Blennerhassett Yacht Club, Belpre, OH - 9/17/12

My sister joined us for our last night on the water and the 66 mile run to our home Yacht Club.

Mary

 We left at 8:30 a.m. from the courtesy dock at Pomeroy, OH and headed up stream.

Lock #172 - Belleville, WV

 We had two locks to go through today but our last lock was the longest wait we have had since the Tom Bigby River in 2010.  We got to the lock at 1:30 and was told the lock was only opening on the hour due to low water on the river.  Strange since we have gone through 13 other locks on the Ohio River and this is the first time this has come up.

Home at Last

 We arrived in Parkersburg at 4:15 and got to the club about 4:20.

Our Yacht Club

Temporary Parking

We tied the boat to the fuel dock for a few days until we get 2 years worth of stuff off of it.  We can drive our vehicles within a few feet of the boat which will make unloading much easier.

#11 - Tyler

However ... more important than unloading the boat or driving the 20 miles home was to go across town and hold our newest grandson that is now 2 weeks old.  We will come back tomorrow and start unloading.

This trip has been everything we had envisioned earlier.  The best part was the neat folks we have met along the way and I am sure that some of them will become life long friends. To share this trip and experience with my bride made it even better.

Our voyage was 8,714 miles from start to finish and we went through 172 locks.  Our blog has had over 50,914 views from all over the world and I hope you have been able to enjoy it with us as much as we have enjoyed sharing it with you.

This will be the last posting to the blog so appropriately I say ...... life is good !!

THE END

Pomeroy Courtesy Dock, Pomeroy, OH - 9/16/12

90 miles to our last stop before getting back home.  We waited until 8:20 to leave because the owner of the marina was looking for a gas cap for us and said if he found one he would be by at 8 a.m.  No luck.

Ironton, OH Flood Wall

 Another nice run up the Ohio ... We continue to pass pretty decorated flood walls and nice waterfronts.

Another nice waterfront

Huntington, WV

 Huntington from the water isn't much to look at.  When we passed the Huntington Yacht Club I slowed way down to eliminate any wake and was thanked on the VHF by someone there.

Stern wheeler

 We had expected to see a bunch of stern wheelers coming down river since there had been a stern wheeler festival of sorts at the Pomeroy waterfront but this was the only one that we saw.

Pomeroy Water Front

 When we got to the dock there was one stern wheel boat left .... Ruble's party boat was still there so we parked right behind it.

Danny, Mary, Ricki and Carl

A few minutes after docking my sister and her husband showed up and we went to dinner at the Wild Horse.  Mary is going to spend the night and ride back to Parkersburg with us tomorrow.

N 39  01.618   W 082  01.960

Holiday Point Marina, Franklin Furnace, OH - 9/15/12

To quote a famous song ,,, "By dawns early light"  we left the marina to head the 111 miles to Franklin Furnace.

Leaving Steamboat Marina

Another Nice Ride

 The day was a little chilly but the ride was nice.  We are seeing very few pleasure craft but a lot of barges. Now that the trip is almost over I will have a rough time when I get home and in the car and need to pass someone on the "two whistle".

House Over Looking River

Ricki's Balls

 Ricki cannot stand to have her balls dirty so she spent another afternoon cleaning them ... again!

Beautify the Flood Wall

 Most of the little towns we are passing have done some nice things along the waterfront.  A lot of them have parks that offer courtesy docks if you want to stop.

Eagle Nest?

Spotted this nest hanging on some wires holding a pipeline that crossed the river.

Another Nice Home

Entering Holiday Point Marina

 We passed through two more locks without waiting and entered Holiday Point Marina at 6:15 after another long day.

What is it

This thing was on the ground next to the harbor entrance.  Looked like a flying saucer to me.

Dock Party

We tied to a T-End after getting fuel and four of these guys caught our ropes.  It was obvious that the party had started some time ago and boy did they have fun .... had fun very late!!!

We borrowed the courtesy van and after stopping for a Big Mac, spent a few bucks at Wal Mart then returned to the boat.  This has to be one of the friendliest marinas we have been in on the trip.  This is our 3rd visit here and they even remember us. I don't think we ever did anything real stupid or hit another boat, but they remembered us anyway.

Tomorrow we head for our last overnight on the trip at Pomeroy, OH where my sister will hop on board for the final few miles to our yacht club.  It is kind of bittersweet to think it is over but we do want to get home to see the new grandson. (#11)

N 38  36.955   W 082  51.101

Steamboat Marina, New Richmond, OH - 9/14/12

Fog ... Fog ... we couldn't leave until 8:45 and still had to stop for fuel before resuming our flight toward home.  We picked our way out of the marina thanks to radar and GPS into the main channel for the 1 mile run to Turtle Creek Marina where we put in another 166 gallons of diesel.  At 9:40 we were able to leave and head north for 83 miles.

Kentucky Camp

 This just looked interesting ....

Cincinnati Bridges

 Late afternoon we started seeing signs of Cincinnati.

Downtown Cincinnati

Covington, KY

Football Stadium

Baseball Stadium

Christopher Columbus Replica Ships

I don't know if Chris would have approved to see his boats parked at HOOTERS!

Steamboat Marina (north)

Steamboat Marina (south)

We got to our marina shortly after 5 p.m., checked in and paid our $25 dock fee.

M R Ducks

Tomorrow we have a long run of 120 miles to Franklin Furnace, OH.

N 38  56.893   W 084  16.972

Smugglers Cove Marina, Warsaw, KY - 9/13/12

Since we had such a long day yesterday we planned a little shorter run today of 61 miles to Warsaw, KY so we didn't get started until 8:20 a.m.  Cruising up the Ohio River is non-eventful but still serene.

Approaching Markland Lock

 Our one and only lock was just a mile from our destination.

Smugglers Cove Marina

 We arrived at the marina at 2:30 p.m. and went directly to the fuel dock.  The diesel pump stopped working after only 34 gallons so we will have to find more fuel tomorrow before heading on toward Cincinnati.

Smugglers Cove Marina

 Our slip assignment was the same one we had 2 years ago on our way south, right beside a big Plunkebaum yacht that caught our ropes again this time.

Dinner

After scrubbing some of the dirt and grim from all the locks we cleaned up for dinner at the restaurant across the road.

After dinner we made a couple phone calls and called it an evening.

Here's our plans for the next three days ... Friday - Cincinnati;  Saturday - Franklin Furnace; and Sunday - Pomeroy.  We will be back to our yacht club Monday.

N 36  46.285   W 084  55.784

Heather's on the River, Prospect, KY - 9/12/12

Realizing that we would have a very long upriver run today to Prospect, KY, we were ready to leave at 6 a.m. (CST) when the first signs of light were on the horizon.  With our running lights on we left the marina.

Out early on the Ohio

 We saw wisps of fog for a couple hours but it cleared up very nicely for the remainder of the 120 miles.

High water Debris

Finally ... Mountains

McAlpine Lock

McAlpine Lock is unusual in that it has two large locks instead of large and small chambers.  We called them about 1 mile out and told to keep coming that they had a tow leaving one of the chambers and we could go right in.

New Lock Doors

 As we left the lock we could see new doors to be installed sitting on the Indiana shore.

Homeless Camp

 A canal leads from from the lock to downtown Louisville and we were amazed to see this camp as we passed by.

Leaving the Lock Canal

 At the end of the canal is a low bridge that we could clear but it is always a little unnerving to have a train on it as we go under.

Louisville

Jeffersonville, IN

The clock time is correct.  We had already been on the river 11 hours but due to the move back into EST this indicates over 12 hours travel.  We still had an hour and a half to get to our marina.

Race

 We had to slide around this activity just outside Louisville.

Heather's on the River

We actually finally got to Heather's at 7:35 p.m. very pooped from the day.  We ordered take out from the restaurant and watched a little TV in the salon with our dinner then hit the sack.

Our day tomorrow is a little easier at 59 miles to Warsaw, KY.

N 38  24.901   W 085  36.979

Rocky Point Marina, Cannelton, IN - 9/11/12

Up early to make the 72 mile trip to Rocky Point since they close at 5 p.m.

Sunrise on the Ohio River

 We pulled out of the Marina at 6:15 to a pretty sunrise on the water.

Approaching Cannelton Lock

 After spending time on the Mississippi, the Ohio River seems pretty nice.  We made good time today and after going through 2 locks we still got there at 2 p.m.

Rocky Point Marina

 Another large boat that we have seen in our marinas for the past 2 nights was at the fuel dock for the night and had to move so we could get fuel.

Our Slip

Two big boats in the marina with another expected later tonight.  We were told they normally don't see that many big boats in a month.  We had to go to a 30 foot slip that was full of silt and could only get 2/3 of the way in before hitting it.

Our Slip

Our air card signal is very weak and slow here so not many pictures today.

Tomorrow we will make a long run of over 130 miles to Prospect, KY and plan to leave at dark 30.

N 37  54.918   W 086  40.330