Grand Harbor and Broken Spoke

October 30, 2013

First off, Happy Birthday to my sister Bobbie.  She is in Florida with a friend and traveling to Key West for the day.  I hope she had a great time.

Secondly, this is a big day for me personally……42 years ago today I flew out of Viet Nam to come home after 13 months overseas.  Seems like not all that long ago and yet a lifetime ago.  To celebrate I had dinner with  Trick at one of my favorite restaurants; The Broken Spoke in Corinth Mississippi….more about that later.

The day started out early, up at 5:30.  Motors started at 6:45 after adding ¼ of oil in the port motor. 

Nice people but limited facilities

We were in the channel by 7AM, mile 140, right on time.  

Beautiful morning.  MV Sideview is ahead of us again about 10 miles out.  They must have anchored for the night near us and head out at the same time.  Trick looked them up on his I Pad.  The Coast Guard website shows Sideview is owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority. 

 

Sailboats drop their masts on the river to get under low bridges

At 0830 we came across S/V Seahorse at mile 153.5.  They were just pulling up anchor and slipped in behind us to follow us upstream.  

We came across another sailboat coming downstream a short time later but they were not very friendly and did not respond to our wave….their loss.

We passed “Francis Keegan” at 0945 at mile 165.

With the water level so low, we could actually see the sunken barge at mile 180.1 at 11:30 AM.

Around 2PM we passed a cruiser heading downstream……wonder why he was going north??

 

Cows grazing

getting a drink

mine shaft on river bank

nice river home

I could live with this place

Must be a trucker's time share

As we move closer to Pickwick Lock we are seeing an increase in the current coming at us.  We started the day with about a ½ knot of current and it is building constantly.  10 miles from Pickwick and it is 2 knots.  A Carver, “Pampered III”, caught and passed us at mile 201….the captain was nice enough to hail us on channel 16 to do a slow pass.  Much appreciated!  

They took off like a rocket after they passed us burning a ton of fuel.

5 miles from the lock and we have 3 knots hitting us.  3 miles out and now 5 knots!  2 miles out, almost 6 knots.  We are moving slow over land but still at 9 mph water speed.

We arrived at Pickwick Loat at 2:45. 

Pampered III was sitting there waiting for the lock to open and it did just as we arrived.  Timing is everything! 

We were in the chamber by 3:00 and on the way up.  

Pampered III was using thrusters to stand off the lock wall 4 feet….interesting.  Clear of the lock at 3:25.

We headed for Grand Harbor Marina.  Just as we were about to make the turn off the Tennessee there were two cruises coming downstream (from Florence??) and turned in behind us.  

One of two loopers that followed us into Grand Harbor

Rush hour at the marina. 

We pulled in and fueled up…..100 gal of fuel for 200 miles, some of the trip faster that I would like.  I was very pleased…..XP3 WORKS!!!!  (go to interstatedriving.com or interstatefueltreatment.com to order now)

It was easy to get into our slip and got the keys for the courtesy car for the evening so we could go to Broken Spoke restaurant.  Missy, Rachael and I discovered the place in the spring of 2012 and I also took Chris Wold there last Memorial Day on our trip up river.  It looks like a dive from the road but the food is great and they have live entertainment.  Tonight was “New Artist” night and we were treated to six different performers.  Fantastic. Darrell would love this place!! I had a great Crab Salad.  Trick ordered the Spoke Chop thinking he was getting a pork chop…..turned out to be roast beef?????  I can’t understand 90 percent of what they all are saying down here so it does not surprise me the difference in menu items.  

We both had a good time but I sure do miss having Missy with on this journey.  I am blessed in many ways but most of all to have Melissa as my spouse and it's tough not to have her sitting next to me on the bridge.  Good news is her leg is healing well so she will be on board in December in Florida (if Trick and I manage to get the boat there!!).

Cell coverage has been very inconsistent.  I guess river folks have not joined the rest of the country staying connected 24/7.

Big storms are forecast for tomorrow.  They might break up before they get here so we will have to look at the weather in the morning to decide if we are going to continue or hold up for a day to let things calm down.  Never a dull moment.  We would like to get to Smithsville tomorrow but there are a couple of marinas we can duck into if necessary.  

Life on the River!

Oct 29th - 98 Miles on the River

Tue Oct 29^th, 2013 at Kenlake State Park Marina.  Up at 5:30AM after a great night sleep – very peaceful marina.  

Pre Trip Inspections are MANDATORY!

Started motors at 6:40 after adding ½ quart of oil to starboard motor.  

Away from the dock at 6:55.  I tried the radar as it was a bit foggy but to no avail.  


Something must be disconnected????  Yet another issue to deal with when we have the time.

We came across an anchored cruiser at Clay Bay (mile 54.2).  “Sanderling is the first cruiser we have seen.  Our AIS showed a tug, “Sideview” ahead of us all day about 8 miles upstream.  I had been calling Perryville Marina several times trying to make a reservation and never got an answer.  Finally just before noon I got a recorded message saying they were closed.  Great, now we need another 5 miles to Mermaid Marina. 

When we arrived at the CSX rail road bridge at mile 100.4 we slowed down to make sure I could clear the bridge with my new VHS antenna.  Skipper Bob’s says it is a 24’6” clearance and it must be all of that if not a little more.  When we got there it was very apparent how low the water level is.  

I guess the water level is low

It looks like 5 feet below normal level so we cleared easily with a couple of feet to spare.  So I am going to say I need 27 feet to clear bridges down the water.

We passed by Cuba Landing at 3PM.  Calculations told me we were going to be late unless we sped up.  So I increased RPM from 1500 to 1700.  I burn significantly more fuel but it could not be avoided.  Now that we are out of the “Lake” we are fighting about .6 of a knot of current coming downstream (yes we are going upstream until Pickwick).  At 1700 we are going 9.7 mph so that will get us to Mermaid at 5:40.

At 4:50 we met our one and only tow for the day…."Marshall Barns”.  I tried hailing him on channel 16 but no response.  Just before we got to Mermaid, Kerm called.  He and Chris are at Pickensville, 3 days ahead of us.  It will be great to meet up with them…..probably in Mobile or along the Gulf. 

We pulled into Mermaid right on time to a VERY shallow channel……..3.5  feet on the depth meter.  Missy would FREAK out!  Folks are really friendly but very southern.  Facilities are also southern…..limited would be the nice way to put it.  Trick checked out the shower facilities and he tells me it is a garden hose in a cinder block building and it is a half mile away.  Thanks but no thanks.

98 miles today.  We started out shooting for 93 but had to improvise and it worked out nicely.Traveling on the river system is very unique....7 to 9 mph is the norm.  Some extravagant people buy boats that are faster but then they lose out on all that is to be seen moving slow and steady. I am very grateful and feel blessed to be able to absorb the vast twists and turns of the river system.

Bridge to No Where!

Fall colors in Tennessee

Ready for a flood

checking out our lunch

Missy would approve of the landscaping

Another fine landscaping that Missy would approve of.

Tennessee Time Share

The boat is running well, temperatures perfect.  Garmin chartplotter and AIS also working great so all is well.

Trick then made veggie burgers for me for dinner.  Very tasty!  We are going to hit the sack early and head out before sunrise as I want to arrive at Pickwick Lock with as much time to spare as possible as Kerm had to wait 4 hours to get through there a week ago.  I need to get through there by 4PM in order to get to Grand Harbor before they close the fuel dock at 5PM.  It will be no big deal if we get delayed as Grand Harbor is very well lite and I have been there a couple of times before but I want to get fuel so want to arrive in time to fill up.  

Arrived just in time.

Heading South (for real this time)

We were up at the crack of dawn to drive to Nashville for the impeller and a new water pump for the Westerbeke.  The weather was really nice by the marina but raining in Nashville.  We got back to the boat about noon and I dug into the impeller with Trick’s assistance from above.  

There is always something to fix on an older boat!!!

The repair was perfect!!  Yea, something is going right!!!

The 1st mate handling lines.

Back to the Paducah airport to drop off the Avis car, a quick stop for Trick at the liquor store, then back on board.  

Thanks to Marty at Kentucky Dam Marina for all of his help!!

We headed out of Kentucky Dam Marina (AGAIN) at 3:10 and motored 19 miles to Kenlake State Park Marina.  Came across three tows along the way…..Edwin Kennedy, Leslie Neal, and Hornet.  

Very calm conditions, bright sunlight, about 66 degrees.  Perfect first day of motoring although short. 

Boys and their toys on the river

Very calm for sailing

Trick's snack on the upper helm

Rowing at dusk

Perfect arrival at the marina

We found the marina just fine and pulled in with 20 minutes of sunlight to spare.  Trick made veggie spaghetti that was delicious!!!  We will hit the sack early and head out to Perryville Marina in the morning.    

Trick is cooking dinner!!!

Heading South October 2013

Pat Stair and I drove down to Paducah Friday afternoon Oct 25th, stopped for a few hours of sleep along the way, and arrived Saturday October 26th around noon to motor down to the Gulf.

We spent six hours working on the gen set trying to get the cooling issue repaired.  We lucked out as the marina had the correct impeller (the one I got online was not the correct one).  Even with the new impeller the gen set would not cool itself.  We then tried hooking up a 12v water pump into the system but it does not keep pumping continuously so the gen set will shut down after about 15 min or so.  Very frustrating as we spent all day on the project and I did not get a chance to wash the boat.

At about 7 PM we went in to Paducah with the courtesy car, dropped the rental car off, went to WalMart for provisions (there was no other choice) and then hit the sack around 10PM

Sunday morning I was up at 5:40 getting ready to head out.  Everything was set and we pulled out of the slip at 7:10.

 We cleared the breakwater and I ran the RPM up a little to get the alternators to kick in and right away the water temperature on the starboard motor was too high (205).  I shut the motor down and after a little bit we determined the exhaust cooling was not working.

Back to Kentucky Dam Marina!  We motor back to our slip 45 minutes after we had left.  Trick looked up where the impeller is located on the motor and I pulled it apart.  Yep, the impeller is bad.  The blades are kinda okay but it is spline driven and the impeller is just too worn to spin with the shaft.

This time Kentucky Dam Marina did not have what we need.  The Dockmaster told us about Marysville Marine in White House Tenn (outside of Nashville) so we have a rental car reservation and will head there first thing in the morning to pick up a new impeller.

So now it looks like we will be heading out Tue the 29th.  We were hoping to catch up to Chris and Kerm Wold somewhere before Demopolis as they cannot go lower than Demopolis any sooner than November 1st.  We will not get to Dempolis until Saturday Nov 2nd so we may be two days behind them.  We might catch up to them in Mobil and then perhaps cross the Gulf with them later in the week weather permitting.