Friday, September 19 and Saturday
September 20, 2014
As we left the Fort Madison marina in our wake, we recalled
the warning that the river gets shallow very quickly outside the channel, and to
make certain that we stay inside the channel.
So we heeded the warning! We had
had enough of thin water as the boaters call shallow water.
As we travel the river, we are amazed that there is so much
wilderness left.
We passed miles and miles of open water and unfettered
coastline. Birds abound. For most of the first few weeks, bald eagle
sightings occurred every hour, and the intrepid birds would fly so close you
could see their eyes. The cawing of the
great blue herons cackles through the air.
The white pelicans constantly fill the sky and cluster in groups along
the shore.
Then, all of a sudden, a town will appear. Power plants, shipping terminals and grain
elevators puncture the skyline. Then fade
away as the pristine coastline, wild life and open water returns.
The folks that talked with us at the in Fort Madison shared some
information about the next lock: Lock & Dam # 19, in Keokuk, IA, the oldest
lock and dam on the river (over 100 years), and one of the largest on the
Mississippi.
Lock #19 is large enough to accommodate all the barges and
the tow boat of a standard-size load (6 barges long and 3 barges wide). Normal
locks require barges to separate and go through the lock in two pieces and pass
separately through the lock. The tow is then reassembled once through the lock.
This entire process takes time. Like 2 hours or so. We’ve
timed it while making lazy circles in the water above the lock.
Most locks drop, or change water levels by 6-10 feet. Locking through is usually a simple process…sort
of. After entering the lock, the boat is pulled up next to the concrete wall
and a rope is tossed for you hold your boat to the wall while slowly letting
out the line as the water level changes. You try to keep the boat parallel to
the wall so the bow and/or stern don’t hit. Fenders cushion the blows and take
the slime as the boat dances about…unless you are really good and can keep the
fenders off the wall as well (we aren’t).
At #19, however, the drop is 38 feet. They use bollards instead of lines. (A
bollard is a steel post in the cement wall that moves up and down with the
water change). So you pull up close to
the wall, sling a line from the midship, cleat your boat around the bollard. The
bollard moves down with the water depth change. No tugging on a rope dropped
down from above. So easy!
 |
| Kathy Single Handing the Bollard at Keokuk, IA |
My contact at the City of Quincy assured me that he had called
the Corps of Engineers and they confirmed that the bridges would be high enough
for our mast. He also said we could get into the marina without churning mud. And
so it was.
When we arrived at the marina fuel dock, two guys greeted
us. One told us where to dock. Both came over to catch our lines and help us
dock. We discovered that only one of
them worked at the marina. The other, a sailor, had seen Sea Fever motoring
down the channel, and stopped by for a view of the boat up close.
We all chatted awhile (lots of chatting on docks. Kathy thought we all chatted on our Lake City
Marina docks because we know each other…not the case when cruising!) Kathy
asked about a local grocery, and sure enough, she was offered a ride to the
local HY VEE and cabbed it back to the marina by the curious sailor.
On her grocery excursion she wore SHORTS AND A T-SHIRT. Going south seems to finally be getting
warmer!
The marina was pretty.
We decided we needed a day off from travel, so we stayed the
next day, Saturday, worked on blogs.
The new friend we met at the dock the day before came back
with his spouse to see the boat. They were competing in kayak races just down
the river a bit. We talked for an hour
or so about boats and sailing. They went off to do the things that they needed
to have done. We napped.
We woke up on Sunday morning with 40 miles to cover. But rested.
Thank you for reading.
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