When we awoke at the Olmsted Lock site it was pitch dark outside except for the bright lights on the work barge. 30 minutes later there was enough light to leave.
A train crossing over a barge in the early morning light on the Ohio.
There were so many barges on the Ohio that we had to turn off the AIS alarm least it drive us nuts. Look at this chartplotter. Every green and red triangle represents a barge in a section less than 5 miles long. It is like dodgeball for real.
Here is Native Son following us between two barges. All it takes is nerve.
Finally we turned off the Ohio into the placid Cumberland River and it was like the quiet after a storm.
We are still at lovely Green Turtle Bay and nothing much is happening except work. Native Son was hauled out this morning and props removed again. Now these folks are claiming the work done by the prop guy at Port Charles was akin to blacksmith work. Who knows? Anyway they put the boat back in the water without the props and towed it back to it’s dock. It could be as late as Friday before they are back in action. We are not sure what we are going to do in light of this and will be watching the progress closely. We have so enjoyed our time with Rich and Merry Kay.
A courtesy car was available to take us to the IGA grocery but their selection was super limited and many shelves near empty. We picked up what we could and will just eat out more.
I arose at 0630 this morning to begin a thankless task of disassembling the dinghy, scrubbing everything down and putting it all back together. Thankfully it is done. When we get back to LGYC I will have to eventually take it home and completely refinish the floor panels. Saltwater is not good for wood but a little TLC and epoxy paint should do the job. The salt even disintegrated the rope handles on the side that was closest to the splashing prop spray.
I also removed what was left of the bow pulpit spotlight that was broken off in Lock #53 and taped over the hole. A replacement will be less than $200 and a fairly simple installation since the real work is in running an electrical wire harness from the flybridge to the bow. But the wiring is still there from the factory install and I am putting the same model light back thus it is just mounting and tying the wires together.
Jan did laundry, a never-ending task, and I washed the boat including cleaning the brown mustache off the bow which is from the Illinois, Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. We don’t want to go home dirty.
Speaking of home, we have contacted Rear-Commodore George Shanks to obtain a slip at LGYC. It is sad to be ending this journey but good to know we have a place to go. Soon we will have to begin planning the next great adventure. Many of the things overseas on the mythical bucket list will have to be moved to a back burner due to unrest around the globe and our adventures will have to be limited to places on friendly soil.
