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