Wasteing away again in front of Lock five two

                                                                                                                                                

Saturday Oct. 11, 2014

"Wasteing Away Again" in front of Lock Five Two.

I was up at 0500 this morning to call the lockmaster and let him know that we and Harbor Lights, our companion boat, were ready to lock thru as soon as he could get us in the lock. He stated that another recreational boat would be in around 2 ½ hours and we would all lock thru together. Sounds like a plan.  The recreational boat showed up at 0900 and it was the paddle wheeler, “Spirit of Peoria” that we had tied up in front of when we were in Peoria.  The good news about him was that as a fare carrying vessel he jumps ahead of all the commercial traffic, so he was our ticket out of Lock 52. We finally pulled up anchors at 0930 and prepared to enter the lock. We finally proceeded into the lock behind the paddle wheeler and floated around in the lock while it slowly filled. We exited the lock at 1059 and headed up the Ohio.

All these triangles are tows waiting to get thru Lock 52. Lots of traffic!!

As we exited Colletta counted 20 tows with barges pushed up on shore waiting to get thru this lock. This many tows sitting around has got to cost big bucks for the tow companies.

We proceeded to Paducah, KY where we called the Kentucky Dam Lock  to check on the wait there. Most of the commercial traffic goes this way so it was just trying a lucky shot if we could cut a few miles off our route. Not to be, as there was a long wait at Kentucky Lock so we proceeded to the Cumberland River an additional 16 miles to go thru the Barkley Lock.

We exited the Ohio River at 1322 hours and entered the Cumberland River and the 30 miles to the Barkley Lock. The Cumberland River is a narrow and not very scenic river at this end. At the first sharp bend the AIS picked up the barge, Crimson White pushing 10 barges around a very narrow bend. I called him on the radio and asked him what his pleasure would be for passing him. He asked if we would stay back and wait for him to come around the bend before we passed. You don’t argue with a tow and 10 barges, so we waited. Heading up the Cumberland, I was surprised by the current as we were only doing about 6.5 mph. It was going to be close making it to Barkley Lock before dark. 

We arrived at the Barkley Lock as the sun was setting at 1820. The lock is a 57 foot lift to lake level and we exited the lock into pitch black.

Arriving Barkley Lock. This Harbor Lights our companion boat. 

 

Luckily, I had been to Green Turtle Marina on our way up from Texas with the boat. I had the radar at 1/8 mile range looking for markers into the marina, the chart plotter tuned way down, and my ace crew member on the bow with the portable spotlight. We entered the very dark marina and just tied up to the gas dock for the night. A very long day with a little pucker at the end finding the marina in the dark.