One thing we will never forget is how much the captain who drove our boat from Seneca to Chicago got freaked out by barges. He was not the guy we originally hired. The guy we originally hired had absolutely no recollection of agreeing to the job. He recommended another “really experienced captain”. Well, the really experienced captain had very little experience at all with river boating. He wanted to give barges such a wide berth that we occasionally ran the risk of grounding.
I can’t imagine what he would have done if we had encountered two barges like we did on the third day of our 200-mile stretch. The barges were heading towards us. One intended to overtake the other, although he hadn’t quite started his maneuvre yet. We radioed and said we’d like to pass on the inside (that is, port to port). The first barge said, “Nope.” He wanted us to pass on the 2.
Well, that threw us for a bit of a loop. That would have put us way too close to shore. So, we respectfully declined and let him know that we would prefer to go inside the green markers instead.
Passing Etiquette
For my non-boating friends and family, I’ve drawn a little diagram to illustrate passing on the 1 or 2.
Before VHF radios were around, ships would give 1 or 2 toots of their horn to indicate what side they should pass on
You can think of the 1 or 2 as the numbers on a clock. The 1 is the 1. The 2 is the 11 (or two 1s). The boat being passed is the 12.
The only problem with visualizing the approaching boat as the 12 is that I have to stand on my head to get the 1 and the 11 in the right place.
Actually, now that I think about it, I don’t know where the 1 and the two are in this situation.
Greg, of course, does not have that problem and just shakes his head at me standing on mine.
Sweatin’ to the Oldies
Greg had the radio on and Springsteen was playing. Despite the heat, I did a little dancing. It’s hard to believe that Dancing in the Dark was almost 40 years ago. I remember the video so well. It kind of breaks my heart what Courtney Cox has done to herself. She shone so brightly back then.
BYE BYE MISSISSIPPI. HELLO OHIO!
Once we hit the Ohio River, we were going upstream. Our speed dropped down to 7mph and Starby started to smoke. The chugga, chugga, chugga stopped, though, so it could be that the lawn chair had worked its way loose.
We hoped that the smoke was due to the fact that we hadn’t run our engines full out since Sunday. We really had to conserve fuel, though, especially since Paducah was not answering the phone.
We had hoped to get there by noon, but since we didn’t want to push Starby, it was going to be later.
We were getting pretty good mileage. If the gauges were correct, we would have enough gas to get to Green Turtle Bay if necessary.
So Hot
I was constantly surprised I didn’t see palm trees. The sandbars looked like desert dunes. We actually saw some river camels at one point.
Oh wait, it was just a mirage. I may have been a little delirious from the heat.
Oh, Ohio
Our speed kept dropping. I started wondering, “Are we going to be here forever?” I was looking for an albatross. If we had to rely on wind power, we would have been in the doldrums and travelling backwards because of the current.
Still, slow as we were going, we were making forward progress.
Starby was keeping us on our toes, though. She grumbled and pouted. I started thinking of her as a petulant teenager, but unlike a real teenager, she has all the power in this relationship. Don’t treat her nice? She just may take up smoking again. Don’t sweet talk her? She might just go to her room, slam the door, and tune out.
So I fretted. And I wondered just how reputable these “reputable” marinas are. Why is Starby still acting up? It’s almost like the marinas we’ve been to are like Canadian Tire. They’ll fix your problem, but not really. Don’t know engines? That’ll be $50,000, please.
I wonder if I’m too old to learn about boat engines. I can fit in the engine room more easily than Greg. It’s still challenging, although now it’s a little less challenging now that we’ve gotten rid of the couch. It would have been lovely in its time, but after 25 years, it had lost a lot of its appeal.
We’ve Redecorated!
We replaced the couch with a desk and a recliner. That may seem unusual, but it works for us. I prefer sitting at a desk to work. In the evening when I’m working, Greg’s reclining, and at night when he’s working, I’m reclining.
The galley table is still okay to work at. I would love to renovate the galley to make the seats more comfortable and have the table and seating convert to a bed the way they did in the houseboat we rented a few years back. It’s unlikely that we’ll make that change, though. There are always other, more pressing things to spend our boat money on.
NEWS FROM THE HOME FRONT
Greg got a call from Matthew while we were travelling today. Matthew’s coach says that anyone who gets injured on the second day of practice is an embarrassment to the team.
What the actual f—? When there’s only one kid who’s injured, you know who he’s talking about. (It was Matthew.) I wish I could smack the coach upside the head. Even NFL players get injured during practice. Why on earth would you single out one kid?
Grrrrrrrr.
FISH
I have seen a lot of fish in the Ohio. They have big mouths, so I figure they’re either bass or carp. They’re not jumping into the boat (or at all), so probably not Copi. Yup. That’s the official rename of the invasive Asian carp. I have to say I’m not impressed. Silverfin is so much better in my opinion.
Paducah
We decided to try to get gas at Paducah. It was a bit of a tricky approach. There were shoals and Starby had gone and quit on us.
We think she might just be thirsty even though her tank is half full.
We made it on our second try. Still no answer on the phone, so I trudged / slithered up the ramp in search of an office.
No luck.
I did meet a very gallant gentleman who was in charge of setting up for a festival that was happening on Thursday. I asked him if he knew anything about the public dock and he answered as if I were not red as a beet and dripping in sweat.
In retrospect, I suppose people don’t actually say, “Gah! Are you okay? You look terrible!”
Still, he smiled and made eye contact and was very helpful.
By the time I was back at the boat, John was coming down the ramp ready to pump our gas. He asked if we wanted to stay the night. Since that meant power, which meant air conditioning, we said, “YES!”
