Air Temp: 73 Water Temp: 75
Winds: 9 mph
Speed: 9.0 mph
We were joined by Liquid Assets and Have Another Day; they just started the Loop on Monday from Chicago. They are a young couple with two little girls ages 6 and 9. We have had a pretty good current so far on the rivers, so we are pushed an extra mile or two speed, which is nice because it saves us a little more fuel and time!
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| Blue dot is Rowe Boat being locked down. |
We floated around waiting on the Brandon Road Lock and Dam where we were lowered 34 feet. Commercial traffic has priority, and there is a lot of barge traffic, so sometimes it can take several hours before pleasure boats or PC's, as the lockmasters and tub captains call us, can be locked through.
We also had to start calling tug captains on the VHF radio so they could tell us which side to pass them on. When they say pass on the "ones" it means pass them on the right. The "twos" of course means pass on the left. At one point, we had 3 radios going at once. There was quite a bit of chatter going on between the lock masters and the tugs and us talking to each other and the Coast Guard channel 16. It was hard to keep up with who was saying what!
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| This is a bunch of passing this tug on the "2's" |
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| Tugs waiting for their tow assignments. |
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| Just one of the many tows we encountered. |
Our next lock was the Dresden Lock and Dam, but first we had to drop anchor and wait for over 2 hours before we could enter. When we approached, there was already a tug and it's barges in the lock. We rafted up with Liquid Assets and waited for the tow to exit before another tow entered to be lowered. We had to wait until they exited before it was our turn. Seven Loopers and one other boat were then lowered 20 feet.
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| Rafting with Tim and Carol on Liquid Assets while we wait on the lock. |
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| Rafting up in the lock. |
Our last lock of the day was the Marseilles Lock, a 28 foot drop. When we first got there it looked like we would be there for several hours. There was a tug with several barges already in the chamber, and another tow waiting. But the waiting tug, the "Hunnicut" saw the Looper flags on our boats and told the lock master we could go ahead of him. Come to find out, he had done the Loop himself last year! What a nice guy, saved us at least a 2 hour wait.
We got spoiled from the Canal Locks. They were short days with cute little towns. The river locks are far apart and take longer to lock through. We arrived at Heritage Harbor Marina at 4:30. I borrowed their courtesy car to get a few groceries then we had dinner with Liquid Assets and Errante at the Marina restaurant.
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