2005 CRUISE
TRIP 1 LOGS
Iuka, MS to Chicago, IL
April 28 – May 6, 2005

Houston, TX to Iuka, MS, Thursday, April 28, 2005

     Angela and I flew to Muscle Shoals, AL; and Kelly Byer picked us up at the airport.  He drove us to Aqua Yacht Harbor and loaned us his van to get groceries and dinner that evening.  We enjoyed the buffet at Pickwick Landing State Park.  The boat looked a lot like it did the last time I had seen it, which was a relief to me; and I was surprised that I was relieved.  I don’t know what I expected.

Lay Day, Friday, April 29, 2005

     We planned our trip to be there when the mechanics were there, in case we had a few last minute things to do.  We actually had many last minute things to do, as the service department had only begun to work on our boat in the previous two weeks.  Tom and Mark did not get to the boat until after 1pm on Friday, and Mark was gone for several long periods of time during the afternoon.  None of the fiberglass repairs were made, and the hum in the radio was not fixed either.  I had left a list in October, 2004; and I was disappointed that so many things remained unrepaired at that point in time.  They said they had been busy.

     We met two other boaters who were leaving on Saturday, heading down the Tennessee River as we were.  Mark from Indianapolis was with Bob and Dave on a 46’ Sea Ray, the fastest of the three boats.  Dick from Minnesota and his friend Jerry were on a 50’ Carver, and they generally ran faster than we did.  We agreed to leave about 6:30 the next morning, and they both planned to make Green Turtle Bay by evening.  I had always taken two days to get there, and I now know the reason why – the lock at Pickwick has been a huge delay for us in the past.

     We had emailed a couple from Arkansas who kept their boat at Aqua.  Gary and Coleen, on M/V Calypso Poet III, had done the Great Loop and had a cruising website like we had.  We arranged to meet and have dinner on Friday evening.  It was a very enjoyable evening with many interesting cruising stories about places we had both visited and several they had traveled that we had not, such as the Baton Rouge to New Orleans section of the Mississippi River .

     The weather forecast for Friday was not good, one reason the three boats were waiting for Saturday to depart.  Severe thunderstorms were forecast, and later that day a tornado watch was issued.  Despite that, it was a wonderful day for shorts and a short-sleeved shirt, and we had no rain until after 10pm that evening.  Then it poured, and we could hear the loud noise of the rain on the roof of our covered slip.  The cold front that passed through lowered the temperatures all over the eastern US, and we did not wear shorts again all week.

Iuka, MS to Grand Rivers, KY, Saturday, April 30, 2005

































     I got up at 5:30am, and we pulled out at 6:15am.  Mark on M/V BANGARANG was already underway, and Dick on M/V SOUVENIR fell in behind us.  I had called the lock and told them the three of wanted to go through the lock, and the lockmaster said to come on down, which we did.  The weather was overcast and cool, with light rain on and off all day.  The high temperature was in the 50s.

     SOUVENIR passed us near the lock, and we ran in that formation all the way to GTB.  We went through the lock with no delay, which was probably a first for me.  Usually I dread Pickwick and expect a three hour delay to go through that lock.  The drop was about 55 feet.  It was around 7:30am when we exited the lock.

     The other two boats ran at speeds above 20 mph, and we tried to keep up with them.  Mark would radio us if he slowed for a small boat or if he saw a log in the water.  It was like having a guide, which was very nice.  As we got closer to GTB, it occurred to me that they probably only had one diesel pump and hose, and that we three could not all fuel up at one time.  So it would be a good thing if our arrivals were staggered, and that’s about what happened. 

     That first photo is a picture of the beautiful Tennessee River, or Kentucky Lake, as we looked back at where we had been.

     BANGARANG arrived first and fueled up before SOUVENIR got there.  We arrived before SOUVENIR was finished and had to wait about 20 minutes.  We took 413 gallons at a price of $2.285 average (after BOAT US discounts).  We covered 200 miles in 10 hours for an average speed of 20 mph.  On that tank we ran an additional 50 miles back in December, so our fuel usage was 413 gallons divided by 250 miles, or 1.65 gals per mile.  The fuel price at Kentucky Dam Marina was the same as that at GTB, and the price at Aqua Yacht Harbor was about that same price when we filled up in late-October.







     We could not get into Patti’s restaurant, downtown Grand Rivers; and so we ate at the Commonwealth Yacht Club on the premises.  We did not like the place on our last meal there, but this time the food was excellent.  We went at 6:30pm and were almost through with our meal by the time the band started to warm up.  The place filled up and got so smoky that Angela had to leave before the rest of us– she could not breathe; but we had finished eating by the time she left.  I enjoyed getting to know the other cruisers; each of those guys owned his own boat.  Dick had done the Great Loop a few years earlier and had a cruising website.

Grand Rivers, KY to Kaskaskia River Lock, IL, Sunday, May 1, 2005

     All three of us were going in the same direction for at least one more day, so we planned to leave about the same time and run together again.  Mark was going to be delayed in picking up a guest between 6:30 and 7am, but his was the fastest boat and he could catch up.

     I got up at 5:30am and called the lock at Kentucky Dam. The lockmaster said he had several tows with barges below the lock, and they were waiting for fog to lift before they began to move upstream.  He said if we were there at that moment we could lock through, but the tows might start at any time, causing a delay for us.  Dick and I decided to go over there, but we were delayed by fog, particularly in the canal between the two lakes.  Dick’s radar was out, so we went slowly and he followed us closely to get through the fog.

     By the time we planed off to approach Kentucky Dam, the downstream tows had started to move.  So, we turned around and went back to Barkley Dam on the Cumberland River, just outside Green Turtle Bay Marina.  The tows with long barge strings didn’t use Barkley as often because the lower river is not as straight as the Tennessee River, so we had the lock and the river to ourselves.



     We dropped 57 feet and moved downstream in dense fog.  Dick followed us closely, and we were in and out of dense fog for about 30 minutes.  We ran 30 miles to the Ohio River, arriving at the intersection of the two rivers at 9am.  We arrived at the junction of the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers at 11:30am.  The two locks on the Ohio River were in the down position, so we did not have to make any locks on the Ohio River.  From the Cumberland River to the Mississippi was a distance of 58 miles.





     It was a clear, cool day, with a high of 61 degrees F.  We had a number of days like that, with some clouds but no rain for the balance of the trip.  It became cooler as we moved north, and the humidity was low as well.  That all provided delightful sleeping weather on the boat.

     We had been running with the current, and our speed on the Ohio River was about 23 knots.  At the same RPM we made 17 knots going upstream on the Mississippi River .  The water was pretty, and we did not encounter much drift, or floating trash and logs.  In fact, the water levels seemed to me to be down compared to “normal” for the balance of the trip.

     M/V BANGARANG stopped in Paducah briefly and then caught up to M/V SOUVENIR.  Those two boats stopped in Cape Girardeau, MO, Rush Limbaugh’s hometown, to get fuel; but we pressed on to the lock at Kaskaskia River in IL.  We passed Cape Girardeau about 2:30pm, and we planned to get fuel the next day at Hoppie’s in Kimmswick, MO.  The floating guidewall at the Kaskaskia Lock was a free tie-up for cruisers on a first-come basis.

     We arrived there at 6:10pm; and a couple on another cruiser, M/V NOMAD, moved their boat and helped us tie up.  We were able to help our two traveling companions when they arrived an hour or so later.  We ate on board, watched a movie on the DVD, and then turned off the generator to enjoy sleeping in the cool, dry night air.




Kaskaskia River Lock, IL to Illinois River Anchorage, Monday, May 2, 2005



     I was up at 5:30 and we left the lock guidewall at 6:15 in the morning.  We pulled into Hoppie’s at 9am and bought fuel.  M/V BANGARANG was behind us and caught up to us after buying fuel at Hoppie’s.  The price there was $2.30 per gallon less 4 cents for cash.



     As we approached St. Louis we exchanged positions with BANGARANG twice to enable us to get some pictures of our vessels.  The weather remained cool and crisp, with some clouds.  The arch on the river in downtown St. Louis was beautiful on that day.

 







     We followed BANGARANG into the first of two locks in St. Louis, and we went up a fairly small distance without much delay.  We also went through the Mel Price Lock with very little delay.  We realized sometime after that we had lost another fender, so we called Dick and asked him to be on the lookout for it.  Our two traveling companions planned to stay in Alton, IL for the night.  We pushed on to the Illinois River and twenty two miles upstream to an anchorage.



     I have always enjoyed the high rocky bluffs on the LDB (Left Descending Bank) of the Mississippi River above St. Louis, MO and Alton, IL.  I took a number of photographs there as mementos of that pretty afternoon.





     We anchored easily in a fine anchorage behind an island about 4:45pm.  We had put 10 running hours in that day and only covered 124 miles.  The reasons included the slow zones around the rock quarries in St. Genevieve, MO below Hoppie’s, the two locks, and the no wake zone through St. Louis itself, plus some time was spent taking photos of the two boats.

     I took a little nap before dinner, and we watched a movie after eating.  Our Direct TV service had not worked during Saturday and Sunday, and on Monday I called them and asked for help.  Eventually they “reauthorized” the signal to us so we could get TV service.

     At 2pm it was 55 degrees F at St. Louis, with North winds at 16mph and gusts up to 23 mph.  It was cold with some blue sky apparent between the clouds.

IL River Anchorage to Rome, IL, Tuesday, May 3, 2005

     Some places in IL had record lows over night.  Frost warnings had been issued, and the low in Urbana was 31 degrees F.  I was up at 6am, pulling up the anchor about 6:30 .  There was no mud on the anchor; the bottom was rocky.  However, I noted our GPS position after anchoring, and we did not move at all overnight.  Angela was not feeling well, so I let her sleep.

     The three photos below show three old, abandoned locks on the Illinois River .  The last one was the lock at Henry, IL, where we stayed in the lock in 2000.







     We went through two locks that day, one at LaGrange and one at Peoria, IL.  Both were wicket dams, so if the water had been high enough the dams would have been in the down position.  But they weren’t, and we were raised up about 3 feet at LaGrange, IL River Mile 80.  We “floated” through the lock, without tying up to the lock wall itself.  There was no delay in getting into or through the lock.



     The Peoria Lock was a different story.  A southbound tow with a double load was coming through Peoria, so we anchored and waited for an hour and 45 minutes.  M/V BANGARANG caught up with us right before we pulled up anchor, and Mark said that Dick had hit a wing dam just below the Mel Price Dam.  He had limped into the marina at Alton but needed major repairs to the running gear and was taking on water, possible through damage to the hull at the struts.  What a shame!

     The Illinois River locks did not use floating bollards but instead used a pair of ropes dropped to each boat by the lock personnel.  We had not noticed the change at the LaGrange Lock as we did not tie up.  At Peoria we went into the lock and looked for floating bollards and could not find any.  Then we noticed the lock person standing where he wanted us to be with a rope in his hand.  On the radio the lock would usually tell you which side to put your fenders on so that you could tie up on the side of the lock where they had their offices.

     We realized we had both made reservations at the same marina for fuel and a slip, so we proceeded to run together again.  I suggested that he lead the way, since his was the faster boat; and he did arrive much sooner than we did.  Our destination was Hamm’s Holiday Harbor Marina in Rome, IL.  Richard Hamm had just returned from his winter home in Marathon, FL; and he waited for us to arrive and filled our boats up with diesel.

     We arrived at 6:30pm and waited about 15 or 20 minutes for BANGARANG to finish getting 246 gallons of diesel.  Then we pulled into the fuel dock and got 469 gallons.  The fuel pump was slow; it was 8pm when we finished and got into our slip.  The marina was just getting going again for the year; not many boats were there, and Richard had to look for the switch to turn on the power at our slip.  It was not a fancy marina.

     We had a problem with our Glendinning cablemaster after tying up on the T-head.  The cable was cold and twisted, apparently, but it came out after we gave it a good push from the inside.  I had asked Aqua Yacht Harbor to check out the motor; they had replaced it a year or so ago.  Aqua said it was as good as it could get.  It did not seem to have the pulling capacity of the original motor.

     We did not have water at our slip, so we planned to back up to the T-head being used by BANGARANG after they left and fill up with water the following morning.  More frost warnings were posted for the night’s weather.  We ran the engines for 10 hours, but we were on the water for twelve hours due to anchoring at Peoria lock.  It was a long day.

Rome to Wilmington, IL, Wednesday, May 4, 2005

     I slept until 6am and moved the boat backwards to get water.  While we were filling up I decided to walk up to the head of the pier to drop off our garbage.  For the second time that morning I moved off the swim platform onto the dock, only that time I slipped and fell on my side.  Fortunately I did not slip into the water (the dock was concrete, about 2 feet wide).  I looked down to see why I had slipped and discovered that wet spot on the concrete was ICE!  I couldn’t believe it.  I had already pulled in our shore power cable, backed up the boat, hooked up the water hose, etc. and then fell on ice on the dock.  Well, it was cold; there was no doubt about that.

     I wasn’t hurt, so we filled up with water and left.  We did not see BANGARANG again; they were faster and had already left before us.  We headed upstream on the Illinois River.  At Starved Rock Lock we were delayed by a downstream double, so we anchored for about 45 minutes.  We dragged anchor though, as the bottom was rocky.

     That lock had the capability to move the first half of the double load out far enough for us to get around it and go up as they filled the lock with water to retrieve the towboat.  The tow backed up enough for us to get out and around him, so there was no real delay to the tow and a much faster turnaround for us.  We were lifted up about 19 feet.

     Above Peru, IL we called our friend Larry and attempted to see him, but he was not available.  We tried to get a photo of his marina (Starved Rock Marina) and his home in Ottawa, but I’m not sure I had the directions right on which house was his.  It was a delightful area on a high bank with a lot of trees in downtown Ottawa, IL – quite nice.



     At the next lock, Marseilles Lock, we were delayed about 45 minutes, up another 19 feet or so.  At Dresden Island Lock we had no delay except for the chamber draining, which seemed slow.  The ascent was slow as well.  We were there from 4pm until 4:45pm. 

     By 5pm we were at our marina for the night, Three Rivers Marina in Wilmington, IL.  We had stayed there in October, 2000; and Harry had cut off a mess of rope and wire on our prop and shaft.  Harry helped us get tied up and plugged into their 30-amp power, although he had broken his finger four weeks earlier and had his arm in a cast and sling.

     30-amp power in most marinas I have seen is not adequate to operate a “Smart-Y”, which we had bought and hoped to use to get 220 volts and 30 amps.  The pedestals seem to be wired from the same source so that we cannot get any current at 220 volts.  Harry and his helper set us up at the fuel dock near the channel, because it was shallow in their marina.  But we could not get any power there, so we moved deeper into the marina.  I was dredging a new channel for him, and he fixed us up with excellent power for the night by 6:30pm.  He used one 30amp circuit in combination with a different, separate 30amp circuit, both of which were made from heavy gauge wire.  We tried to blow the circuit breakers and were unable to do so.  Harry was one of the nicest people I have ever met.

     Angela grilled chicken, and we watched “The Hunt for Red October” on the television.  She had been sick all day, possibly with allergies.  It was Spring in Illinois, and new green leaves and flowers were sprouting all over the place.

Wilmington to Dolton, IL, Thursday, May 5, 2005

     I was up at 6am and underway at 7am.  I let Angela sleep.  We bumped several times on the way out of the marina but had no vibration when planning off. 



     We got to Brandon Road Lock at 8am, and I was handling the two lines by myself when Angela came out to assist me.  We were lifted 34 feet at that lock.  

     Next we went through Joliet, IL.  I called the first bridge that had to open for us.  I told the bridge operator how much we had enjoyed the bridges there on previous trips.  The four bridges usually opened in sequence just as you got to the bridge, indicating an efficiency and courtesy not usually found in those situations.  They really tried to perform well for us.  Angela set our digital camera to “movie” to try and give you some moving flavor of the bridges at Joliet.

Movie 1       Movie 2             

     The next lock was the Lockport Lock, and it lifted us 40 feet.  A towboat with 6 barges full of sand was already in the lock.  The lockmaster directed us to come forward and tie up to the front barge.  We did, and one of the men on the barge tied us off.  Then the towboat disconnected from his load and moved in behind us.  The doors closed, and up we went.  When the horn blew to depart the lock, the same man untied us and we moved out first.  That was about 9:30am .



     For the next two hours we were in the highly industrial canal section of the Illinois Waterway where the sides were used to unload, store, and reload barges with sand, gravel, stone, salt, and other bulk commodities.  The canal was about 4 to 4.5 barges wide, and generally there were two barges tied up on one side or the other.  That left room for a single tow and barge to move in each direction, which often happened.  That was a cramped, busy area that usually had a No Wake sign posted, and we had to go slow for more than an hour.  Even so, one towboat captain tied up at a chemical plant called me on the radio after I had past him to complain I had gone too fast – at idle speed!





     We passed storage spots for bulk products, industrial plants, power plants, dry docks, and side channels used for repairs to barges, etc.  We came to the one bridge that defines the height restriction for the Great Loop – a railroad bridge that no longer opens and has a clearance of 19 feet and one inch.  I had left my antennas down for the last several days, and for that bridge I also lowered my anchor light, and made it just fine.  There was one boat there, however, in the process of being dismantled.  The crew was taking off the flybridge in order to get under that infamous bridge.



     At the intersection of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal with the Cal-Sag Channel, we took the latter, more easterly route.  The sides were further apart and contained almost no industry, just trees.  The leaves on the trees were so sparse it almost looked like Fall, but the colors of the leaves were springtime greens.





     We went under numerous bridges, usually with heights of 24 to 25 feet.  We had some no wake zones, and it was slow going for a while.  We arrived at our marina at 12:30am; and we tied up, plugged in, and had lunch.  Marine Services Corp. was in the Village of Dolton, IL, a suburb of Chicago.  We were about nine miles and one lock away from Lake Michigan.  And we were as close as we could get on the waterways to Midway Airport in Chicago.



     The marina was located next to the largest landfill I have ever seen.  That didn’t cause any problems with smell, or anything like that.  But there were hundreds of birds feeding off the landfill, and they came to the basin where the marina was located to use the water there.  I wondered if they also flew over the boats.



     We walked up to the office and met Laura, who had made the reservation for us; Michael J. Walsh, the General Manager; and Marie in Accounting who had taken my credit card over the phone.  They were very pleasant people, and they made us feel welcome.  We got the name and number of a taxi company from Laura, and we called for a reservation for the next day.





     We went back to the boat, and Angela started cleaning and packing.  I got a little nap in, and then joined her in the cleaning.  That day the temperature was much warmer and briefly touched 80 degrees.  It was so dry we were constantly using skin lotion.

     We ate some leftovers for dinner; our food supplies had worked out very well.  We did not fill up with fuel at the end of the trip, which would have been my preference.  There was no place near our destination with diesel fuel.  We had run about 150 miles since our last fill-up with fuel at Rome, IL.

Dolton (Chicago), IL to Houston, TX, Friday, May 6, 2005

     We met the taxi at 10:30 and arrived at Midway about 40 minutes later – the fare was $30.90.  We caught a Southwest Airlines flight home at 12:45, arriving at 3:30pm.  Our plan was to return in the middle of June and take the boat to Toronto, Ontario, Canada and then to NY state.


Statistics for Year 2005 Cruise, Trip 1:

             Engine   Generator                 Fuel        Fuel        Run     Lay    Travel  Total
              Hours      Hours      Miles    Gallons     Costs      Days   Days   Days  Days  Locks

Trip 1       55            53          850        1437      $3253          6         1        2        9         9


Average fuel price was $2.26
Average gallons per mile was 1.92
Average speed was 15.4 mph
Running hours per running day was 9.2
Miles per running day was 142
Generator hours per running hour was 0.96