This was a cool passage – a railroad swing bridge, one section of which is rotated perpendicular to the rest of the track to let big boats thru (we’re on a big boat, people, and oftentimes have the right of way!)
We decided that a proper installation of the searchlight (THE MEGA CANDLE) was important and not necessarily that much more time consuming than attaching it somewhere temporarily with bungee cords. Either way it had to be wired in order to operate. While that was being worked on, Asha and I went into town of Louisiana, MO, using a local Karl’s(!) Cab service, that has only one driver whose name clearly is not Karl (she’s a gal and I doubt Louisiana, MO is progressive enough for that yet). We needed some groceries, most important of all COFFEE, and the County Market store did not disappoint.
We stayed the night (Friday) at the Two Rivers Marina to give everyone a chance to rest. While we weren’t invited to partake, the female owner of the marina (girl power!) had a ladies night with friends, that included a tie dying activity and a bonfire. Our night was very pleasant as well, with a dip in a pool and Capt. Chris’ amazing ahí tuna tacos. As we were settling in for the night, we got visitors – a couple of very cute and not very shy raccoons came up our gangplank (a ladder for getting on and off when at a dock) and proceeded to help themselves to a dinner out of a bag with garbage on the aft deck (back deck). They really didn’t want to leave!
Capt. Max gave me a demonstration of the light in action as the night fell on the marina. I hope we didn’t disturb anyone with that mega beam.
On Saturday we went under a lift bridge instead. Just like with any passes that require human involvement, you have to contact the person running the facility and ask to come thru.
Sometimes you have to wait, most often at locks. And at couple of the locks I did the anchor drop, which allows us to stay in place and turn off the engines to let them rest a bit. It’s actually fun to start doing things on my own, things that I never imagined I would be doing until Tana’s boating dreams became mine. And now we’re actively pursuing them – yay!
Saturday night we got to try out the new light and it was really helpful in getting us safely to our night spot. Still, traveling in the dark is nerve racking and very stressful. There are already so many things to pay attention to on the river – they call it “eyes wide open boating” – imagine when you can’t actually see very well! We spoke to the person running the marina, Michael (gay power!), ahead of time to get the details about the place, but didn’t follow up later in the evening. He told us later that he got worried about us running behind schedule and at night fall, but when he saw us slowly puttering up to the dock in the dark, he sent half the bar patrons out to help bring us in and tie us down. It was a fun welcoming committee, cheering us in, as Tana very skillfully brought VK to the dock. This was the first marina that also had a restaurant and bar, that was actually open with people partying. Friday night, I suppose. We got a little taste of what normally occurs, like an outdoor concert we heard happening on a brightly lit stage right next to a lock where we had to hang out for a while, or drinks with friends at a bar. We couldn’t party for long, this daily boating excitement is very exhausting!
After making a few dozen miles on Sunday morning, we had to let Captain Tana and Deck Hand Asha get off the boat (sad face), to go back to what’s for now the reality, while your blog writer is staying on for another week to supervise (read: pay the bills) and to continue working remotely. Big thank you to my work team for letting me try this, being supportive of the adventure and stepping in when cell service was hiding in some woods or caves along the route!
Our friends Ann and Mindy in the Quad Cities area picked up Tana and Asha at a city dock in Burlington, Iowa, from where the drive home is only about 6 hours. The difference in travel speeds really messes with my head.
After the drop off we made it thru 3 locks, during which time I got to play with the controls and managed to keep the boat idling in the middle of a lock (without being tied to the side of it), while the lock filled with water. I started the same process on the last lock of the day, but the turbulence turned out to be too great for me to handle, it was even difficult for the captain to keep her steady and in the center of the lock, as per the grouchy lock master’s strict instructions.
We ended Sunday night with a bit of motoring in the dark, just to make it to the next marina, and I docked VK almost by myself! They also have a restaurant, unfortunately closed by the time we pulled in, that prides itself on grilled pork tenderloin (9,000 sold this season) and corned beef pastrami and Swiss sandwiches (1,000 sold this season). The owner was very kind getting up on the rainy morning of his day off to fill us with fuel, after which we took off into the gusting wind and sprinkling that quickly turned into sheets through which you couldn’t see more than a few feet ahead. And giant barges all over the place.
We previously noticed some water leaking from a pump that pulls river water to cool one of the engines while it runs. On Monday morning the trickle turned into spray that turned into flood. We were looking for the replacement pump and at the same time for a good marina to pull into. For example, calling one attached to a casino might have sounded like a good idea, but the person that answered the phone seemed to not speak the same “marine” language, knowing nothing about what were the conditions (whether VK would fit) or amenities (showers, laundry, shops), what “harbor master” is, or that maybe we should come into the lobby of the casino to check in (umm we’re on a boat floating just off the channel?).
We pulled into Lindsay Yacht Club instead, a proper spot, where even some tools were made available to us. Ann and Mindy came to the rescue a second time, graciously driving me to the Caterpillar place (engines not butterflies) for the pump, helping me get a few supplies and spending a little time over dinner in one of the local spots. This morning (Tuesday), in a third rescue effort by A&M, we went back to Caterpillar because a wrong pump was ordered yesterday. Oops! Installation is now in progress and we hope to shove off soon. (“Shove off” is a real term: “push away from the shore or another vessel in a boat.”)
