Day 24: Friday, September 28, 2012

Underway: 7:25 am      Motor Off: 4:35 pm      Miles Traveled: 35      Stayed At: Anchor

First Things First: First dam without a lock to go through; first time cruising uphill, first time (we think) that we didn’t stop somewhere along the way; passed by first new lock under construction (Ohlmstead Lock – a major decade long + construction project.

Mile 1 (Mississippi) to Mile 946 (OH): The day started overcast but calm. You can’t believe everything you read. We were under the impression that the Ohio River would be an easy 60 miles against a gentle downstream current. This information is critical to your mileage, speed and gas consumption estimates. The current turned out to be much stronger than expected. Probably 2.5 – 3 mph versus the expected less than 1 mph. Lots of swirls, eddys and whirlpools to navigate through. Boris had to work hard just to get us up to 3.5 mph average speed all day.

The one lock we needed to navigate is old and has an odd dam design that allows the wall to be dropped down to the riverbed so boats can go right through bypassing the locks when the upstream and downstream river levels are the same – yah! But there was a penalty (of course). We couldn’t figure out why the tow that passed us slowed down almost to a stop near the lock wall. We never dreamed that he was almost stopped dead by the current created by the flow of water through the opening in the dam. When we got there the GPS read “0” mph – not a good thing. Luckily (and thankfully), Boris had another 1/2 mph in him. At full throttle and after moving way too close to the lock wall for comfort, we were able to pull away to safety after about 20 minutes of high anxiety and stress.

Anchorages are few and far between on the Ohio River. One that we heard about has completely disappeared – probably under water. So we tucked in by a sandbar behind a huge power transmission tower well outside the channel, near Metropolis Illinois, in about 4.5 feet of water. Not perfect but better than out in the open completely unprotected. After a great meal of fried potatoes and steak, we cleaned up (ourselves and the boat), read for a little while after dark, and crashed about 8:30 pm (don’t laugh – we are usually exhausted by 7 pm).