Sept. 25, 2016 “Locking through” can have many different looks

By the time we complete The Great Loop, we will have cleared 106 locks! We are somewhere in the 90’s now. During our five days on the Upper Mississippi River, we cleared two locks in 218 miles... 2-4 hours of wait time at each. On our one day on the Ohio River we cleared another two locks in 47 miles and had another 2-4 hour wait each time. Today we are moving up the Tennessee River and we have one lock to clear before we arrive at The Land Between the Lakes. We've been told by the lock master to expect 2-4 hours of wait time...imagine that!  We hang fenders along both sides of the boat, since we don’t know until we enter the lock which side we’ll be directed to tie up to. The method of attaching to the lock wall in the rivers has been different from the previous locks. Since we entered the Mississippi River we have been looping a mid-ships line around a floating bollard and “making it fast”...securing it tight... to the boat. The boat and the bollard float up (or down) with the water level. The captain and crew get to take a rest from holding onto the line while watching to see that everything moves together smoothly. On our last lock, the sides were made of half-round barrels... no smooth sides.  We and two other Looper boats had to float in the middle of the lock and try to avoid each other and the side of the lock while the water came rushing in... no easy task.!

Locks are either 600' or 1200' long and 125' wide

Sometimes we lock through with a tug and tow. If it is a "red flag" however we are not allowed to be in the lock with them

This is a new lock being built to replace two of the older ones

As you can see this lock has no smooth sides to tie to

Some locks only move you 4', but this one took us for a  57' ride

Floating Bollard

Life Jackets are required in the locks

Created by Darcy O Campbell

September 25, 2016 How to Talk Tug

We have become so impressed with the authentic gentle spirit that emerges as the tug captains talk each other through tough situations. Remember that these professionals are responsible for a mega-tug, often 100 feet long, and an array of strings of barges... sometimes as many as 36-42. Not only is the contents of their barge tow worth alot, but these tug pilots have to maneuver through bridges and locks, around bends in the river and past other strings of tows night and day while maintaining speeds that get the job done in a reasonable length of time. Here are a few of those special conversations:

“I’m a single string of four. I’ll be meeting you on Hanging Dog Point. What do you need? Just tell me.”

“Don’t you worry. I’ll put it on the clutch...you give ‘er hell... and you’ll make it through the corner. I’ll keep my eye on you and we’ll do whatever we need to do.”

“I ain’t blowin‘ no fish out of the water, so come on ahead. I’ll be out of your way by the time you get here.”

“I appreciate your patience.”  “You bet!”

“I need to know what you need me to do for you.”

Lock Tender: "I've got a set of 8 to come southbound" (8 tugs/tows... each taking at least an hour! ) Northbound tug captain: Agh! I've got a little bit of a wait then. I'll put it "on the hill".... (push the barge onto the shore) and I'll wait for your call.

The pilothouse on this one goes up and down so that they can go through low bridges

Red Flagged barges are carrying hazardous materials.....usually petroleum products

Loading mulch

Tugs help each other to get parked!

Some of these big boys have as much as 10000 horsepower

The tugs go 24-7 so have complete living quarters on board....

A tug in dry dock...water is added to.the red thing so that it  sinks. The tug now can drive in. The water is removed from the dry dock and it floats up with the tug inside. Now the workers can do repairs to the bottom of the tug.

The tow on the hill.....pushed on to the shore to wait

Created by Darcy O Campbell

Sept. 20-24, 2016 The Upper Mississippi River: Grafton to Cairo, IL

 At the speed we travel, 12 mph with the current, it takes 5 days for us to travel the Upper Mississippi River from Grafton to Cairo, Illinois. Just outside of St. Louis, the Missouri River flows into the Mississippi River. At this point the water is noticibly more swirley, the tree debris carried along by the current is greater... whole trees, limbs, roots. The consistency of the water is like milk chocolate pudding!

Anchored along the banks of the river are rafts of barges...unattended, waiting. Over time, the tree debris that is heading downstream fetches up on the exposed leading edge of the barge set. We have seen the tangled mass of timber be 50 feet wide and 30  feet deep... enough firewood to heat a village of homes in Maine for the month of January! When it’s time to move the barges, a tug hooks on to each of the leading barges, and one at a time snatches them backwards. That motion causes the build-up of debris to spill off into the current. A neat trick, but eventually we pleasure craft have to dodge these dangerous obstacles as they pick up speed moving downriver.

The Mississippi River has scant dockage choices. Before we left Grafton, it was critical that "The Legendary" Fern Hopkins at Hoppies Marine Service in Kimmswick could promise that there would be room for us on her unusual dock... three 100 foot barges lashed together... she has the last marina /fuel stop for 228 miles!  At 4:30 sharp, the "briefing by Fern" began. She told us how to deal with tows, river currents, anchorages and locks on the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers as we enter Lake Barkley or Kentucky Lake. She cautioned us that the debris flowing by her place has also moved or taken out many of the channel markers. We were reminded to follow the dotted sailing line on our charts... not to follow the red and green buoys in the water. Many of them have been washed up on the shore, anyway.

With high daytime temps, 90+, and cooler nighttime temps, low 70’s, the mornings greet us with a fog bank that doesn‘t dissipate until the sun has warmed the air. We can’t count on getting underway before 9am. We are typically off and away by daybreak!

Debris build up in front of a tow

Grafton Harbor Marina

Pere Marquette State Park 

CCC rockwork

State Park Lodge

Locking through with two fellow loopers

Canoes and Kayaks locking through with us

Approaching St Louis

Fern giving her evening lecture on what to expect on our trip south on the Mississippi

Hoppies Marina.....the only marina on the Mississippi for 218 miles! A few old barges tied together!

The tows on the Mississippi are big......this one has 42 barges!

Kaskaskia Lock wall....the only safe space for a nights stay south of Hoppies

Created by Darcy O Campbell