OHIO

10/18/08---Raised anchor at 7:45 a.m. Traveled down the Mississippi 7 miles and turned up the Ohio River at 8:15 a.m. What a change in water texture. The Ohio is so much cleaner that the water appears blue! The mile marker for the Mississippi is “0”, where the Ohio mileage is 981. What a site as we cruised past Cairo, Illinois. The barge traffic is awesome. There were lots of tugs working and they sure had priority as we slowed and changed course a few times to let them go about their work. As we travel along it becomes important to realize the state of Illinois lies on the port side and Kentucky on the starboard. We passed the Olmstead Locks & Dam that is under construction. There were numerous cranes working. It will eventually replace both locks 52 & 53. As we approached lock #53 the lock master said come ahead. The gate was open as we entered at 10:15 a.m. The lift was just 6’ and out the gate we went at 10:35. Having seen the old lock, it sure looks as though the new lock construction did not start anytime too soon! The next lock #52 worked equally great on timing. We arrived at 1:10 a.m. and entered immediately. The rise was 10’ and out the gate we went at 1:25. The lady tending the lock waved us on. I nicknamed skip "fender tender". He was very helpful putting out fenders anytime they were needed. Getting through the locks without any waiting time, allowed us to arrive at the mouth of the Cumberland River at 3:00 p.m. It was a little early but not enough time to reach Turtle Bay. We anchored by an island in about 4’ of water at mile 922. Today’s travel was 66 miles. Ran 11 MPH @ 3000 RPM. The sky was clear and the sunset over the water was beautiful.

ANCHORAGE (7 mile)

10/17/08---Another beautiful day as we pulled away from the Kaskaskia Lock and entered the Mississippi at 8:00 a.m. The current is about 5 to 6 MPH giving the Dream Manor about 15 MPH ground speed at 2900 RPM. The Yanmar engines seemed to hum with delight. There was a dredge cleaning the main channel. There was lots of sand spilling onto the shoreline. We talked to George Hill on the cell phone. He is traveling up river on his return back to St. Charles. Made arranges to meet on the radio as each of us are wanting to make several miles day and there would not be a good place to stop and visit. After several hours of cruising we spotted George in his 47’ Gibson w/ 110 HP Yanmars. Against the current he was only making about 5 MPH. We visited on the radio for a few minutes as we passed at mile 55 just above Cape Girardeau. It was 12:40 p.m. His wife was on the bow taking pictures of us as we were taking pictures of them. We met the Hills at the Gibson Plant last year in October. At that time we were all selecting carpet colors, drapes, counter tops, etc. They took delivery of their new boat this spring in St. Charles about a month before we got ours. George writes a delightful blog that we follow. We waved goodbye and continued down river to 7 miles from Cairo. Hoppies had told us there is a good place to anchor just above Hi Way 57 bridge. About 75 feet from the bank the water depth was still 6’. We selected a spot and sure were happy the plow anchor dug in and held us securely. The current was about 1.5 MPH as the boat was somewhat protected by a rock diversion dam protruding across in front of us about 100 yards. It had been a long day as we had covered 110 miles. Ran 15 MPH @ 2900 RPM. Arrived at 4:00 pm and took about an hour to get settled. The sweet potatoes cooked on the grill tasted good with the pork chops that Maryann and Dorothy had prepared in the galley

KASKASKIA

10/16/08---The two generator service people arrived about 9:30 am. After a discussion of the history on the unit they went through a series of checks looking for the problem. They discovered a cooling hose coming off the top of the engine was lying against a terminal. This terminal signals the panel if the engine gets hot. On the panel it can show up as LOC (loss of coolant). When that hose contacts the terminal for about two seconds it provides enough of a ground to kill the engine. What a fluke if this solves the problem! Tape was wrapped around the hose and then tie wraps were used to hold the hose away from the contact point. After the generator ran for an hour it seemed okay. We topped off the diesel tanks gleaning information from Hoppies himself. We thanked Hoppies for all his help and we started down river at noon. Getting a late start and learning there are not very many acceptable places to stay along the river, we planned to stop at the Kaskaskia River Lock & Dam. The sun shone brightly and the 41 mile trip was very pleasant. Having called the lock master before arriving, he directed us where to tie up. It was just 3:30 pm. There is a good long wall on the dam side of the lock out of the traffic. Skip walked about on the concrete, Gorvan rested while Dorothy excercised on the stationary bike. This is a good place about ½ mile off the Mississippi. The generator is still running and all is well.

HOPPIES

10/15/08---After living six months in the St. Charles, MO area it is time to head south. Some of the birds already left ahead of us! What a fine morning. Our neighbor Pete got up to see us off. As we backed out our slip looked lonesome. We departed the Woodland Marina at 8:00 am. The horn sounded loud when Keith pushed the button. It seemed important to announce that we were leaving. We made it to the Melvin Price Lock and Dam at 9:45 am. As we had called ahead, there happened to be no traffic and they had the gate open. One of our guests (Skip) looked good in a life jacket. As we exited downstream it was 10:00. Continuing down the mighty Mississippi the air began to feel cool and a jacket felt good on the fly bridge. It was exciting to see the Arch in St. Louis. Scott Bachman called to let us know he would be on the river bank watching for us. He does repair work on the elevators at the Budweiser plant. We watched closely downstream from the plant and with cell phone contact we spotted him and everyone waved goodbye. He was much too far away for a picture. The dark clouds began covering the sky. We had planned to make a short day and stay at Hoppies Marine just above the 158 mile marker . That was a good thing for it started raining steadily before we got there. The river is swift so we went just past the barges that make up Hoppies tie down facility & turned upstream to point the bow into the current. We tied up at 3:00 pm. The 74 mile trip was okay except the generator went down and would not stay running. Shore power was a blessing. There is a lot of motion from tugs going up & down the river. After the rain stopped, just about dark, everything outside was checked. As a result of the rocking up & down one of the fenders had worked loose and floated away. Calls were made to get service people lined up to check the generator. After a few card games a night’s sleep was great.

GATES

10/12-14/08---It has been another busy time as final preparations are made. Little John's Marine Service created gates in the rails at the stern. This provides a much needed access to the boat from the walkway. It has been a challange for short legged persons to climb over to access the engine compartment. John also spot welded the vertical supports on the bimini top. That will make it more difficult for a strong wind to cause a problem. The strainers for the engines and the three air conditioner units have been cleaned. ATF fluid has been added to the hydraulic steering system, transmimsion gear gear boxes were checked. Goodbyes have been said to several of the folks in the area. Scott Bachman sure wishes we would stay. We have made many friends in the local marinas. There was some added excitement today (Tues) waiting for the arrival of the guests who are going to make the journey with us to Green Turtle Bay. Maryann's Dad (Gorvan), Brother (Skip) & Step-Mother (Dorothy) arrived mid day. A trip to town to wash clothes and get groceries tops off the needs. A few games of cribbage and off to bed. We hope to leave by about 8:00 a.m. or a little earlier. More adventures are about to begin!

INSPECTION

10/11/08---Bill Morris with the Power Squadron came by to compete a courtesy inspection. He has thourghly checked our boat for all required safety equipment to make sure we meet Coast Gaurd approved regulations. He presented us with a "Vessel Safety Check" decal to display in the window.

MAIL

9/10-/08---A picture of Karen working hard at Bloch Marine Service. She has served well as our mail person. We have been using their address for nearly seven months. She gathers the mail from the box by the road and any packages delivered by UPS or FedEx. Then Karen calls to lets us know when we have someting to pick up. She has been very helpful and we sure wanted to say "Thanks".