Back To The Ohio River

Wed-Fri Sept 27-29

When we turned from the Mississippi River to the Ohio River it was 16 miles to the new Olmsted Lock.  Although the lock walls are complete, the dam is still under construction, so we went straight through the open gates on both ends of the lock. 

Two more miles to Lock 53, but the lockmaster radioed for us to hurry on up to the lock. We put the pedal to the medal to increase our speed to 8 mph!! We ended up waiting an hour for the barge to get out of lock 53. Just like the Illinois locks, there were many barges waiting to get through the locks.

Locks 52 and 53 were built in 1908 and upgraded in 1970 and are way past their service life! The lockmasters work very hard to keep these locks operational. Just one more year until Olmsted is complete and these two locks will be removed.

So we get in lock 53 and the gate closes behind us, well it sort of mostly closes. And it feels like it is being filled with a garden hose. It takes an hour to raise 2 feet of height! We exit carefully going around the barge waiting to go in the lock. 

We go 10 more miles then pull over to the Kentucky side of the river in 15 feet of water to anchor and raft with Resolute and Sweet Liberty. It was my turn to supply docktails -- simply crackers, cheese, sausage,  olives, hot pickled asparagus, salsa and chips. We are exhausted from waiting all day.

Up early and we cruise the 14 miles from the anchorage to lock 52. The lockmaster tells us to anchor that it may be a while. It was only 3 hours and we were called up to the lock! There were eight of us floating in the chamber. The fill of lock 52's chamber was a bit faster than 53 but it still seemed a long time. It is difficult trying to keep the boat in one place. But we all get through Lock 52 and head for Paducah. 

And guess what? Paducah is having a bbq festival! There are 35 bbq vendors: pulled pork, brisket, ribs, candied bacon, corn, and every dessert imaginable. And vendors with shirts, crafts and things like live music!! What a welcome to Kentucky after battling the current on the Mississippi River and the locks on the Ohio River.

Kelly, Terri, Kim, Tom, Pat, Pete

Daily there were more loopers making their way down the Mississippi, so we decided we should move on up the Ohio. It was only 1-1/2 hours up the Ohio River to the confluence with the Cumberland River where we officially started our loop. 

In Deep Ship Crosses Wake!!!!!
We "crossed our wake" at 12 noon on Friday, September 29, 2017!!!! Our official loop is complete! We have the gold burgee!!!

Gold Loopers

America's Great Loop took us only 400 days (including a couple visits home), 6958 miles, 2179 gallons of diesel fuel (3.193 mpg), 1043 engine hours (6.67 mph).  Not counting regular maintenance, we had nearly $7500 in emergency repairs. We stayed in marinas 369 nights, and anchored 31 times.

It really was a great adventure! We have made some good friends, visited many cities and towns, and boated in some beautiful water all around the eastern part of the United States and Canada. Thank you to all who have been reading our blog.  We have only touched on a small bit of our loop story.

I have personalized an old Irish toast:

There are great ships
"Cross Your Wake" ships
Such a feat trip
For In Deep Ship
On the Great Loop you'll see.

But the best ships
Are the friendships
To toast and vow
They're the best now
And may they always be!

This is dedicated to our boating buddies, we wouldn't have had such a fantastic voyage without you........

Thank y'all for being good friends
We'd cruise the Loop with y'all again
Our routes are true, we're boaters--that is what we do

We really have to say
These great memories will always stay
We thank you and won't y'all stand up and just say wow!

If we had more docktails
Invited all the loopers we knew
We would see the biggest dish would be friendship
And the crowd around would say:
Thank y'all for being good friends!

Kelly and Terri

In Deep Ship
America's Great Loop
Sept. 29, 2017