M/V ILLUSIONS                                      TX TO WV TO TX CRUISE         

TX TO WV TO TX CRUISE TRIP 2 LOGS Gilbertsville, KY to Pittsburgh, PA June 22 – July 10, 2001 Gilbertsville, KY to Golconda, IL, Saturday, June 23, 2001      We flew to Paducah, KY on Friday afternoon and took a taxi to Moors Resort.  We had dinner at their restaurant, unpacked, and readied the boat for departure.  On Saturday morning we ate at Moors again and then went to the grocery store with the general manager, Mr. Mark Wood.  We left the marina about 11:40am.   The weather was great: cooler than Houston, and lower humidity, too, with a cool breeze, sunny skies, and a few puffy, white clouds.      Kentucky Lock was closed for maintenance; so all downbound traffic was being diverted to Barkley Lock on the Cumberland River.  We called the lockmaster, and he advised he would be locking a group of pleasure boaters down at about 12:30pm.  We hurried over there, through the canal connecting Kentucky and Barkley Lakes, and joined the others waiting for the lock.  It was about 1:40pm when we were allowed in and locked down to the Cumberland River below the dam.  We saw numerous tows with their barges nosed into the banks waiting their opportunity to lock up.       The river was narrow and twisting; some of the towboats had a hard time getting their loads around the bends.  As we approached the last turn before the Ohio River, I radioed the tow in front of us about passing him.  He asked us to wait, and we did.  We could see he was trying to make a turn to the right.  When he asked us to come by on his starboard side, we could see the nose of his lead barge onto the bank on the far side of the turn.  He had not been able to get the barge string to turn enough to get around the bend.      We saw a couple of young deer on the RDB at a small creek that entered the river there.  We saw Smithland Dam through a cut called the Kentucky Chute, and we radioed the lock from there.  The lockmaster advised us to go down to the mouth of the Cumberland, turn up into the Ohio, and approach the small chamber, but be sure to check in with the dredge working there below the dam.  The total length of the Cumberland below Barkley lock was 30.5 miles.      The dredge occupied the entire channel, so we had to check in with him, and he did move for us.  Then a tow with barges was in our way trying to get his load into the larger chamber, so we worked slowly around him and into the lock.  The Ohio River locks were all the way over to one side of the channel, and the small chamber was on the land side with the larger chamber next to it.  The distance between the bank and us was very close, but we always found enough water there.      Between the Cumberland River and Pittsburgh, 15 of the 18 three locks had floating bollards to use in locking through.  All but those three had a large chamber measuring 1200 by 110 feet, enough for a tow with 5 barges in length and three in width.  The small chambers were 600 by 110 feet.  The last three locks had large chambers of 600 by 110 feet and small chambers of 56 by 360 feet.  In the upper three locks, we had to supply a line of 100 feet or so.  The lockmaster dropped a line with a hook on its end.  Using the hook, we passed a loop of our line to the lockmaster, who placed it over a bit on the top of the lock wall.      We dropped 57 feet in the Barkley Lock and were raised 22 feet in the Smithland Lock.  The weather was great, 68 degrees in the morning and 85 in the afternoon.  The Ohio River was wide and deep, with nice hills and trees on both sides.  Its width was a mile in places, and a half-mile almost everywhere.  The elevation of the Ohio River below Smithland Dam was 302 feet above sea level.      We pulled into Golconda Marina (Mile 903, RDB in IL) about 5:30pm.  The man in the slip next to us helped us tie up and offered us his car to go to town.  Behind the marina was a national forest of 270,000 acres – over 50% more land than Land Between the Lakes.      That marina was interesting.  Everyone who had a covered slip there had personalized it with either a refrigerator, a charcoal grill, microwave, tables and chairs, some storage cabinets, Christmas lights, nets, signs, cute little personal items, etc, or all the above.  It made me want to stop and study each slip.  Everyone was very friendly.  You could tell that was a community that basically was caring and trusting.  It was Saturday night, and the country music was playing loudly as the evening progressed.  We ate on the boat. Golconda, IL to Evansville, IN, Sunday, June 24, 2001      At 8am we left the marina and proceeded up the Ohio River.  Our temperature problem was back.  The port engine had been reading 202 degrees all day Saturday and again on Sunday morning.  I had also noted the oil pressure on that engine was less than the reading on the starboard engine.  Since the repairs to the port engine in 2000, the oil pressure on the port engine always read higher than that on the starboard engine.  I even checked the oil and found nothing to be concerned about.  Boats are perfect for worriers, however; there’s always something to worry about.      We slowed to take some photos of Cave–In–Rock, which I had read about in the cruise guides. It seems robbers use to hide in this cave on the river.  They would suddenly jump out at boats on the river and rob them of their money and goods.  It was a good-sized cave.  The nearby town was named for it.      After leaving that area, I noted our port engine temperature was back down to its customary 195 degrees.  What’s going on here, I thought.  The mechanic at Aqua Yacht Harbor moved a ground wire for the air compressor because every time the compressor came on, the port engine temperature went up 10 degrees and the port oil pressure went down 10 psi.  Did I have another problem like that?  I checked the port oil pressure gauge; it was back to being higher than the starboard oil pressure.  I turned the bilge blowers off and on; no effect.  I turned the running lights on and the port gauges acted up.  It was the running lights!  I had had them on until Cave–In–Rock; then I had turned them off.  It just seemed like too pretty a day to need running lights.  Anyway, the next chance we had, we’d get that repaired, but the port engine looked fine to me then.      On the water were lots of runabouts and ski boats, usually 24 – 32 feet in length.  That seemed to be a  popular size in that area.  There were some houseboats, too but not many boats of other types.  It was Sunday, and we saw several beach areas with boats, tents, campfires, floats, and families or groups of young people having a good time on the river.       John T. Myers Lock lifted us up 28 feet with no delay.  There was a lady lockmaster (lockmistress?) there.  The weather was perfect – 70 degrees in the morning, mid-80's in the afternoon, and low humidity.      Inland Marina was our marina in Evansville, IN (Mile 792 RDB).  We bought diesel fuel there.  We were their first and only diesel customer of  the day.  Our friends, Mark and Suzi, came to pick us up at 7pm.  We went to dinner at a restaurant in Newburgh, IN, just upstream of Evansville, on the Ohio River.  We saw the AMERICAN QUEEN paddle-wheeler going down the river as we ate.  It was a delightful evening.  Evansville, IN to Brandenburg, KY, Monday, June 25, 2001      Susie arranged an appointment with a chiropractor for 9am, and she came to the boat to get us at 8:30.  Angela was in pain, and I went along for an adjustment, too.  Dr. Lamb was courteous and helpful, and we were back to the boat at 10:30am.      We left the marina at 11am, and went through the Newburgh Lock (up 18 feet) at 12:30pm.  We passed the restaurant where we had enjoyed dinner the previous night.  It was a pretty spot.  Newburgh was a cute town.      We also went through the Cannelton Lock (up 26 feet), the fifth lock in Trip 2.  The pool above the dam was more attractive than the Ohio River below.  The water was deep and green.  There was less drift, and the hills were higher and more attractive.  The weather was very nice – high of 86 degrees F, low humidity, a few clouds, and a nice cool breeze.      Mark’s plant was in Cannelton, which was just below the dam.  They had a floodwall around the town.  We were very impressed with the stories we heard  about flooding on the Ohio River and the others which fed into the Ohio.  Water levels have risen 30 – 40 feet during high water, 40 feet at Louisville in 1937.  We understood anything that doesn’t float might get flooded if it’s not 40 feet higher than the normal pool elevation.  We were told the dams were not designed to do anything about flood protection, but were only designed to provide a navigable waterway for the tows and barges.  Bridges tended to have 50 – 70 feet of clearance under them, which was quite a change from other areas we’ve cruised with low bridges.      At Mile 784, on the LDB, in KY, we passed the entrance to the Green River.  It was once navigable for a much longer distance, but is now only navigable through 108 miles to Dam Number 3.  There were a number of islands, rivers, and creeks offering spots for overnight anchorages.  We thought about using one of them for the end of that day, but eventually decided we could make it to Brandenburg before the end of the daylight.     I called the Brandenburg Marina (Mile 646 LDB) early in the day and verified they had room for us.  As we were approaching the marina, and the end of the daylight, they were on the radio asking about us.  We were expected.  Ronnie Joyner was one of the owners, and he offered to take us to town for groceries or for a restaurant.  We really didn’t need anything, except electricity, which they didn’t have; so we ran the generator all night.      To call Brandenburg a marina is stretching things.  If there had been two boats there, we would have used all the dock space.  It was really a floating gas dock on the river; however, a very friendly and welcome one at 8:30pm  that evening.  We had covered 146 miles in 9 hours and 319 in three days. Brandenburg, KY to Jeffersonville, IN, Tuesday, June 26, 2001     The only lock of the day was just downstream of Louisville, KY, the McAlpine Lock (up 34 feet).  The chart said the smaller chamber had been decommissioned, so they only used the larger chamber.  That resulted in a delay of about 20 minutes.  The area below the lock was congested, and the angle to the lock was surprising; it’s as if the lock was placed in a bend in the river.     We had plans to see our friends Bobby and Cindy in Louisville, KY;  so we planned to stay there overnight.  The Kentuckiana Yacht Sales offices were across the river, and we thought we would also look at some boats.  The KYS salesman, Bill Molnar, offered to give us a berth at their downtown dock, so we accepted his offer and actually stayed in Jeffersonville, IN (Mile 603 RDB).  We pulled in at noon and took him to lunch after getting settled in our slip.      Bill showed us a 57-foot pilothouse, built in Taiwan, where the Jefferson line of yachts is built.  It was very nice, and a lot more boat than we had in our Carver.  It weighed 57,000 pounds.  We also looked at one used boat he had for sale, and we went to the main offices and met some of the owners and staff.  Everyone was very nice.  While we were at the office, we realized we had moved into the Eastern Time zone, so we advanced our watches one hour.      Back at the boat, a little after 5pm, we were filling up the water tank when one of the owners came by to see if we needed anything.  A few minutes later, another of the staff came by to warn us of a severe weather warning, so we added more fenders and lines.  A little bit later another of the KYS people came by to tell us how to turn off the mercury vapor floodlight if it bothered us at night.  Bobby came by to say “Hi” on his way home to shower before dinner.      I left the cover off the upper helm so I could show it to Bobby and Cindy.  I also left the upper helm windows open.  Of course, while I was in the shower, it rained hard, and the helm station got wet.  I dried it off, with no problems.  They arrived at 7pm and toured the boat, and after visiting for a while we went to Louisville.  They have a boat they mainly use on Cumberland Lake.      I wanted to see the Ohio Falls, and they took us down the river to a nice park where the falls could be seen.  Bobby wanted to show us the town, and he didn’t mind if we ate dinner at 10pm.  We wanted to eat earlier, so we saw the baseball museum and skipped Churchill Downs.  We ate dinner and went to the grocery store, returning to the boat about midnight.  It was a very nice day and evening, and we were tired. Jeffersonville, IN to Covington, KY, Wednesday, June 27, 2001      The Markland Lock was the only lock for the day, at a lift of 32 feet, bringing our total for Trip 2 to 7 locks.  We bought fuel 13 miles upstream of Louisville at a self-serve, fast pay (credit card) pump that was unattended.  It worked well, and the floating dock station permitted boaters to buy fuel 24 hours a day, gasoline or diesel.  That was something I had not seen before.  We were averaging our usual 1.45 gallons per mile.      I thought it might be nice to stay in downtown Cincinnati, OH, or better yet, across the river in Covington where we could look at the skyline of Cincinnati (Mile 470).  So, we did that, and we found a restaurant with a dock on the river.  It was called Mike Fink's.  We ate dinner there, and we paid $10 for the slip, including two 30-amp power connections but no water.  We were right across the river from Riverfront Stadium, and the view of the skyline was great.  Many of the downtown buildings were lit up with lights of many colors; it was everything I had hoped it would be.       It was also up and down, as boaters came by at ski speed over and over.  That was a common problem on all the rivers, where the boat docks usually paralleled the river.  There was no breakwater, or barrier, outside the floating docks to prevent the wakes from rocking the boats.      Weather that day was hot and humid.  We could see a downtown sign that gave the temperature as 85 degrees at 10pm.  The day started out to be overcast, hazy, and foggy; but it cleared somewhat as the morning progressed. Covington, KY to Franklin Furnace, OH, Thursday, June 28, 2001      We left the floating dock at Mike Fink's at 7:10am.  The weather was humid all day.  Temperatures were 74 in the morning and 86 or so in the afternoon. It started out hazy and foggy and then cleared up to partly cloudy.  We passed several diesel fuel stops on the way out of town, and I thought later that could have been a mistake.  There was very little diesel to be found in marinas above Cincinnati.       One of those was Holiday Point Marina at Franklin Furnace, OH.  We pulled in there at 5pm and filled up with diesel (Mile 339 RDB).  Bob, the manager, was very nice.  He didn’t charge us for dockage since we bought fuel.  (Their usual rate was $0.50 per foot per night.)  Diesel was $1.699 per gallon, the highest we had paid on that trip.  They had two 30-amp power connections for us, and the water was well water, which we replaced in our tank as soon as we could.      At Mile 438, near Foster, KY, we left the Louisville District and entered the Huntington District of the Corps of Engineers.  Therefore, our purchased charts ended; and we began using paper charts downloaded from the Internet.  The printed page contained only the left half of the chart, so we were missing some occasionally valuable information, such as a lock and dam.  I had tried, at Baker and Lyman in Houston, to purchase the other two parts to the Ohio River Charts, and was told they were out of print.      We went through two locks on the Ohio River: Meldahl (up 30 feet) and Greenup (up 28 feet).  Both seemed slow to fill, taking about 20 minutes each.  Our lock total was now 9 on Trip 2.  The lady lockmaster at Meldahl was the most polite we’ve ever met.  She was prompt in returning our calls, informative in answering our questions, and courteous beyond any expectation we had of a Corps lockmaster.      Our day included 10 running hours and 131 miles and two locks.  We had covered 626 miles in Trip 2 in 6 days.      Bob had offered us a loaner car, and we took it and drove into Wheelersburg, OH for dinner at a Bob Evans restaurant. The owner of the marina, George, was away on a jet ski cruise on the Tennessee River.  Bob lived in a double-wide trailer on the property; George and Hazel lived in another like it.      The road into the marina was one lane, a mile or two of poorly paved and unpaved road.  The marina itself was unbelievable; it was large, rambling, and very interesting.  It looked like it had grown back up into the creek (Ginat Run, which probably meant Ginat Creek) with additional sections added at different times.  George and others probably built it themselves, and it was all covered and floating.  Bob showed us where the water line had been on a recent flood, and he said the whole marina floated up to that point (up 25 - 30 feet?).  There were some interesting boats there, and I saw one 57-foot Carver.  The entrance to the creek was shoal and tricky.  Mayflies were everywhere. Franklin Furnace to Marietta, OH, Friday, June 29, 2001      Early morning was foggy and humid.  When we pulled out of the creek I could not see the opposite bank of the Ohio River.  It did clear rapidly, but the day was hot and humid.      I wanted to get to Eddie’s Marina in Hockingport, OH for the night, since our Quimby’s guide said they had diesel fuel.  Since that was 140 miles away, we started early (7:30am) and planned to run late.  When I finally reached someone on the phone at Eddie’s, they said they didn’t have diesel fuel.  The Marietta Municipal Harbor suggested I call the Marietta Boat Club for a slip for the night; they were full.  Mr. Ron King also offered to help with finding a diesel delivery truck, and we eventually arranged that for early Saturday morning.  Marietta was 27 miles beyond Eddie’s.      So, we ran 167 miles, arriving at 8pm.  The Marietta Boat Club couldn’t help us with a slip, but a cancellation at the Municipal Harbor provided us a berth there (Mile 172 RDB).  The marina personnel and the others at the dock were very nice and friendly.  The slip was $35.25 for the night.      Along the way, we stopped at the Huntington, WV Yacht Club and bought 50 gallons of diesel at $1.799 per gallon.  Mr. Bruce Sprouse and his wife, Beth, were very helpful.  Their pump had some air in it, so the delivery was slow.  At Mile 317 we had moved upstream to the point of having WV on our starboard side instead of KY.      There were three locks for the day: the Robert C. Byrd (up 23 feet), Racine (up 22 feet), and Belleville (up 22 feet).  Our elevation was 582 feet; our lock total was 12.  Total miles at the end of the day were 793 in 7 days.      At Marietta Harbor I found the two chart books for the upper Ohio River that I had been unable to get in Houston, so I purchased one of each.  We ate on board and prepared for our 8:30am appointment with the diesel delivery company. Marietta to Toronto, OH, Saturday, June 30, 2001      We passed the Marietta Boat Club on our starboard side as we moved up the Muskingum River to get fuel.  A lady called me on the radio and warned me away from some shallow spots on the side.  We chatted a while about the fact that we were from Houston, TX.  Mike and Ginny Swartz used to live there in Marietta before being transferred to Houston.  Did we know them?   Yes, we had spent the fourth of July with them in New York City in 2000.  The lady was on Daily Double, a Sea Ray 286.      Dale Schaad met us at the ramp up the river a couple of miles, and we filled up with diesel and agreed to fill up again on the way back.  He was willing to work any day but Sunday.  Then we descended the Muskingum River and went upstream on the Ohio again.      The Muskingum River was reportedly navigable for 90 or so miles upstream towards Cleveland, OH.  Its history is interesting for boaters and canal buffs, as it was initially a canoe route for Indians coming to and from Lake Erie with only an eight mile portage.  In the1830s it was canalized and 11 locks were installed.  Over the years it has undergone several changes, and the State of Ohio now operates the waterway exclusively for recreational boaters.      At the mouth of the Muskingum, near the harbor where we stayed, were several large paddle wheelers and a museum dedicated to the steamboats and to the area’s past.  Marietta was the oldest settlement in the old Northwest Territory, having been settled in 1788.  It looked like an interesting town to walk around.      At 10am we were in the Willow Island Lock (up 20 feet), and the lockmaster waited for 7 smaller boats to catch up and join us.  They were     from the Marietta Boat Club, including Mike and Chris on Daily Double.  They were going upriver for the weekend, and their destination was the same marina as ours.  Not that we ran together; they were too fast for us.  But they stopped for lunch, so we all arrived about the same time, 5:30pm.          We also went through Hannibal Lock (up 18 feet) and Pike Island Lock (up 18 feet), bringing our lock total to 15.  The weather was hot, humid, and cloudy; but a nice breeze was felt when moving.  We saw numerous power plants, usually coal-fired, and some other plants, including steel and chemical plants, some operating and some idle.  Occasionally we passed the location of an old lock and dam; sometimes there was an old building preserved there on the bank of the river.  Often the lock itself had been removed to a depth of 15 or so feet, but sometimes there was at least one wall remaining.       Our destination was Skipper’s Haven Marina in Toronto, OH (Mile 60 RDB).  We plugged in to 30-amp power, and we met Fred and Martha from Marietta and helped them tie up.  Our slip fee was $35.      We borrowed the marina’s loaner car, which was memorable if not dangerous.  Angela said it was more than 20 years old, and it may have been.  It was a Chevrolet station wagon with no air conditioning.  When I started to roll down the window, the glass fell forward on a crazy angle.  By holding it upright while rolling it down, I was able to get a breeze.  Neither Angela nor I could get her window down at all.  Angela encouraged me to see if the brakes worked, as we went up and over the railroad tracks and down and under a highway bridge and over a small stream.      Our destination was Stacey’s IGA market.  After buying our groceries, we asked about restaurants in the town.  Basically they recommended the marina where we were, so we ate there.  The waiter had peroxide hair and an earring in each ear, and he had no training at being a waiter.  He couldn’t get a thing right.  It was Saturday night, and a live C & W band was to start at 10pm.  They didn’t have enough help, and the place was packed.  There were no no-smoking areas there, so we ate outside on the wood deck overlooking the river. Toronto, OH to Pittsburgh, PA, Sunday, July 1, 2001      We pulled out a little after 8am, leaving Mile 60 and heading for Pittsburgh.  At 8:45 we were in New Cumberland Lock (up 17 feet), the last lock on the Ohio River with floating bollards.  At 10:30am we went up 17 feet in Montgomery Lock.  The lockmaster held a rope with a hook on its end, and Angela put a loop of our 100-foot rope on the hook.  The lockmaster pulled the loop up and placed it on two hooks, or bits, spaced about the same distance as the two cleats on the boat.  As the boat rose in the chamber, Angela took up rope, having the other end cleated and stationary.  Those last three locks were also smaller: the large chamber was 600 by 110 and the small one was 360 by 56 feet.      We passed numerous power plants, chemical plants, and steel mills; some of each kind were obviously shut down and/or abandoned.  The loading and unloading and transporting of coal was a major activity on the Ohio River, and later on the Monongahela River.  The number of tows with barges was less than we had encountered on the Mississippi River, it seemed to me.  We generally had no delays at locks caused by waiting on towboats, except at McAlpine Lock, where the small chamber was no longer in use.  (We did have delays waiting for towboats on the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers, though, since those locks usually had only one chamber.)      At noon we went up 13 feet in Dashields Lock.  About 1pm we were in the last lock on the Ohio, Emsworth Lock.  A delay occurred there, and a thunderstorm was developing as we departed the lock.  It was behind us long enough for us to get to The Point in Pittsburgh (where the rivers Allegheny and Monongahela meet to form the Ohio – Three Rivers, they’re called) about 2pm.      There’s a park with a water fountain at The Point, and we got some photographs.  Three Rivers Stadium was torn down a few months earlier.  The new football stadium was called Heinz Stadium, and construction on it was almost complete.  PNC Park was there, too, on our left across the river from The Point.  That’s where they play baseball.  Heinz is for catsup and other food products; PNC’s a bank, I think.  Pittsburgh is also home to PPG, a plate glass (for windows in office buildings) company.       By the time we got near Allegheny Lock No. 2 (there was no number one on either of those two rivers upstream of Pittsburgh), it was raining hard.  We were behind a tow with two loads, two singles barges.  Since the lock only had one chamber, which was only 56 by 360 feet, he had a split load.  We waited over an hour, and then motored over to our marina.  We could see it from below the dam, but we couldn’t get to it.      While waiting for the lock, the generator quit.  There was a lot of trash in the Allegheny River, so I checked the sea strainers for the generator and the air conditioners.  The a/c’s had also quit, and Angela wasn’t feeling well.  The sea strainers were clear, and everything returned to normal after a while without any help from me that I could tell.      Aspinwall Marina was named for the town, or area, of Aspinwall where it was located (Mile 7.2 RDB AR).  It consisted of two docks parallel to the shore with a fairway between the docks.  Boats were tied up on both sides of the dock on the river side of the fairway, and our slip was the furthest upriver from the office and gas dock.  A ramp led from the gas dock up to a foot bridge 15 – 20 feet above the water and over to the office.  The dock was made of 20 - 30 floating sections, each roughly 50 feet long and 5 feet wide, floating on drums or barrels, and connected at the ends with a rubber mat nailed down over the junction of the two sections.      Thirty-amp power was the only power option available, but it seemed we could pull 40 – 45amps through the air conditioning cable most of the time.  A couple of nice guys, Dennis and Tom, helped us tie up to the dock about 4:30pm.  I walked over to the town to check it out while Angela rested.  Later, Angela and I went over and checked out the laundromat, and then ate at Buck’s, a local steakhouse.  It had a no-smoking area, which was full.  The smoking area was empty, so we sat there. Lay Day, Pittsburgh, PA, Monday, July 2, 2001      The lockmaster at Allegheny Lock No. 2 had given us two copies of a notice regarding the fireworks planned for the rivers at The Point on July 4.  We asked around and were concerned about trying to go down there and back through that lock where we had already been delayed.  The chances of being delayed and/or damaged by collision with another boat were very high, according to Tom and Dennis.  They recommended we watch the fireworks on tv, or go early Tuesday morning and dedicate two full days to the fireworks.  Also, I had planned to go up and down the Allegheny River on Monday and Tuesday, but I found that three of the upper locks were only open on weekends.  We decided to change plans.      First, we weren’t going anywhere on Monday.  Angela informed me she didn’t want to wash clothes in the evening; she wanted a day to do it and also to clean the boat.  So, Monday was the day.  We walked over to the laundromat with our three little carry-on suitcases (with wheels) full of laundry, washed and dried and folded the clothes, and had lunch at Buck’s.  We ate outdoors, on the patio; and it was cool in the shade.  We learned later it had been about 50 degrees for the overnight low and even lower in the northern suburbs.      Angela cleaned the boat, and I helped and typed on my notes for the trip.  I found a guy to come wash the boat.  We bought a few groceries.  It was a nice day, with the brilliant blue sky and bright sun that accompanies the passing of a cold front.      Mark and Sue McClymonds and their daughter, Megan (age 4 months), arrived about 6:30pm.  They live in the area, just north of Pittsburgh.  After visiting a while on board, we all went to a nearby restaurant and had a nice dinner.  Megan was good as long as she could stand it; then she was tired.  We enjoyed the evening very much. Pittsburgh to Millsboro, PA, Tuesday, July 3, 2001      Our new plan was to skip the fireworks at Pittsburgh and try to see all of the Monongahela River, then see the Allegheny.  We went down through the Allegheny Lock No. 2 and down to The Point, and then we turned upstream into the Monongahela River.  Soon we were able to plane off, and we passed a couple of interesting amusement parks on our starboard (LDB) side.      The weather was spectacular, after the cold front of Sunday afternoon.  The overnight low in Pittsburgh was a record  of 47 degrees, and the high Tuesday was about 73 degrees.      Lock No. 2, at Braddock, PA, Mile 11.2, had two chambers, one with dimensions 720 by 110 feet, and the other 360 by 56 feet.  There were no floating bollards on the first three locks (2, 3, and 4).  Angela did the rope trick again, and soon we were up 8 feet and on our way.  The debris inside and outside the lock chamber would make you think about how to navigate through it, but we experienced no problems.      At Mile 15.8 on the RDB we pulled into the dock at the Mon Valley Boat Club about 10:30am.  Our friend, Robert, had driven his car from North Carolina to meet us and spend a few days on the boat with us.  We communicated by cell phone, and he pulled in right after we did.  The members graciously allowed Robert to leave his car there for a few days, and we shoved off and headed upstream.      The lower Monongahela River was industrial, like the Ohio River just below Pittsburgh.  We saw coal in barges being pushed by tow boats up and down the river.  We saw coal “tipples” on both sides of the river.  We saw coal being dumped by truck and loaded into barges, and we saw coal in barges being unloaded into trucks.  It looked like a perpetual motion machine where the coal was constantly moving and everyone was getting paid to move it in a circle.      Lock No. 3 was also a lift of 8 feet, and also had no floating bollards.  Its location was Mile 23.8, Elizabeth, PA.  The two locks, 3 and 4, had two chambers of 720 by 56 feet and 360 by 56 feet.  Lock No. 4, at Belle Vernon, PA had a 16-foot lift, but no floating bollards.  We were delayed 30 minutes at Lock No. 4.  All of the remaining locks on the Monongahela had floating bollards, but only one chamber, except Maxwell, which had two identical 720 by 84-foot chambers.      One of Maxwell’s chambers had been damaged by a tow and barges, so the Corps of Engineers had several large pieces of equipment there making repairs to it.  Delays were forecast, and we had to wait for 2 hours.  We were told we would have to wait for still yet another tow that came up behind us right before it was our turn to go in, but the lockmaster felt sorry for us and gave us a quick lift.  The towboats come first, and what they want comes first.  I asked two different tows on two different days and rivers if they would allow us to go in front of them, and the answer was “No” both times.     The lift at Maxwell was 20 feet, and the floating bollards were on both sides of the chamber.  At all the rest of the Mon River locks the bollards were on one side only.  We recognized that each floating bollard had a steel “chimney” at the top of the lock, apparently designed to allow access to the bollard when it was all the way up yet cover that opening and prevent someone falling into the hole when the bollard was down.  So, we could tell where the bollards were by observing the locations of these “tops” on the lock walls.  I think it was also true they were always on the land side of the lock.  The operators at the locks with hooks usually dropped the hook and line on the land side, since that was where their offices and gear were located.      The diesel truck we had arranged to bring us 400 gallons of diesel at Millsboro sat at the marina and waited for us a long time, but we called and told them our status frequently.  Maxwell Lock had told us to be prepared for a three-hour wait.  We did get through after only two hours waiting.  The marina said they had a 300-gallon tank, so we asked them to leave that much for us.  When we got to the marina, it was 6pm and everyone was going home.  We used their courtesy truck to go to Fredericktown, PA and had dinner there.  It’s a good thing we went early; the restaurant closed at 8pm. Millsboro, PA to Morgantown, WV, Wednesday, July 4, 2001      At 8am we started transferring diesel from their tank, brought alongside by fork lift, to our starboard tank, and then by our transfer pump to the port side tank.  We pulled out at 9am, went 0.01 miles down Ten Mile Creek, and turned right into the Mon River (Mile 65 LDB).  Thirty minutes later Angela discovered a flood in the galley.  A hot water line under the sink had pulled out and was pouring hot water onto the shelves there and the galley floor.  We shut off the water pump and hot water heater, and she cleaned out the soggy stuff under the counter.  Once we could see what had happened, Robert took some tools and put the line back into its fitting and tightened it down.  It worker fine after that.      At Mile 82 we came to Grays Landing Lock (up 15 feet).  Point Marion Lock was next (up 19 feet, after a 25-minute delay) at Mile 90.8.  Next was Morgantown, which was a little upstream of downtown.  We thought of stopping there to see a friend, but there were no docks of any kind on the river.  The lock was located at Mile102 and provided a lift of 17 feet.      The last two locks were usually only open from 8am – 4pm, but they planned to be open until 11pm since it was July 4.  We cleared Hildebrand Lock (up 21 feet) at 2.15pm, Mile 108.  The last one, Opekiski Lock (up 22 feet) was at Mile 115.4.  From Mile 82 to Mile 115 there were 5 locks and dams, and each one seemed to have a higher lift than the one before.  The gradient in the river was getting steeper as we went up.        We stopped at Six and Plum Marina and Campground, Mile 112.5, LDB, to get drinking water, since we were basically out.  We thought we might just anchor in the uppermost pool, or we might come back to Six and Plum.  It was 3:25pm when we cleared the last lock and experienced the highest elevation of the trip: 857 feet above sea level.  I believe that’s the highest elevation in the eastern North America it’s possible to obtain in a boat coming from the ocean by water.  We had been told that distinction belonged to the Trent Severn Waterway, where the highest elevation reached 840 feet, but this was higher.      At Mile 128.7 we came to the headwaters of the Monongahela River.  Upstream were the Tygart River to the left and the West Fork River to the right.  The West Fork was navigable for about a half-mile; we could see that far up the river.  The Tygart was navigable for 2.3 miles, and its waters were the pretty green color of the ocean at Panama City, FL.  We went up the Tygart, very slowly, as the river was narrow and congested with small boats and lined with camps and houses.  Fairmont, WV was a good-sized town just downstream.      The chart indicated where we might find 9 feet and more as a white color on the page; less than 9 feet was light blue.  We were wandering around the center trying to find 9+ feet; sometimes it was more and sometimes less.  We would read 9, then 6, then 14, then 5, then 8, etc.  Finally we saw the Interstate79 bridge that was shown on the chart at the end of navigation, and we decided we had come far enough.      We turned around and went back down to Six and Plum, which had a mailing address of Morgantown, WV.  Mike, who owned the place there, told us those shallow spots in the Tygart River were rocks!  He said he had been up there when the water was low and clear.  There were rocks in there as large as his car!  Thank goodness we didn’t hit one.  We ate on board and slept well, although we were tied to a dock perpendicular to the river with one line that I saw holding it to the upper bank.  It had no cleats, and we tied to the dock through holes where the deck boards were missing.  Mike charged us $10 for the night, and we ran the generator.      It didn’t take much to be called a marina in those parts.  And a yacht club was usually only a little larger.  There were a lot of “boat clubs” in that area, with the work of upkeep and operations generally supplied by the members. Morgantown, WV to Millsboro, PA, Thursday, July 5, 2001      I realized we had neither heard nor seen fireworks on July 4, but I was satisfied anyhow.  We had accomplished one of my goals: to see the upper limits of the Monongahela River and its tributaries.  On Thursday we started retracing our path toward the diesel truck at Millsboro.  That time we waited on him for about three hours.  If he had come sooner, we would have moved on down the river.  But he didn’t, so we used the loaner truck and ate in town again.  Not that the food was great; it wasn’t.  But Angela didn’t have to cook, and we got to experience some unusual dishes.  Like Veal Marsala with breaded meat and onions, bell peppers, garlic, and butter.  Like pecan pie with chocolate chip pieces in it.      The marina at Millsboro was called Engle’s Holiday Harbor, and they had a reputation for quality work and service.  We met three generations of Engles: Robert, the youngest, who moved the diesel tank to our boat and filled us up; John, Robert’s father, who arranged the fuel for me over the phone; and Bill, John’s father, who lived alone on an old riverboat stuck back in an indentation of the creek bank.  They were all very pleasant to meet and work with.  Their store had three lines on the outside wall showing flood levels from three recent years.  Two were 4-5 feet above the parking lot, which was 10 or more feet above the creek.  The other line was 15 or so feet above the parking lot, into the second floor of the offices.      We noticed a big difference in the way the VHF radios were used in the Ohio River system.  Locks and towboats, and everyone else, used channel 13 for hailing and for discussions.  This was a problem at times, when a lockmaster was telling you something and two tows were discussing how to meet or pass each other.  In other areas, channel 13 was used for the tows, channel 16 was used for the pleasure boaters and everyone else for hailing and emergency only (discussions were held on alternative channels by mutual agreement), and locks and bridges used channels 12 and 14.  In PA, we heard many conversations on channel 16, and all hailing was done on channel 13.      We also noted that lockmasters tended to wear a floatation device, usually a series of three floats with webbing to make them into vests.  Often the straps were not properly attached, and the floats looked pretty small.  The name of the lock was often stenciled on the orange cloth cover of the float.  They never asked us to wear life preservers, though.  Most locks in and around Pittsburgh had signs prohibiting smoking during locking, but some of the lockmasters ignored the requirement as far as they were concerned.  Cigars were in evidence in several of the locks. Millsboro to New Kensington, PA, Friday, July 6, 2001      By 8:15am we were underway, although we had not been able to unstop the forward head.  Ten Mile Creek was full of mud and debris from the rains of the previous day and night, but the Mon River was pretty clear.  We had no delay at Maxwell Lock, and we were out of there just after 9am.      We ate lunch on board and dropped Robert off at the Mon Valley Boat Club about 1pm.  He thought he would drive to NC that afternoon.  It had been a good visit with him.               We went through one last lock on the Mon and were back in Pittsburgh at 1:30pm.  It was a nice day for taking pictures.  We went through the Allegheny Lock No.2 with no delay, but the river above that was full of small boats, marinas, yacht clubs, houses and camps, etc.  It was difficult to make any time at all, since a small wake from anyone’s boat rolled right through those unprotected marinas and rocked all the boats.  We were delayed one hour by a split load at Lock No. 3.  When we reached our marina for the evening, we had covered 19 miles from Pittsburgh in four hours.      We stayed at Lighthouse Landing Marina, where Butch and Tommy fixed us up with 30-amp power and water from three hoses in series (Mile 19, LDB).  Then we chatted with Dan Riggle, who was one of the owners, he said.  Dan was neat; he was a boater who had traveled a lot, like we had.  His parents had cruised a lot in one of several Hatteras yachts they had owned.  He said there were always complaints about strong wakes whenever a large boat came up the river, and he thought a lot of it was jealousy.  He said you’d have to pass a marina in neutral gear to avoid rocking the boats, and that was sad but true.  He showed us around his friendly marina, and we met some of the others who kept their boats there.  It was a very likeable place.      They had a snack shack up on the hill, a small trailer with a good cook inside, who was cooking NY strip steaks, which looked great.  We had already prepared our steaks, so didn’t eat there, but it was inviting. New Kensington to Schenley, PA, Saturday, July 7, 2001      We left the marina at 9am, starting to slow down now that the end of the trip was getting close.  We went through Locks 4, 5, and 6 with very few problems.  At Lock 7 we were there 10 minutes before they opened at 12:30pm.  The upper locks (7, 8, and 9) closed at 8:10pm also.  By 3pm we had moved through all the locks and were in the upper pool, elevation 822 feet above sea level.  Each pool was narrower than the last, but each was packed with boats, houses, swimmers, etc.  Lots of people were out with friends and families enjoying the water.  We saw lots of tents and campfires, too.      At Mile 72 we reached the end of navigation on the Allegheny River.  Our depth meter was giving readings of 5 and 6 feet at that point.  We turned around and missed all the underwater rocks.      At Lock No. 9 we heard about a couple in an unusual craft who had brought their boat by trailer from the western end of the Erie Canal to East Brady, PA (near the upper end of navigation on the Allegheny River) and put it in the river there.  That struck a chord with me and I remembered sending a couple of emails to the Captains Irwin in Leesburg, FL.  He had said he would be doing that, but East Brady meant nothing to me until that afternoon.  I had said I would be looking for them as they went down the Ohio River, which is where I thought we would see them on their way down to FL.  We had passed them and not seen them; they were a couple of hours ahead of us.      For the balance of the evening I was on the lookout for the 28.5-foot Adventure Craft they called Tara Belle.  We never saw them, and by the time we tied up for the night I thought we never would.  I was tired by that time; we had come through 10 locks that day.  Mr. Jerry Ashcroft was very nice and helpful at Schenley Yacht Club (Mile 31, LDB), adjacent to the old Schenley distillery.  From 8:30 to 9:30pm he and I tried to get the 50-amp, 220-volt “stove plug” connection they had there to work for us, but the a/c just wouldn’t come on.  I stowed our shore power cables; and we ran the generator, ate a quick dinner, and went to sleep. Schenley to Pittsburgh, PA, Sunday, July 8, 2001      I let Angela sleep late; we didn’t have far to go that day.  We left the marina at 11:30am and fell in behind a couple of houseboats headed for Lock No. 5.  They held back so far I was afraid they wouldn’t make the lock, but we all did, filing in and out of the lock in the order we arrived at the lock.      Leading the pack, at the front of the lock, was Tara Belle.  We got to see them and chat with them after all.  We saw them in several locks after that and chatted on the radio as well.      Several of the boats in that lock with us peeled off and stopped or slowed down for a while.  We passed Tara Belle while waiting for Lock 4 to open for us, at his suggestion.  Just downstream of Lock 4 we passed a houseboat named JUSTAVACATION.  They turned right sharply, and I thought they were stopping like some of the others had done.  There was a break in the line of small boat marinas that lined the river, and I accelerated to get around the houseboat.  One of the passengers went into some exaggerated motions with his arms and legs indicating we were going too fast.  Later, the same guy called us on the radio and told us to slow down ahead; there were 4-5 boats rafted up together.  We had seen them and did slow down, as was our custom.  The guy on the houseboat wanted to harass us, I guess.      At Lock No. 3, the houseboat notified the lockmaster that we had done some damage to some boats upriver, due to our excessive speed and wake.  The lockmaster notified River Patrol, who were standing by just below the lock.  We were the first boat out of the lock, and we went directly over to the River Patrol craft.  A very polite lady spoke to us and took our name and address.  She seemed not to know who had complained against us, but the Lock 3 lockmaster had told her to speak with the houseboat.  She did, while we waited; we could not her their conversation.      She came back to us and said the houseboat denied saying anything about us; it was someone upstream.  Then they left.  I called the lockmaster later and asked him if he had received a call from someone upstream, and he said no, it was the houseboat. I thought of Dan’s comments.  Maybe I should have called the houseboat on the radio before I passed him; he seemed to resent our passing them.  They apparently wanted to cause trouble for us without being involved themselves.  The river was wide enough to pass a couple of towboats and barges, but there were just a lot of little boats on it.  Captain Irwin said he saw the whole thing, and we did nothing wrong.  Anyway, we have not yet heard any more about the incident.      We were back in our spot at Aspinwall Marina at 3:30pm.  We went into town and did laundry, cooked on the boat, and prepared to go home. Lay Day, Pittsburgh, PA Monday, July 9, 2001      I got up at 6am and changed the oil and filters on all three engines.  At nine we moved upriver to Fox Chapel Yacht Club (a really nice one) to meet a diesel truck and fill up with fuel.  I added algaecide to the diesel fuel to prevent algae build-up while we were gone.  By 10:30 we were back in our slip, and I was working on tip logs.  The marina mechanic, Bill, came by to help us with a few items and he did a great job on them all.  We got the ground wire moved so that turning on the running lights didn’t affect the port engine temperature and oil pressure.  (He said too many ground wires were tied together; there needed to be more wires from the gauges directly to a good ground.)  He got the shower sump pump to run again, and he replaced the worn out bilge blower.      I typed on the notes for the trip and called Yellow Cab to make a reservation for the airport trip.  It was a hot day, with no breeze.      Walking back from the office to the boat, I realized the person behind me was walking faster, so I stopped and turned aside to let him pass.  He didn’t want to, and we walked together and talked about cruising.  He had a 47-foot Harbor Master houseboat and had taken it to Knoxville, TN a few years earlier.  We talked about similar experiences in that area.  Bob Edgar was his name.      Our friends, Barry and Diane, came by at 6:30pm.  After visiting at the boat a while, we drove over to Buck’s and had dinner.  I had not seen Barry for a few months, and our wives had never met.  It was a very nice evening.      On our way back to the boat, we passed Bob Edgar sitting outside on his houseboat.  We stopped to talk, and I introduced Angela to him.  He asked how we were going to get to the airport, and I told him our plans.  I was worried the taxi driver might not find the marina, and he told me to knock on his window if the taxi didn’t come.  He would take us if we needed a ride.  I was very impressed with his generosity and kindness. Fly Home to Texas, Tuesday, July 10, 2001       The taxi did come at 7am, and the driver was a young man from the west coast of Africa with funny stories to tell us.  The taxi fare was $43, and we arrived about 45 minutes after leaving the marina.  Pittsburgh had a beautiful new airport south of the city.  We arrived home with no delays or problems, back into 95+ degrees F on a daily basis. We ended Trip 2 with these statistics: Miles    1,380 Running Hours   120 Running Days    15 Travel to/from the boat days    2 Lay Days    2 Total Days in the Trip    19 Generator Hours    93 Fuel Consumed    1,914 gallons Average Speed = 11.5 mph Average Fuel Used = 1.39 gallons per mile, or 16 gallons per hour Locks    54 Trips 1 & 2: Miles    2,630 Running Hours    212 Running Days    25 Travel to/from the boat days    3 Lay Days    7 Total Days in the Trips    35 Generator Hours    174 Fuel Consumed    3,709 gallons Average Speed = 12.4 mph Average Fuel Used = 1.41 gallons per mile, or 17.5 gallons per hour Locks    70         We changed the Racor filters on the CATS twice. We changed the oil and filters on all three engines twice.  We removed and cleaned and reinstalled the port heat exchanger to reduce temperatures in that engine.  We had repairs made to the autopilot, the aft deck lights, the shore power cables, the starboard tachometer shaft for the Glendinning, the aft shower sump pump, the port bilge blower, and wiring at the upper helm.  We added water to the batteries once, checked the sea strainers twice, and cleaned the air filters on the CATS once.      We anchored once in TX and once on the Tenn-Tom Waterway.  At Morgan City, LA we tied up to the City Docks, which was free, but we had no water or electricity, so it was like an anchorage in some ways.  Bobby’s Fish Camp in AL, Brandenburg Marina in KY, and Six and Plum Marina in WV were the same (no electricity or water) except they cost about $10 - 22 per night.  Schenley Yacht Club in PA had no electricity or water for us, and was free: Lighthouse Landing Marina in PA had everything and was still free.  Kentuckiana Yacht Sales provided us with a free slip with water and power in Jeffersonville, IN.  Holiday Point Marina in OH provided us with a free slip and Engle's in PA reduced the cost of the slip after we bought fuel from each of them.  Mike Fink's Restaurant in KY charged us $10 plus the price of dinner for a slip with electricity but no water.  We stayed in marinas the balance of the nights, with water and shore power.  Slip fees in those marinas ranged from $0.50 to 1.00 per foot per night, including electricity, except at Moors in KY and Aspinwall in PA where we had a flat rate based on a longer-term stay.