed to do to try to help ourselves.  We had deployed kedge anchors and moved the boat several feet.  I introduced Denniese to the term "Ditch Bag" and had it ready.  We all had our PFD's on, even Maggie.  The dingy was standing by if things got worse.  We had supper and tried to get some sleep. Daylight finally came and we knew help would be on the way.  Around 8:30 I saw a boat heading our way, it had to be a fishing boat.  It was a 16' John boat with a 90hp outboard and two men.  I didn't see a towing harness or even any long heavy ropes. We found out it was volunteers from the local volunteer fire department.  They circled the boat taking soundings and developing a plan. Next they brought in my anchors , even the 45# CQR.  We discussed the options.  We all worked together but the boat got off under her own effort.  I guess all those prayers helped.  The current that caused the problem had dug a trench behind us and we were able to back out.  We got the guys names and said our thanks as they motored off.  We motored to a safe anchor spot where we spent the day inspecting the boat and resting. We will forever be grateful to the Cairo Volunteer Fire Department and Gene Chrestmen and James McWilliams.

Since we are safely back home maybe we will have Internet service that will enable us to send out some of the pic's we tried to send while on the way. Lifestyle II

Music City

Here we are at Rock Harbor Marina on the West side of Nashville. We pulled in here about 3:30 this afternoon.  It was a great trip from Green Turtle Bay in Grand Rivers, KY.  About a 150 mile trip. We pulled away from the Green Turtle dock at 8:30AM on Thursday.  It was so cold we had on a hoodie and a windbreaker.  Later we added a blanket when we were in the wind. We traveled about 50 miles and anchored off the river in a feeder stream in about 15 feet of water. Friday we did another 50 miles and tied up the the courtesy dock at Clarksville.  Now if you want to see what a city can do with a river front, Clarksville is a great example. A couple of miles of waterfront has been turned into a park.  A new marina is scheduled to open soon. Saturday was a beautiful day.  Rolling down the river was perfict.  We only passed a couple of tows and the pleasure craft were few.  Rock Harbor is not what it once was.  The flood and a change in ownership has taken its toll.  The Bluemoon resturant is no longer here and a lot of the boats have also gone elsewhere.  But it was a welcome site and we are glad to be back home for a while.  We will spend about a month here making repairs and attending to home things.  BJ's wedding is two weeks from today so that is first on our piority list.  After that we will get the boat ready for the next phase of our trip.  We will then travel back the three days to Grand Rivers and join the Tennessee River and start our trip South.  It is still our intentions to spend the winter in South Florida.

We still have a lot of events and stories that did not get reported along the way, so I will continue to do the blog when we are home.  With good connections we will be able to send you pictures to compliment our stories.  When leaving  Lake Michigan and boating through Chicago you must travel on what is known as the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.  It is such a polluted river that years ago it was reversed in order to not pollute Lake Michigan.  Now it sends all the stuff south. 

Mississippi mud

We traveled down the Upper Mississippi in record time.  The distance from the Illinois to the Ohio River, on the Upper Mississippi is 217 miles.  We were traveling at about 12 miles per hour on the UM with the current and then turned up the Ohio River against the current and it felt like we were crawling at 5-6 mph. We anchored one night in the river outside Harrah's Casino in Metropolis, Il.  We had heard the buffets were very good and cheap at the casinos, and they were.  We did not gamble.  We figured our adventure was enough of a gamble!  Finally, we finished the Ohio and turn up the Cumberland.  It was more narrow than the Ohio, but just as slow.  We pulled into Green Turtle Bay Marina on Barkley Lake yesterday at 5:45, just fifteen minuets before they closed.  We had done 57 miles at 5-6 miles per hour and it was hot!  We were so tired.  We spent a few minutes with the other Loopers (they wanted all the details about our running aground at mile marker 17). I took the dog for her walk, had a bite of supper and crashed.  The story about running aground is for another blog!  

This morning we decided to spend an extra day here to get rested up and try to clean some of the mud from the  boat.  Mark Twain's quote concerning the Mississippi water is, "It's too thin to plow and too thick to drink!"  We have found this to be true. 

We did the laundry this morning and the marina has a courtesy car, so we used it to find a grocery store and get a few items to get us by until we reach Nashville which we should do in about 4 days, just in time for Mike's birthday.  We are excited about getting close to home.  It feels good.   

The picture is of Barkley Lock & Dam.

The river system

The river system is just another phase of this adventure that has it's good and bad features.  No longer do we have to wake up to the electronic voice of NOAA in order to decide whether we can move along the journey.  We still listen for weather forecasts, but we can travel in the rain on the rivers without the worry of 5-7 ft waves!  Instead, now we have to watch for floating debris, submerged wing dams, and large towboats. 

We have traversed the Illinois River down to where it meets the Mississippi.  These rivers flow through the heartland of this country.  One day, as we were meandering down the Illinois, we wondered what was beyond the levee walls, since we couldn't see over them.  We found out one morning as Maggie went for her daily duty;  corn fields!  What a surprise!

The marinas and anchorages are few and far between and cell phone service is sketchy. We anchored Tuesday night just beyond a railroad bridge on the banks of the Illinois.  We had to deploy 2 anchors just incase a tow should happen to come by during the night.  We had been through 2 locks during the day and we had covered a record 60 statute miles.  We were tired and we got Maggie on the dinghy and started towards a boat ramp.  Mike asked me if he should go all the way to the boat ramp or just up to the edge of the river bank and I told him it didn't matter to me.  So, he opted for the closest bank.  Mistake!!!  When I stepped into the water at the edge, the mud was soft and my foot came out without my swimshoe.  I recovered it and took the other off and took off down the bank with Maggie barefooted.  She did a #1  so I handed her over to Mike and they took off into a little park for #2.  I waited on the bank and when they got finished, we started back to the dinghy on the bank.  I stepped into a quagmire of river mud all the way up to my knees.  I couldn't move.  Mike had to pull me out while holding on to the dog.  It was not a good time.  I found my breaking point.  I started crying and thinking about where the nearest airport might be.  Mike was so sweet and hugged me and said everything was okay and please don't call a taxi!!!!

This journey is not for the faint of heart.  There is no way one person can do this alone.  I got my act together and decided to try to hang on for a little bit longer.  We will both be happy to see home again, for a few days anyway.