Day 12 - Golconda, IL

Today started very unusual at anchor. We woke up to the most May flys on our boat that I have ever seen. I hosed some off for about 45 minutes before we left then Ricki hosed more of for the next six miles. Had to be bushels of the suckers. When we got to this marina and tried to plug into the electric, all that was available was 50 amp but I did have an adapter to convert it to two 30 amp cords. The bad news is that they must have a problem here because it fried my male adapter end which I was able to purchase at the marina store for only $116 then the spliter male connection fried so we are now running the genset. You can afford only so much fun before it ain't fun.

We shared dinner with our friends the 4 McGees on our boat this evening. They are on the custom 59 ft Gibson I mentioned before. Their boat is on the back cover of the current (September) issue of Heartland Boating and it is beautiful. Tomorrow we head into Green Turtle Marina and will stay for the weekend before starting down the Tennessee River. We plan to be at Joe Wheeler State Park around Oct. 11 or 12.

N 37 22.273 W 088 28.895

Day 11 - near Shawneetown, IN (on anchor)

Today we traveled a little over 60 miles and had planned to stop at the free dock in Mt. Vernon, but alas it was too small for us. Our new friends on the Gibson invited us to join them at anchor at OR 852. As we were leaving the main channel, I thought I had hit something in about 10 feet of water but after we tied to the Gibson we were advised that someone had butchered something on our swim platform. Didn't know Asian Carp had come into the Ohio River but we had noticed jumping fish all day. Another new experience but nasty to hose off.

Tomorrow we plan to go to Goloconda Marina just before Smithland lock and the Cumberland. Oh, by the way, fillup of diesel this a.m. and running around 10 mph (1700 rpm) we are close to 1.5 mpg. When we hit the Cumberland and slow down it should get much better. Price today was 3.34 gallon for 182 gallons.

Dinner tonight is a pitch in with our friends. They plan to put their boat on the hard at Green Turtle for awhile and are cleaning out the pantry. Lucky us.

Day 10 - Evansville, IN

Today is Ricki's birthday and according to a very dear friend who shall remain unnamed (scratch here to find the mystery man's name - Danny Wilfong) she is celebrating her 37th birthday, again and we are in Evansville, IN in a very nice marina. Two of the other boaters tied next to us have visited and it looks like we will be traveling with a 59 foot custom Gibson for the next couple days til we get to Green Turtle. There are two couples (brothers) on the boat and they have done most of the loop over the past few years. You meet some of the greatest folks on the rivers and hear some of the best stories.

Today we went thru 2 locks which now totals 9. When we left Rocky Point this morning it was a little different. Apparently overnight the water went down a little because when we went into the fuel dock for the night it was fine but this morning we were aground and had to work our way out. Good thing we didn't take on fuel or we would have had real trouble.

We are at Inland Marina N 37 57.2033 W 087 34.554

Day 9 - Cannelton, IN

Another day in paradise. Maybe we should rename this adventure "the good life cruise" since it is so relaxing and neat. The folks you run across on this trip are so genuine. When we got to Rocky Point Marina the owners greeted us and caught our ropes then told us if we needed anything just give them a call at home since they only live 5 minutes away. This marina is under new ownership and they are doing some neat stuff including fuel and pumpouts. We gave them an old 2005 Quimbys which they had never seen and they seemed very interested in getting a listing. This was a very short day (9:00 a.m. til 2:30 p.m.) trying to set up stops to get us thru the next few locks. We have now gone thru 7 locks with 3 more to go on the Ohio then turn down the Cumberland River with one more.

Marinas are few and far between in this stretch of river and the two we called for tomorrow night aren't in business anymore so it looks like another shot at being on the hook. If Bill Munday is watching ... could you get Diane to show use where you put the anchor light on the anchor so it doesn't get wet.

cordinates tonight N 37 54.893 W 086 40.315

Day 9 (8:45 a.m.) - still in BFE

Just looked at the blog comment from Jack last night and his observation of our location is right on the money. When we decided to spend the night on the hook, we started looking for a spot and decided to anchor behind Blue River Island. When we got there ... no island. Apparently has washed away so we picked a spot behind where the island used to be in about 22 ft of water. The wind blew and so did our anchor about 9 p.m. and we had to manuver around to avoid what might be remains of the island for another holding. The admiral elected the captain by proclamation to stand watch which I did until about 4 a.m. All is well this morning and we will be off to Rocky Point Marina in Cannelton, IN, 2 miles upstream from the dam, by 9 a.m.

Day 8 - BFE

Here's the latest scoop from Mr & Mrs Marco Polo. We left Heather's on the River just before 8:30 a.m. this morning and passed thru Louisville on our way to BFE. Don't have a clue where we are but would have had to go over 110 miles to hit another marina today. Do the math, 110 divided by 9 mph ... not enough daylight. So, here we are in BFE on the hook on the Indiana side of the river just out of the channel at 5:20 p.m. My sister has noticed that the blog time is off so don't get excited over it. Mrs Polo has already expressed her concern about wayward barges so I guess I will have to give her several adult beverages to calm her nerves.

Coming thru Louisville we passed by a beautiful 68 ft Jefferson that our friend in Buckannan is considering purchasing. Verrrry nice.

OK fourth graders, here's where we are tonight .... N 38 10.079 W 086 18.358. If you find us please let us know where we are. Just kidding, we are just east of Levenworth, IN so we really aren't lost.

Day 7 - Prospect, KY

Today we left Smugglers Cove Marina at 10:30 a.m. after filling with diesel and a pumpout. The trip to Heather's on the River (60 miles) was basically uneventful but with recommendations from the Lee Wigal notes in our Quimbys, the food was very good in the floating restaurant. Ater inquiring about a place to stay for tomorrow night, we met a charming local couple who would like to do this trip and spent the evening sharing stories. It looks like we will have to spend tomorrow night on the hook since there appears no marinas for the next 120 miles or so and we only do 70 miles per day max. With all the barges going by we will need to find something off channel if we want any rest at all.

Our cordinates tonight are N 38 24.895 W 85 36.983.

Day 6 - Warsaw, KY

Today we left Four Seasons Marina at 8:45 a.m. and traveled 66 miles to Smugglers Cove Marina in Warsaw, KY. This is the marina we used to make some transmission shifter repairs when we were bringing the boat home from Nashville a few years ago. The previous night along with Bill & Dianne Hanna we spent on the lock wall with a terrible storm raging all around us. Today we had 25 mph gusting to 45 mph wind on our bow all day resulting in 2 ft plus waves hitting us. The boat handled like a charm in those conditions but I wouldn't want a steady diet of it. I noticed a Hooters as we went thru Cincinnati and thought a breakfast boobie buffet sounded good but they were not open.

For those following us on Google Earth, the following web site provided by the looper group we belong to will give you a general idea of where we are. It is not totally correct since it shows us in the town of Warsaw but if you look a little to the left you will see a cove where the marina is located:

htp://greatloop.org/mod/aglcalocator/membermap.php?id=1213
Our actual cordinates tonight are: N 38 46.171 W 084 55.962

We got some pictures along the way today and will add them later.

Tomorrow after fuel and pumpout, we will head for Louisville and Heathers on the River Marina.

Day 5 - Still in Cincinnati

After 4 days on the river we decided to have a down day and run around on land. When I asked the Marina Dock Master where to rent a car, he said just take mine. It turned out to be a new Honda Civic and it was a very nice ride. After visiting Sam's where Ricki bought me a hot dog for lunch (big spender) we went through the ships store here at the marina and I think we touched everything in there. Tonight we ate at the "fancy" restaurant on the floating barge under the bar/club.

Tomorrow we will head down river again toward Louisville and plan to stay at the Smugglers Cove marina in Warsaw, KY. Perhaps we will see something to take a picture of to add some spice to this.

Day 4 - Cincinnati, Oh

Last evening was neat. Four boats from Cincinnati were heading north and had stopped at the marina. One gentleman was an ex-banker as well so you can figure where those conversations were headed. One of the ladies told a story about how she fell off the boat and between the dock at the fireworks in Cincinnati a couple weeks ago but other than a bruise or two, is fine. What happened to you Mrs. Hanna?

This morning we left at 8:20 a.m. under beautiful warm weather and headed for the only lock of the day, thank goodness. It seems that the big chamber was under repair and everything had to go through the small (600 foot) chamber resulting in a 3 1/2 hour wait to lock down. We encountered a lot of trash for several miles and about 5 miles from our destination we were treated to a strong thunderstorm that quit just as we turned off the river into Four Seasons Marina (N 39 04.980 W 084 25.768). Tonight we enjoyed eating in a real restaurant. We plan to stay a couple nights here and do some running around tomorrow.

Day 3 - Aberdeen, OH

Today was very uneventful. We left Holiday Point at 8:15 a.m. and arrived at Lively Lady Marina Marina this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. having travel just over 70 miles and through one lock just a mile from the marina (4 locks and counting). Don't know what or who is the "Lively Lady" but I think maybe they just named it that to attract business. Aberdeen is just under 70 miles from Cincinnati where we will stop tomorrow night. I forgot to mention that when we were coming through Huntington, WV a couple days ago, the Coast Guard came flying over toward our boat and I was sure we were in for a boarding however, they kind of looked at us and waved us off. I waved them "off" also as they left. Guess they were looking for something we didn't have.

The coordinates for tonight are N 38 39.367 W 083 46.059

Day 2 - Franklin Furnace, KY

Ahoy ....


Today we started our 89.4 mile run to Holiday Point Marina at 7:45 a.m. and arrived at 4:50 p.m. and filled up with fuel, ate dinner then settled in for the night. This will be one of the longest days we will have, I hope. 145 gallons to cover 155 miles. Guess we might have pushed a little too hard today!

Now the important part ... for Mrs. Hadley's class in Apex, NC, our coordinates tonight are N 38 36.952 W 082 51.138. Hope you can find us.

Tomorrow we will have about 70 miles to the next marina we plan to use.

Happy Birthday to our daughter Diane.

Finally ... We get started

After a great breakfast prepared by chef Paul at the yacht club, a flotilla of over 12 boats left the club shortly after 9 a.m. This was actually a day later than originally planned but due to a sternwheel festival where we had hoped to spend the first night, we decided to wait another day to take off. We were presented another passenger by commodore Charlie and his lovely mate, Lisa. Apparently the "Pink Panther" has been their cruising companion for over 17 years and has decided to now do the loop with us. The other 2 passengers for the trip are brother Darren and school buddy and past BYC commodore Don Best, who had always wanted to do this trip. We will release them with proper ceremony when we cross our wake next year. Our friends at the boat club have been fantastic with a bon voage party last Friday and breakfast this morning then following us to the first lock at Belleville, WV, a run of about 20 miles. We are presently at Pomeroy, OH (N39 01.619 W082 01.939). Tomorrow we will head for Franklin Furnace, KY, a run of around 70 miles. We will have gone through 3 locks so far on the trip with about a total of 150 to go.

8 Days & Counting

Saturday (9/18) is coming at us very fast and it seems we have many things to do still in the air. The good news is that we both had appointments with our cardiologist who gave us a good report. She did offer to do a "boat call" if we had any problems particularly if we happened to be in the Bahamas. I told her there were 2 conditions to being on board but she indicated that she could not cook.

Beside a few cosmetic items to deal with, one of the 3 air conditioners on the boat decided to take a leave and needs replaced. It is in the guest cabin so we will need to get it done soon. We have a boating friend that has an engineering background coming in this weekend to help program our inverter which ain't working right. We have had one on our previous boat and they are great when programed properly.

Next Friday our friends at the yacht club are having a bon voyage party for us and then several boats are going to go with us to our first overnight stop on the Ohio River at Pomeroy, Ohio. That will probably turn into another party.