Epilogue

Now that I have had a chance to reflect on the trip and add up some numbers, I'm ready to put this blog to rest along side Westin. We traveled just over 2200 statute miles in an elapsed time of 33 days. Of those days, three we had to hunker down for bad weather, and three others for R&R or prop repair. So, we spent 27 days underway at various speeds depending on a variety of circumstances . For the total trip we burned 1627 gallons of fuel, so that averages out to 1.35 mpg. When we cruised at 10 mph, our fuel burn was a little over 2.0 mpg, and on plane it was under 1.0 mpg. The price for fuel continually decreased as we progressed. The highest was $4.09 when I filled up at Sunnyside a week before we left, the lowest $2.74 here at Burnt Store Marina. Only twice did we pay more than $3.00/gal.

The only major boat problems we had were the two prop mishaps, both of which were the fault of marinas not posting any warnings about shallow water depths at the gas dock! We replaced the raw water pump for the AC which went bad on us, but we never did have to use the AC, even down south. When we needed heat we just plugged in electric space heaters which are a lot easier and more efficient to use than cranking up the Cruisair(s). We didn't have to change oil or service the main engines until we reached Burnt Store with just a little over 200 easy, clean hours. The new Raymarine C80 GPS was great, even when navigating the rivers - we could always look ahead for the next green and red buoys on the screen when the visibility wasn't the best. The river tow captains are a really great bunch. After you get comfortable communicating with them on the VHF, they are extremely friendly and helpful. The knowledge they have of where the uncharted shoaling areas are located is amazing.

There were no favorite parts of the trip because it was all interesting and challenging, but the best had to be when we reached the entrance to Burnt Store Marina (pictured above). The upper Mississippi and lower Tennessee were the most scenic river cruising, and of course the ICW along the western coast of Florida rates right up there. Crossing the Gulf of Mexico was a first for me, and because we were doing it one engine, it was the most stressful segment of the trip. No wonder I didn't sleep until the next night. Probably the least favorite times were when we had to wait for a tow to clear a lock. Negotiating the locks themselves became pretty easy once Jeff and I got the routine down. It was actually fun to go through the locks that were over 50-60' high.

Today is Thanksgiving Day, 2008, and the immediate thing I am thankful for is that our trip was completed safely with no threats to our well beings. I am thankful that Jeff Janacek was with me for the trip and provided very valuable advice and suggestions that obviously came from his experience and background of traveling many miles on these same waters. I can't think of a better shipmate that I would like to have had for this trip.

Finally, I am most thankful for Patty who, when we were discussing this change in our lives last summer, simply said "make it happen." That is her way of expressing her approval for major things in our lives. At the time, I don't think she realized that she would be home alone for almost six weeks. To say the least, we were both very glad when the journey was finally completed.

Also, thanks to all of you who have followed our adventure and have provided comments along the way. Now..............it's time to go sit by the pool.

Events Leading up to Crossing the Gulf

Due to a set of circumstances that involved weather, another dinged prop, and friends with radar we decided to leave with three other boats to make the Gulf crossing on Wednesday afternoon about 3:00pm. Since we were travelling at around 10 mph, this turned out to be a 16 hour ride. We departed from Carabelle, FL and eventually pulled into the northern tip of Longboat Key around noon on Thursday. Jeff and I had an early dinner and crashed so we could finish the trip on Friday.

From Longboat Key we cruised down the ICW to Boca Grande and then turned east across Charlotte Harbor to our final destination of Burnt Store Marina. We finally pulled in about 4:30 and went off to have an end-of-cruise celebration dinner.

Jeff left for home on Sunday, where he will be reunited with his family. Patty and her mother drove down from MN and arrived Sunday about noon. We plan to stay here for three weeks while we get the boat prepared to enter into the charter business.

After cruising all kinds of waters, both fresh and salt, for five weeks, Tricia Ann is about as dirty as a boat can get. We have our hands full getting her cleaned out and cleaned up. I will have some details about distances and fuel burn in the epilogue and soon as I get my adding machine warmed up.

We have ALL arrived....

"Tricia Ann" puled into Burnt Store Marina today, proud as can be after about 2200 miles of some serious boating. Jim and Jeff were quite excited to have to whole trip turn out successfully, but none were more proud than Tricia Ann, who will really have something to put on her Christmas card. She can brag about her "big adventure" to Florida, while her neighbor boats in Stillwater hunker down in shrinkwrap.

But the big news came from Westin, apparently written while Jim and I ate a celebratory dinner. We came back to find a note inside the boat from him explaining the whole story. He said:

"Thanks so much for all the food (it really wasn't that much or that good) and for getting me down here. It was great to listen to your fascinating and intelligent perspectives about religion, politics, boating, economic issues, building techniques, boating, nuclear chemistry, philosophy, fabric design, boating, art history, dentistry, prehistoric medicine, modern weaponry, boating, inorganic duplicity, hypoalergenic regeneration, rhino horns and boating. My life will never be the same, let me tell you.

I guess you are due an explanation. I left Minnesota for a number of reasons, including cold weather, high taxes, the closing of Circuit City stores and the fear that Norm Coleman would be re-elected. I heard about your trip from a number of sources that reported how excited you both were about the venture and decided to stow away. I couldn't tell either of you about what I was doing because I thought that Jeff would have me arrested, flogged and deported or that Jim would adopt me and send me off for higher education.

I can't figure out why he was looking for a bigger boat, but think it might just be a desire to get a bigger boat; boaters are goofy about these things. It sure didn't have anything to do with me. And who had the crazy idea that I had a whole family down there? It sounds like as good a reason for a bigger boat as any one else comes up with. Why I once heard about a guy who bought a motor and then said he had to buy a boat to go with it. Can you imagine that?

Anyway, I finally got down to some warmer weather and left. And I was getting tired of Jeff's gas issues and Jim's snoring. I hope to write when I find work and will pay Jim for all the food I stole someday. Also I am missing a green sock, a 25000 watt inverter and a pack of AA batteries. Please hold them for me until I write.

You guys are wierd,

Westin Marino"

Thursday, Nov 20, The Crossing

It is 3:00 p.m. on Thursday and Jeff and I just docked the boat in front of a restaurant on Long Boat Key, FL. We began this portion of our trip yesterday at 2.00 p.m. This was the leg of the trip where we crossed a rather large section of the Gulf (164 miles), plus the 30 miles of getting to the starting point of Carrabelle, FL plus travelling an additional 25 miles to an overnight dockage once we reached the end point of our crossing at Clearwater, FL. During the night crossing we each grabbed about two hours of sleep, so this will be just a short update since y'all haven't heard anything from us since Monday night.

I will post a more detailed report on the last three exciting days after we get a really good night's sleep. Our goal is to pull into Burnt Store Marina tomorrow afternoon after travelling just two days short of five weeks.

Monday, Nov 17, Panama City, FL

This morning we woke up in Ft. Walton Beach to a beautiful sunny morning and a temp of 28 degrees. Today was a pretty easy cruise; there were long stretches across Choctawhatchee Bay which is a bay actually made up of many small bays. Then we traversed about 20 miles of a canal that is almost a duplicate of the Tenn-Tom (as you can see in the picture here).

The winds were again very calm, so the dolphins were very easy to spot. But, the manatee was a different story - one crossed directly in front of the boat and I expected to hear a loud thump as I put him out of his misery but he in some way got out of the way. It's pretty easy to get mesmerized out in a large bay of the water while looking for greens and reds off in the distance. The minute you think you see the next buoy, it gets up and flies away!

We made really good time, cruising at a constant 1100 rpm that gives us a fuel burn rate of 2 mpg. We covered about 70 miles and pulled into the Panama City Marina about 2:00 p.m. The town is pretty quiet at this time of year, but during the spring break months the number of visitors balloons to 1.5 million and the economy hops. Everyone is hoping it continues during the economic slow down this year. Here we are tucked away in the marina.

There are a lot of unique boats here. Jeff is always on the lookout for the next best looper boat and here he is checking out one that he just made a down payment on. He thinks Sally will like it because it has an automatic water maker.

Finally, when we went over to the neighboring marina restaurant for dinner, we were able to pick out some really fresh seafood. We went on board this brand new shrimper and picked out what we wanted!

Sunday, Nov 16 - Continue on to Ft Walton Beach

This morning we woke up to a much calmer sea so we didn't waste any time in slipping the lines to get on our way. Working our way out of the narrow, shallow channel leading from Dog River Marina to the main north-south shipping channel was an adventure once again. Low tide with a cross current makes for some pretty challenging navigation, but with Jeff's expert guidance and my piloting we made it again without a prop ding.

We made our way to the south end of Mobile Bay and were finally in the Intercoastal Waterway that would take us eastbound. This is where we began to see the waterfront condos with marinas like the one above. We passed by LuLu's, which is a very popular waterway restaurant owned and operated by Jimmy Buffet's sister. We also encountered our first dolphin that came out to meet us, but then ducked and swam away. Guess we didn't look like a good swimming partner.

We pulled in to the free public docks at Ft Walton Beach for the night and were greeted by a few young fishermen who were busy harvesting their catches. This is the grouper that one of the boys had just caught. I guess he was the expert because just a few days ago he had bagged an 8 pounder! If these are so easy to catch, why are they so expensive in the restaurants?

Speaking of restaurants, after our customary exploratory walk through the new town we found a friendly little sports bar by the name of Fokkers, where we had a really great pizza. First one of the trip. As you can imagine, some of the specialty pizzas had rather unique names!

Tomorrow's plan is to make it to Panama City. This is really nice cruising - just what boating in Florida is all about.

Saturday, Nov 15 - Laying low in Mobile

All Friday night the winds were howling from the northwest at 25-30 mph and didn't let up at all on Saturday. So, since we couldn't go cruising, we toured the east side of Mobile Bay with Bob and Peg Olsen as Jeff mentioned in his blog. We visited Fairhope, a quaint little town that reminded me of Venice Fl, with the streets lined with shops, lunch spots, etc. We also went to the Eastern Shore Marina to deliver some West Marine purchases to some other traveling friends of ours, Dan and Sarah Vegter from Illinois. With the wind out of the northwest, Mobile Bay was really churning as you can see in this picture. As the wind blows across this very shallow body of water which has an average depth around 9 feet, this is reduced to an average of about 7, and then the low tide drops it even further. Needless to say there were NO boats out on the bay that day.

Jeff and I took this opportunity to get caught up on some boat projects that had been languishing. The AC seawater pump failed us a couple of weeks ago, but since we haven't really needed AC, getting the replacement installed hasn't been a high priority. (Ron - we finally can do without the space heaters on the bridge). Krista from the great West Marine store in Stillwater had the new pump sent ahead to meet us at Demopolis, so we have had it for a few days. Our burgee staff also bit the dust after getting whipped back and forth for several days in the winds that beat us up on the way down. We are also still working on an improved method of hauling the dinghy up on the weaver davits.

Other than these minor things, the boat has been performing really well. Boating is a never ending job................

New boat!!

I caught Jim down in the engine room, and I'm going to bet he was down there negotiating with Westin about the new boat. I'm still guessing there is a lot more people down there than just Westin. Maybe they are blackmailing him, threatening a lawsuit about working or living conditions. And who else might be down there? Maybe co-workers or family, or maybe they hired Jim to smuggle them from Minnesota to Florida. This could explain Jim not letting me in on what's happening, as I could be called as a witness, which would upset our happy little ship, that's for sure. Maybe they are Minnesota Vikings, sneaking out of town.

Speaking of our happy little ship, you do recall yesterday's posting, don't you? For the memory-impaired, that's when I showed photos of the boats we have been looking at, presumably to house all of the extra passengers, but Jim isn't saying. Well, apparently we aren't getting either of them for the reasons I explained yesterday. He has decided on the one depicted above; it just needs a little work, and those guys are just the ones to do it. I'll keep you posted.

More hot news! We pulled up to the dock on Friday after a long run down the Tenn-Tom with not much more to be excited about than arriving. I staggered off the boat, happy to be on land and then saw a familiar boat, "Baby Grand," a beautiful 32' Grand Banks trawler that I happen to think is one of the most handsome boats ever built. This is what boats are supposed to look like! It is the temporary home of Peg and Bob Olsen, our friends from Lake Superior who are doing the whole Great Loop with some of Sally's and my charts. (If we can't do the Loop again, at least our charts can.) We found them later in the day and spent most of Saturday sightseeing and dining with them. I really miss this part of that journey, networking and hanging out like this with people like them; we are going too fast for relationships like this and were sad to leave them behind today. Check out their blog at www.babygrandadventure.blogspot.com for some terrific writing and what the Great Loop is really about. I am sooo jealous....

Now what?

More excitement down in the engine room. I've been hearing extra noises down there, some might have been the sounds of small children crying and playing. I'm beginning to wonder what's going on down there and who knows what, especially since Jim has been boat shopping recently. Here are two we looked at:

The left one needs some work and we will have to find someone to tow it out of the bay. It was quite a bit cheaper than the one on the right, which has 1226 bathrooms and is being upgraded as we speak. It's also a nice neutral color. I may have to upgrade my license to pilot it, and if Jim buys it we hope to get a couple hours instruction as to its operation. At least there will be plenty of room for Westin and his family, as I'm thinking this boat might be getting a little small.

Friday, Nov 14 - Finally Mobile!!

We finally reached mile 0 of the Tenn-Tom this afternoon and entered the very busy port of Mobile Bay. This is a very large commercial port with many freighters and barges at work. There are also other vessels of interest, the first one above is some sort of Navy ship that looks like it was designed to be a sleuth. There are a lot of repair facilities, and one of the ships there was this cruise ship Norwegian Spirit. I was wondering if I could use one of their props as a spare for our boat.

We made our way down the Mobile Bay shipping channel to where we turned west to Dog River Marina. This is a channel through a very shallow area, and because we were navigating during low tide, the depth sounder was making weird sounds all too frequently.

Fuel here is $3.15/gal, but it is Valvtech, so the little extra is worth it. Tomorrow we start to head east on our way to the Florida panhandle. Oh, and the weather is warm and the salt air smells great!

Thursday, Nov 13 - Bobby's Fish Camp

Today we roared on down the river to a little 100' dock that sits in front of Bobby's Fish Camp. This is a fuel stop, a fried catfish stop, and not much else. This night there were eight boats here which meant there was some rafting up. We were on the outside of three boats rafted together - see picture. Fortunately we had met the folks in the other two boats so we weren't connected with complete strangers. The down side was that they wanted to leave at 5:00 am - in the dark (makes it hard to see floating logs at that hour, and there are many). So, up we were at 4:30 to move our boat so that we could let them out.

Today was also a special day for Patty and me - our 10th wedding anniversary, so we are going to have to postpone the celebration until later this month.

Tues - Wed, On to Demopolis

Here it is Friday and we finally have a decent internet connection so that we can post updates to the blog. Jeff was able to post a couple of times because his mission of bringing everyone up to date on the whereabouts and goings on with Westin was of the utmost priority. Oh, and his computer has a much better wifi card than mine so he was able to make internet connections at some spots that made me question his heritage. (He has a Mac, I have a PC if that answers any questions).

The continuing ride down the Tenn-Tom was a stretch of over 200 miles to Demopolis with not a lot of changing scenery. One of the highlights was the stretch of canal along the white cliffs of Epes. This appears to be a very white limestone material that has been carved by the river over many years. There are also large "ponds" of Hyacinth plants/blossoms that float down the river, creating hallucinations of large logs or piles of dirt that have to be avoided at the last minute.

A real high point of the week was when I received a message back from my insurance company to let me know that we would be allowed to continue traveling south past the 32nd parallel without waiting until November 15th. This will now give us a good chance to reaching Burnt Store Marina (our revised destination) by next weekend if the weather and boat gremlins permit.

We took on fuel in Demopolis for $2.94/gal, which is turning out to be about the average we have been paying. Only once have we paid over $3.00, and our lowest was the $2.59 we paid in Keokuk.

Yet another mystery

Today we only went through two sets of locks, one right below Marina Cove, a well used spot that we stayed at last night. Imagine my surprise to see this written on the top of the bollard when we went through. (For those who haven't traversed these waters, a bollard is a post that slides up and down in the lock as the water level changes. We loop a line over it to keep the boat from wandering all over in the lock while we move up or down.)

Westin must have slipped over there during the night and written this. Did he come back onto the boat? And if he did, why? If he didn't, did he contact the authorities who are drawing up a search warrant and surrounding us as I type? How does he know what I use for a name for him? Does he know that "racecar" spelled backwards is "racecar." The whole idea makes my tooth ache.

Finally, some answers

I have been trying to figure out just why Jim had been suggesting that I stay out of the engine room. His ideas about maintenance are different than mine, no doubt, especially the part about doing it at night or while I'm driving the boat. He has schedules for everything, an hourmeter that tells him when to change the oil and show each engine signs of affection, for example. I can't imagine waiting for some clock telling me when to shine the anchor, but I guess that's the way he plans to keep the boat running forever.

I personally believe that the prudent mariner lets his/her engine(s) speak to him/her about maintenance without reading that pesky (and boring) manual. For example, your motor will tell you when the oil needs to be changed long after the recommended interval by making REALLY loud knocking noises. (Just think of the money you save!) Fuel filter issues are only important when the engine stops. Why clean your raw water filter until the engine overheats? So I usually even don't go down there, especially since I now have to move the piano, and look what I discovered last time I was there. And I do all my maintenance while on autopilot. I set it to follow these twisty rivers and go down in the engine room. That way I don't hear all the bad words other boaters yell at me while they scramble to get out of my way. Real boaters can tell bad diesel by tasting it. (You can't tell the difference between water and diesel?)

But today while Jim was driving I did some more checking. I found yet another access to the engine room, a hatch from room #233B, coincidentally the room Jim is sleeping in. I went down there through that entrance and found the machine depicted in the photo. (I bet you were wondering just when/how I was going to work in that photo, right?) I think I finally figured out what is going on. It's hooked up to a generator wired to Tricia Ann's (you don't know what the boat's name is by now?) battery bank. I think Jim is forcing Westin to manually power us electrically. The really disgusting thing about this is that considering that this boat has a total of 960 horsepower, and that since a human generates about one fifth of a horsepower, Westin has to work 4800 hours for every hour we are on plane! No wonder he's so thin.

So why is he down there at all? Why doesn't he show himself when I go down? Why doesn't Jim give me his version instead of letting me assume the worst? Why doesn't the stock market go up?

The few answers I have made my tooth better.

Mon, Nov 10 - Midway Marina, Fulton MS

When we got up Monday morning at Aqua Harbor, it was 27 degrees and really foggy. We waited about an hour to fire up the engines to continue our journey. The picture above is after the fog started to clear and shows the trees and color that surround this lake at this time of the year.

Once we started down the Tombigbee waterway, which is a long canal/waterway with 12 locks that stretches out for over 400 miles, it became a new adventure in boating. The canal portion is about 150 yards wide where it has been cut through the hills (much like they did in Panama years ago) and straight as an arrow. This is the perfect route for a boat with an autopilot (which we don't have). Other than the industrial buildings that dot the river bank, there is little development that has taken place.

The first lock on the canal is the Witten, which at 84' is one of the largest in the U.S. The rest of the locks vary in height from 30' or less, dropping the canal from over 400' above sea level in a series of 12 locks. The locks are very easy - they use floating bollards as you see in the picture above. Just tie up a single line to the bollard and use that to keep your boat in place close to the lock wall until the gates open. The trick is to lasso the bollard when you approach it along the wall. Jeff has a great solution which is a line inserted through a piece of plastic hose that he uses to grab on with - something he developed when he and his family did the great loop two years ago.

We spent the night at Midway Marina that is about 40 miles south of the entrance to the canal. This is a small marina (relatively speaking), but there were six boats from Minnesota, and three from Stillwater. I think this is a secret winter hiding place for our neighbors. One of the Minnesota ladies who has been here for over a year made the comment that there are only two kinds of radio stations down here - country/western, and "God." And she is right!

Sun, Nov 9 - Aqua Yacht Harbor

Sunday we traveled the remaining miles on the Tennessee River to our next overnight stop at Aqua Yacht Harbor on beautiful Pickwick Lake. On the way down we saw a lot of great homes built right on the edge of the river bank, and sure enough, just like in California, parts of the mansions were getting washed down into the water below. In the picture above you can see parts of the fence lying on the bank just above the water line.

Our last lock before we left the Tennessee was Pickwick, which is another 55' lift with bollards to hold our boat in place. This sure is a lot easier than hanging onto lines dropped down from above.

Pickwick Lake is a great vacation spot for the well-to-do from all around this area (and other parts of the country as well, I'm sure). Two of the best known marinas in this section of the country are Aqua Yacht Harbor where we stayed with a couple of other boats we had met during our travels, and Grand Harbor Condos and Marina pictured above. Grand Harbor is expanding rapidly (well, it was until about a year ago), but you can see from the condo building in the picture that this probably doesn't appeal to the folks who are affected by the ups and downs of the economy.

New medical and corresponding psychological problems

Things have been really tense on the boat these days. I'm been waiting for Jim to crack regarding his prisoner below, or catch him feeding him, or anything that would give me more information about WHAT IS GOING ON ON THIS BOAT!!!!!!! But so far I haven't seen a hint and he's acting like nothing is unusual. What if I'm wrong about all this? Am I losing my mind?

On the left is one of the more handsome boats we have seen on the whole trip. In an effort to pretend everything is normal, Jim and I got into some serious negotiations with the owner to buy it. We knew our wives would back us up and love it as much as we did. (The interior is really pretty special, believe me. The four of us could sail it to the Bahamas after a little work.) When it came right down to pulling the trigger on the purchase (the price of such a special craft is no object, believe me) there was some kind of trouble with the title, and it didn't go through. We were heartbroken.

The stress associated with our passenger/prisoner/stowaway is starting to show on me, but not on Jim. Two days ago I started to have symptoms of some sort of tooth trouble, and started in on the Ibuprofen. I was running low yesterday and in serious pain last night, all of this brought on by the "Westin" problem, I'm sure. (I hope Jim has plenty of insurance and good legal representation when this all gets sorted out.) I needed help and went down in the engine room (see photo #2) to see if I could locate Westin and ask him for his version of what's going on and if he had any pain meds and/or antibiotics, but he wouldn't come out, so I called my dentist. I can hold out as long on this as Jim can. The upcoming bad weather will break him, just watch.

Sat, Nov 8 - Clifton Marina

After pulling out of Pebble Isle Saturday morning we continued our trek down the Tennessee River where it narrowed down to a size much like the Mississippi, but not so muddy. The scenery was pretty incredible in places as you can see in the photo. There are also large wildlife preserves along this portion of the river.

Our destination for the night was the Clifton Marina in Clifton, TN, home of world famous, Pulitzer prize winning author T. S. Stribling (you can look it up - hint: it was 1933). This is another highly recommended marina by Skipper Bob who has so far never let us down. Sonja here is the person who does it all, from running the marina to whipping up the best shrimp, hush puppies, and white beans this side of Paducah.

Sonja loaned us her personal car (i.e., Lincoln Navigator) to drive into Clifton so we could tour this incredible town that is all of five blocks wide by eight blocks long. A grocery the size of a large 7-11 is the local store, BUT..... Jack Nicklaus designed a total of seven golf courses in the U.S. , and believe it or not one of them is right here in Clifton, TN. They even built a small airport so Jack could get in and out while he was doing his golf course work.

We only saw one home with a for sale sign in front of it, so the economy here must be way above the average for the rest of the country.

More questions than answers

This morning I awoke with an incredible thought: what if Jim knows all about "Westin," the guy in the engine room? He could have brought along a backup in case my cooking or navigational skills didn't work out. He might be worried that I would jump ship when I found out about the snoring. He could have slipped him in through the service entrance any time on the trip and be sneaking him the Byerly's food while giving me the stuff from Sam's Club. It explains why Westin has been so quiet down there and hasn't made noise or sabotaged the boat. There are more than a few hoses and wires down there that affect the boats operation, like the one that makes the big flatscreen TV go up and down.

And I can't help but worry that Jim's judgment may be might just be impaired by our lack of food. He might be planning to push me overboard when we are miles from land in the Gulf of Mexico, part of a grand plan to steal my Crocs, special flossers, fancy clothing and private stache of cherry flavored prunes. It would sure make our supply of corned beef hash and ramen noodles last a lot longer. And there is the constant stress, as we worry about pirates, whales (see previous blog). Things are getting pretty desperate out here as we get farther and farther from civilization.

The only way I can find out what I need to know is to ask someone, but Jim or Westin? Why would either of them tell me the truth? What a trip this has turned out to be....

Friday, Nov 7 Pebble Isle Marina

Friday morning we departed Green Turtle Bay after spending two full days at one of the best marina resorts in the Midwest. We headed south on Kentucky Lake, and as you can see in the picture above, this is big water. Some say that with a good wind, it can be as treacherous as Lake Superior (OK, so Jeff says maybe not).

Our destination that day was Pebble Isle Marina in Johnsonville, TN. This is a highly recommended marina where Jeff and his family stayed for several days when they did the great loop two years ago. This family run marina has it all - internet wi-fi, satellite TV (every boat has their own controller), small restaurant where everything is cooked just the way you like it. The morning we left we each had an omelet that was about twice the size of the best Perkins has to offer.

We also filled up here with diesel for $2.89 after the Boat US discount. So far, our average fuel cost has been under three bucks a gallon - a LOT less than I had planned when I projected the cost of this trip last fall.

One of the things Jeff and I always do whenever we visit a new marina is tour the docks to look at the boats. We have seen some really nice ones, some really not so nice ones, and every once in awhile we walk around the back lots and see some really ugly ones like the "sail boat" in the picture above. If you can imagine putting tentacles on this boat, I think it would be a man-made octopus.

Now what to do?

Jim asked me if anything was wrong today, having noticed that I was worried about somehing. I am trying to decide whether to tell him about the guy in the engine room. He didn't notice that I had moved the piano over the hatch, effectively trapping the guy down below. While Jim was in the shower this morning I tossed some nutritious food down there. In my careful inspection of the wrappers I had noticed earlier, I was appalled at his choice of the food he (I'll call him "Westin Marini" until I find out his true identity.) had pilfered from us. (chocolate, ice cream, pie, iced coffees, Amaretto, imported meats and just about everything we bought from Byerly's) He now has a nutritious and balanced diet with lots of organic fruits and vegetables. I also tossed down my yoga mat. But back to the big question: do I tell Jim about him?

There are legal issues. Is he now a captive, and may make a big deal of this when/if we ever let him out? Is he an employee, subject to overtime, workers compensation, insurance, coffee breaks, and a retirement program? What about the boat insurance? I'm afraid that our captive/stowaway/employee may not be covered at all. And if Jim doesn't ever know about this guy, he will be completely sheltered from all the consequences and the blog won't have to be renamed "jimsbignightmare." It might be my job to handle this whole issue.

And what about poor Westin? What horrible life was he trying to escape from to slip aboard and sign on to this miserable existence? (living on food scraps, and fearing capsize, pirates, wildlife, boredom, internet and cable TV disconnection, making desperate repairs to the boat on the fly to stay afloat, etc.) Why just today Jim had to fix the icemaker after it got jammed up by an errant ice cube. It's not easy out here on the high seas, that's for sure.

Tough assignment at Green Turtle

It was to be a weather day, rain and wind forecast so we cowered at the dock, exercised and did errands. Too boring, Jim said, and assigned me to write something interesting while he took a nap. I couldn't think of anything we had done that fit into that category except the BBQ chicken we got at WalMart (no hyphen anymore, remember?) and decided to check the oil.

I grabbed a flashlight and some paper towels and headed down the ladder. As I walked around the port side of the port engine, I heard something. I looked and noticed a blanket and some food wrappers. I suddenly realized we had a stowaway and had an immediate attack of remorse for blaming Jim for all that missing food. I looked around but couldn't find anyone in the expansive engine room. (There are advantages in smaller boats, harder for stowaways to hide.) I decided to engage in some subterfuge, a tactic I learned studying for the captain's test. I walked all the way around to the starboard side of the other engine, out of sight of where I believed him/her to be hiding. I stopped to catch my breath, as this is quite a distance on this boat.

I then ran around the back of that engine, and peeked out between the massive fuel filters. I saw some movement and knew I had made a decisive achievement. I ran forward, a tactic I had learned from years of hunting the mighty grey squirrel in Brainerd, Minnesota, back in anther lifetime. I saw what appeared to be a younger guy, maybe 18 to 20 years old, small in build and obviously quite frightened by my presence. He bolted, with me in hot pursuit. We then had quite the chase, all around the hot water heater, genset, oil filtration system, watermaker, spare anchors, barrels of window cleaner, racquetball court, spare filters, engines, extra food, VacuFlush tanks, and too many pumps to mention. I was exhausted.

I crawled up the ladder, already planning my next move....

Wed, Nov 5 - Relaxing in Green Turtle Bay

Today was a day of R & R. We borrowed the marina car (another Dodge Caravan, but this one had only 147,000 miles) and drove into the small town of Grand Rivers, Ky that is close to the marina. Drove down to the visitors center for this stretch of beautiful country called the Land Between the Lakes (LBL for short) and then over to a nature center to see several species of animals that inhabit the land here.

This evening Jeff and I had dinner at the Iron Kettle in Grand Rivers, more commonly known as Aunt Patti's. The specialty here is the 2" thick pork chop, which I had to have. I highly recommend it to anyone who has a chance to visit this area.

There is rain in the forecast for tomorrow, so it will probably be a good time for an oil change.

Tuesday, Nov 4 - Cumberland River and Barkley Dam

Today we traveled the rest of the way up the Ohio to the Cumberland River. The picture here shows how small this river is compared to what we have become used to. The reason it is so small is that it is dammed by the Barkley Dam which is one of the largest in the US. It has a lift of 57', and the other picture here was taken after we were in the chamber and the huge doors were closing behind us. We will have one more large dam later in our trip when we travel down the Tennessee River.

Tonight we pulled into the Green Turtle Bay Marina which is between Barkley Lake (formed by this dam) and Kentucky Lake which is formed by the Kentucky Dam that is almost the same size. This is one of the premier marinas in the US (another Quimby's five anchor), and we plan to spend three nights here so we can get our oil changed, get caught up on our laundry, catch our breath, have more than one drink a night, etc etc. (Nettie, we might even have a "scooby dooby do" night here).

An interesting note for the folks in the St. Croix area - we walked around to look at all the boats for sale here (and there are many) and we came upon a big 72' houseboat with the name "Stephane J" on the side. Yup, it is Steve Burghs (sorry Steve if I misspelled your name) old boat that used to be in the Bayport Marina. As we are finding out as we travel down river, the boating community is a small world. We are now parked next to the same couple we met over a week ago in Dubuque who are headed on a great loop trip.

More on the Marina activity later.

Monday, Nov 3 - The Beautiful Ohio River

Monday we continued down the Mississippi to the mouth of the Ohio. Today we traveled 142 miles, the most of any day so far. On the way down we passed this tiny little house boat that started their journey somewhere way up north, and we think (so we hear along the way) they are headed for the Gulf of Mexico.

When we reached the confluence of the Miss and Ohio, the difference was astounding. The Miss is a dark brown all the way from Minnesota, but the minute we turned up the Ohio the water was a beautiful blue. The river is also very wide, very busy, but has little current. We picked a quiet river bank where we tucked in to anchor for the night and it was very calm. Only trouble with anchoring for the night is that there is no place to plug in for electricity, so the heat can only be turned on if we run the generator all night which we do not want to do. Needless to say it is quite cold in the boat by the time morning comes around.

We had a beautiful sunset Monday night - clear red sky with stars and and a quarter moon.

Trouble is, it just doesn't get any better than this..

Just when we thought the combination of fabulous weather, current in our favor and some pretty decent scenery added up to the pinnacle/zenith/summit of the trip, something happened. It seems there is always something a boat can do to humble me, like an electrical malfunction that you spend days on and then a dentist, actor, flower arranger, or someone else with no background in electronics will come along and say something like, "didn't you know there was another in-line fuse for that circuit?" Or running into a rock in a spot where no rock should be. Or hiding in safety on the Mississippi to avoid towboats in the fog only to find out (yesterday) that towboats on the Mississippi don't operate in the fog. Or having someone tell you, "have you read the manual?" and then finding the solution. I would like to think I will eventually run out of these types of experiences, but I guess I know better.

So, what do you think might strike the most trepidation in the hearts of your favorite Lewis and Clark type explorers? (As you envision us fighting upstream and dealing with serious adversities like running out of veggie dip, try to do it without thinking about the flatscreen TV that goes up and down in its cabinet. There are two others that don't go up and down, though.) Well, I'll let you skip a few guesses and tell you it would be a strong vibration in the drive train when we tried to go fast. For those fortunate enough not to have ever experienced that kind of rate of rise in your blood pressure, this would mean that the very expensive and time consuming repair we just drove away from was unsuccessful, and that we couldn't go fast any more, that this would all have to be redone in Florida after we arrive and there might be a chance the shaft would break off right in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, which really did happen to a friend of mine on Lake Superior, and his boat almost sunk as the 2" hole opened up by the shaft dropping out let in too much water for all his bilge pumps to keep up with. (That sentence was waaay too long, and this has gotten way too long to keep interest in, so I'll finish it tomorrow.)

Or maybe something better will come along then, so I should probably finish it today before I get lost in another topic.

As it turns out, we apparently picked up a line or something on one of the props and it came off when we stopped and backed up. Believe us when we say it was a real downer when it vibrated and quite the upper when it ran smooth. We shared some anxious looks and wide smiles on each end of our "repair." - Jeff

Now South of St.Louis

Now on CST, we depart the Alton Marina at 6:55 to continue our trek south. We passed downtown St. Louis at 9:30, and the picture above was the only highlight. The St. Louis waterfront is pretty much all industrial - no waterfront restaurants, no condos, no marinas. I was disappointed in the lack of waterfront development that has been done there.

Once south of St. Louis, the river itself turns industrial. There are no marinas for the next 200 miles, and the barge traffic is the heaviest so far. The river is very turbulent, especially where it meets the Missouri. We pulled into the mouth of the Kaskaskia River, where we were allowed to tie up along the wall of a small lock (picture above). It beats anchoring out in the river, but there are no amenities here (like electricity).

Tomorrow we plan a long day of travel to get up into the Ohio River and anchor there for the night.

On the Road Again (er, River)

We finally got back on the water again after Mark and Randy show up at 7:15 to install our refurbished prop. By 8:00 we were underway. Today was a good day for making time - we only had two locks to go through and they were both open and waiting for us. Our trip took us past the confluence of the Illinois River with the Mississippi. This area appears to be the playground for the St. Louis boating crowd, with sandy beaches, a lot of cruising runabouts, and beautiful scenery and you can see in the picture above. The bluffs are white limestone with trees above and below. The colors are at their peak right now.

Our overnight stay was at Alton Marina, a really nice place just a few miles north of St. Louis. The bridge above is the view we had from the cockpit of our boat where we were tied up for the night. That evening we explored the recommended night spot called "Fast Eddies." All I can say is that if you are ever within a 100 miles of Alton, IL - make a trip to Fast Eddies.