Falling Towards Winter

With the exception of a few days we've had a pretty mild Fall here in NW Illinois. Pam & I have been passing the time by standing on the local marinas fuel docks trying to catch a ride just to get on the river one last time before the snow flies.

I'm happy to report that our strategy worked a couple of times!

When we weren't begging for boat rides we filled our time with family, friends, and taking in the area sights that we often take for granted.

Grandkids on their best behavior.

Pam cheering on the Packer's!

Convertible ride with Mike & Nancy.

View of the Mississippi and Garnet Lake from Pikes Peak (Iowa) State Park.

A favorite stop in Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin.

Apple season in Gays Mills, Wisconsin. Love those Honey Crisp.

Checked out the Wiener Dog Races at Galena's Oktoberfest.

Used the family card and spent a day on the water with Ange & Doug.

Took the munchkins to the UW Platteville Homecoming Parade.

Ava, Franklin, & Ellie had sticker fever after the parade at Mike & Nancy's.

Of course Pam didn't want to be left out!

We managed to snag a dinghy ride up the Galena River and a night on the water.

Galena River.

Rafting up the Galena River from our anchorage.

View of our hometown, Galena.

Another beautiful river sunset.


We have found that Pam's thumb is more appealing than mine when trying to hitch a ride! She managed to score an overnight trip with Mike & Nancy to Guttenberg.

Choppy waters above Lock 11.

Two Hot chicks and a Dixie.

Kurt & Tina's boat, "Perseverance" at the dock in Guttenberg.

Guttenberg Municipal Marina.

Southbound tow flanking out of Lock 10.

Our hosts, Mike & Nancy.

Before long it was time to carve the pumpkins for Halloween.

Ellie & Franklin digging in with an assist from Reba & Melonie.

The finished product.

The Mouseketeer's with Great Grandma Vada.

That same weekend I hopped a ride on Vagabond as a deckhand for the 53 mile journey to Island City Harbor in Sabula, Iowa where she will be hauled out and stored inside their building for the winter.

Fall colors near Dubuque.

Empty barges headed north for the harvest season.

Ski runs of Chestnut Mtn. near Galena soon to be covered in snow.

Trying to wedge ourselves between the barge and the red buoy. We made it with room to spare.

We had no wait at the Sabula RR Bridge!

Pam & Lu chased us in the car and brought treats to help cushion the impact of the end of season.

Until next year!

Of course since we were that close to Savanna, Il. we had to make a stop at Manny's for taco's & pizza! Yumm!

Boating season in the upper Midwest is certainly over as evidenced by the empty slips and covered boats.

We see this sight at Frentress Lake Marina which is just down the hill from our house every time we venture out of the neighborhood.

With only a week or so to go before Pam & I head south we are busy getting things organized for our absence. We're also thinking about what we need to take with us. For me that hasn't really happened yet. For Pam it starts with the shoes!

River Tidbits

Our recent trip of 504 miles took us through 10 different locks, twice, making 20 lockages all together. Most of the chambers on the Upper River are 600' long by 110' wide which is more than enough room for us but not for a 15 barge tow. They have to split the tow into 2 sections to complete a lockage which can take up to 2 hours. If you're unfortunate enough to get to a lock as a tow is approaching, 9 times out of 10 you can figure on waiting. Find a spot off the channel, drop the hook, and have lunch or take a nap.

On the water you quickly realize that pleasure boats are the lowest priority when it comes to locking. Government vessels are 1st. For hire passenger vessels are 2nd. Commercial tows are 3rd, followed by us. It's a pecking order that upsets a lot of boaters who may arrive at a lock ahead of any of the 1st three types only to be told they have to wait. I've listened to many lock masters be verbally abused over the VHF by fellow boaters. In the end the lock master wins. End of story!

On our recent trip we were lucky. Tow traffic was light and the few that we encountered we met between the locks. This isn't always the case. Pam and I once only travelled 25 miles from 8 am till 4 pm. We traversed 3 locks but had to wait 2 hours at each for commercial traffic. Not what we had hoped for that day but by looking ahead before we started and having a plan A, B, & C, a lot of stress on captain and crew was avoided.

A typical lock on the upper Mississippi. This 15 barge tow will have to split and do 2 lockage's to transit the lock. The tow is driven into the chamber and then split. The towboat then backs out of the chamber usually leaving  9 barges to lock up or down. When the water level of the other side is reached the gates are opened and the powerless barges are pulled out by an electric winch and cable system. Once this group of barges is clear and secured the gates will close and the chamber will re-fill. The opposite gates will open allowing the powered end of the tow to enter and the process will be repeated. The 2 sections will then be reattached and the tow will be on it's way.

 

 

 







The locks fill and empty by gravity. The above diagram shows how it works just by opening and closing valves on either end of the lock.

 

There are 3 locks on the upper river that can handle an entire 15 barge tow in one lockage and they are Lock 19 in Keokuk, Iowa. And Locks 26 and 27 just above St. Louis.

 

Most of the locks were built in the 1930's with a life expectancy of 50 years. Here we are in 2015 and they are still operating! They knew how to build things back then. 

 

 

If you've been following this blog for a few years you may remember a post from late 2013 about the towboat Stephen L. Colby which struck a rock along side the channel near Davenport, Iowa and sank. The boat was refloated and towed to a repair facility near St. Louis. On our recent trip we saw that the Colby is once again back in service.

 

 

The M/V Stephen L. Colby passing through La Crosse, Wisconsin.

 

Harvest season always brings an increase in tow traffic on the river. This is due in large part because of the tremendous amount of grain that can be moved by one 15 barge tow. One single barge can take 58 full size semi's off of the road.  The 15 barges that make up one tow remove 870 semi's from our roadways. That's a lot!

 

Most of the locks have a viewing area next to the chamber. I would highly recommend taking time to visit one if you ever have the chance. You'll marvel at how gently these giants of the river guide their barges into and through the chamber.

 

 

 

North We Go (Part 3)

After two nights at Parkside Marina we untied the dock lines and made our way out to the channel. The wind was still blowing out of the northwest around 20 with gusts to 30mph but minus the rain.

We slid past the National Eagle Center (www.nationaleaglecenter.org) located right on the Wabasha waterfront and within minutes we were out of town. We passed by many sand dunes and in no time we were transiting Lock 4 at Alma, Wi.

National Eagle Center.

Sand dunes below Wabasha.

Power plant below Lock 4.

The channel winds from Wisconsin over to the Minnesota side through a sheltered course. And then a few miles above Lock 5 it opened up to feel the full effect of the wind. Kim did a great job of getting Vagabond into the chamber with the wind howling up her skirt. It was blowing hard enough to create white caps inside the chamber until the gates were closed!

Northbound tow fighting wind and current above Lock 5.

Once through the lock the channel narrowed and the wind was less of a problem. Lock 5A was ready for us and through it we went. A short while later we pulled along the Winona, Mn. sea wall and ventured into town to find a liquor store.

Fountain City, Wis.

Former sand pit above Winona that we used to stop at.

Vagabond at Winona.

Neat old building downtown.

We found the liquor store.

 

We new we were in trouble when the highest priced bottle of wine was only $5.95!

 

Lets just say that the liquor store isn't in the best part of town so once we made our purchase it was back to the boat for us.

 Just downstream we pulled into The Winona Marina, formerly the Winona Yacht Club. The wind was pushing us into the dock and there was no one around to catch a line. Once secured we saw the sign with a phone number on it. Kim called and found out the attendant was at lunch. Wait we did. Finally he slowly comes down the dock. A pumpout is what we needed so once he got the antiquated system primed the job was completed. Cost...$20.00! When the attendant was paid he went back into the hut never to be seen again. No help with lines. No help pushing us off the dock. Nothing! Must have been time for his nap!

 

We got off and worked our way south through Lock 6 and Lock 7 and on to our anchorage just off the channel across from downtown La Crosse. 

 

 

Our anchorage in downtown LaCrosse.

 

 

It wasn't long before Kim switched from captain to cook.

I did my part and held the plate!

The shoreline blocking the wind and anchored in a no wake area made for a very peaceful night.
Our travel the next day took us all of 1 mile to Pettibone Boat Club where we docked for the evening so we could check out a restaurant in downtown La Crosse.

Vagabond at Pettibone.

View of the channel from Pettibone.

Waiting for our meal at the Waterfront. It was worth the wait.

Fat and Happy we pulled out of Pettibone the next morning and made our way South. Destination...Garnet Lake.

Fleeting area below La Crosse.

Lonely day mark.

We met another river boat below La Crosse. The American Eagle. A new passenger vessel that none of us had seen before. (www.americancruiselines.com)

Headed towards the Minnesota bluffs near Brownsville.

Closing in on Brownsville, Mn.

Meeting a Northbound tow on a tight corner.

Exiting Lock 8 at Genoa, Wis.

Indians?

Blackhawk Bridge at Lansing, Iowa.

Once again we made a pit stop in Lansing for fuel, ice, and more Cow Pie.

Wide river below Lansing.

Mid channel dredging. Where do we go??

Our destination. Garnet Lake.

Once again it's time to eat!

We spent two nights anchored in Garnet and on the lay day took the dinghy for a ride through the backwaters on the Wisconsin side of the river. Just below Garnet the Wisconsin River dumps into the Mississippi. A great place to explore with it's sand bars and multiple channels. This time however we went towards Prairie Du Chien. Through shallow water that required tilting the motor up, and down dead end sloughs that had been dammed by the beavers. It reminded me of my childhood exploring the backwaters in my 14' jon boat and trusty Evinrude 3hp motor. We were all Huck Finn's for a few hours.

Looking towards Iowa as the morning mist raises off the water.

A lonely fisherman along the bank.

Slough that was dammed by the beavers.

The back way into Prairie Du Chien Marina.

A couple of cold campers who had just gotten splashed by a wave.

One of the things that I don't think I've ever mentioned about Garnet Lake is the large number of Bald Eagles that seem to reside there. Every time you look up or at the trees you can usually spot one or more scanning their territory. It's a sight that you never get tired of. Unfortunately my camera doesn't zoom in close enough to get a good picture. You'll just have to go there to see for yourself.

Our last night was a peaceful one on the hook and all too soon we were back underway trying to get home before the forecasted thunderstorms moved in.

A river all to ourselves.

Once again we were lucky at the locks with very little wait at either 10 or 11. The weather cooperated and only gave us brief showers for our final 50 miles luckily waiting until we were under cover of the dock, safe and sound at Mid-Town Marina. A great trip come to a close. We traveled 504 total statute miles. 464 on the Mississippi and 40 on the St. Croix.

Many thanks to Kim & Lu as well as Vagabond for their hospitality!