We had a very nice run today 88 miles, there was a threat of rain but it never really materialized. We started later then we wanted because everyone expected fog. We had wanted to get off the fuel dock in Louisville yesterday morning early but were socked in with fog. And as the day wore on it just got nasty, wet and cold not a pleasant day.
We had a first of a kind experience. We locked thru the Louisville locks in the main chamber along with a towboat and barges. It was the same one that passed us as we were just pulling away from the fuel dock. We followed him for awhile then passed him only to be told by the lock master to tie up on the Kentucky side to allow the tow to enter the lock then pull in behind him.
We had just enough room for them to close the lock gates, then when they opened the other end they told us we had to exit first. Well the lock is 110’wide, the tow was 70' plus X 1200' long, Achievement is 20' wide, you do the math. It looked like we were going to have to grease the sides to get thru but it all worked out.
By the end of the day we were tired and got directed to a nice little anchorage by a tow boat Capt. just below a quarry. A nice dinner of spaghetti w/sausage and to bed for all.
Today as I said was very nice 'all except I'm not allowed on the foredeck any more. I'm not sure why but I think it had something to do with a little anchor mishap that occurred while I was up there. Not that I had anything to do with it. We were about 2 hours from dropping the hook, Lionel had relieved me at the wheel, so I went forward to make sure the anchor was ready to deploy and not jammed in the hawspipe. Well, after all it was jammed the other day. It looked twisted and jammed to me. SOOOOO all I was going to do was loosen the chain a little, set the dog on the chain cat and whack the anchor loose. It would only fall an inch or two at best. Well I whacked and the whole shebang let loose. Here we are steaming full bore down the river and over goes the 185# anchor with God knows how much chain, Lionel pulls back the throttles and stalls both engines.
By then the rest of the startled crew is scrambling on deck wondering what the hell just happened. I said it wasn't me it was Patrick, but he was down below and everyone knew it. Well they banished me to the wheel house never to set foot on the anchor deck again. They got the hook back on deck without much fanfare, a few glares toward the wheelhouse but not much else.
Just before we set the hook for real tonight we passed a small pontoon boat who hailed us on the radio. He called himself "Evening Shade" and wanted to know what a nice old boat like us was doing on the river, where were we going and so on. We filled him in with all the details. He said he really liked the old boats and didn't care much for the new stuff you see around nowadays.
Patrick made pork and sauerkraut for dinner with a fresh baked apple pie. I was supposed to lose weight on this trip but I don't think that is happening. It's getting late, we are going to try to get going by 7:30 and possibly get in one of those mythical 100 mile days.
Capt. Bob
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