Saturday, September 21, 2019
Day 36 on the Loop – Boston Bar Anchorage to Paducah, KY (47.63 miles)
We made it to Paducah KY! For Loopers, this is a big accomplishment. When you talk to Loopers and ask what sections they most enjoyed, the Illinios/Mississippi/Ohio Rivers are usually not on top of the list. You are dealing with swift currents, long hours with not much in the way of scenery, and commercial tows. Definitely there have been areas of interest, and it is definitely an interesting way to travel through America's heartland, but it is also a bit of relief to have this section of the Loop completed.
After a peaceful night at anchor we left Boston Bar Anchorage around 7:30 am. The raw water washdown (that is used to wash off the anchor and chain) had failed, so we had a large amount of mud on the anchor, but the swift current meant that the chain was clean.
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| Jubilee on as we head south |
We followed
Jubilee out and did the short run down to the junction with the Ohio River.
Starting up the Ohio River meant that the current was now against us, and that our speed was reduced and our fuel consumption increased. We traveled up to the new Olmstead Lock and Dam, where we had about a 1 1/2 hour wait as commercial traffic cleared through. We spent the time motoring up and down, as there was not a good place to anchor. At one point we tried hanging out behind a large bollard that tugs use to tie off their tows. This provided a bit of a break from the wind and current.
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| Hiding behind a bollard! :) |
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| Gordon and Kathleen in the Olmstead Lock |
The Olmtead Lock is quite new, having opened in August, 2018. The lock replaces two other locks and cost over $3 billion. In the background you can see the top of a two-part floating pin that we tied off to. We were actually tied to the bottom half of that. It did give us a bit of scare, since the bottom pin was actually underwater once the lock level had risen. Still, it was a very smooth (i.e. no water turbulence) ride up for the 14' water level change.
Our planned destination for the evening was the transient boat dock at Paducah, but it was not clear if there would be space once we got there. When we arrived opposite the entrance we followed
Jubilee in, as our depth finder, which had briefly come back to life, had once again failed and was showing 3,021 feet of depth under us! Staff at Paducah Transient Dock were able to find space for us at the fuel dock. We fueled up (78.01 gallons at $3.450/gallon = $272.21) and then topped of water and gave the boat a hose down, including hosing off the mud-laden anchor.
It was still quite warm, so hooking up the power (thankfully I had a 50 amp adapter) so we could run air conditioning was most appreciated. We had showers on board and then joined Chris and Bonnie from
Mi Toi and George and Nina from
Breathe for dinner ashore at Shandies, a nice local restaurant.
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| Lewis and Clark Statue - Including Seaman, Lewis' Newfoundland dog, who traveled the entire journey. |
On the way back to the boats we looked at murals on the walls that protect the town from flooding, which the Ohio River is prone to do.
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| Mural on the Paducah Sea Wall |
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Paducah Transient Boat Dock at Night
It was very dark - No lights across the river! |
It was nice to come back to the air conditioned boat for a good night's sleep, and the knowledge that we did not have to rush out in the morning!
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