Proud Lady’s Adventure to Her Temporary Home on Barkely Lake
From log notes by Captain Ken edited By Joy & Bill H. starting October 30 to November 5th
Trip Started: Starved Rock Marina,MM 233.5, Illinois River, Ottawa, IL
Trip Ended: Rottering Marine, MM43, Eddyville, KY
Day 1 Saturday October 30th MM 233.3 Leaving Starved Rock Marina- it was a beautiful sunrise as Proud Lady started on her voyage . Captain Ken and Bill pulled from Starved rock Marina onto the Illinois River. They arrived at Starved Rock Lock 0730; gates were open, so made good time locking through. All was good until right above the town of Henry they lost the port engine. Had to restart the engine a few times. Bill changed the fuel filters and got the air out if the lines. He got the engine going just as they got to Lake Peoria. It ran good but lost some travel time. They spent the night in downtown Peoria at the Municiple Dock. Mile Marker 62.5 Peoria River dock. No electric power we are running generator. They were very tired. Time 1620. Hope to do better tomorrow. They called it a day.
Day 2 Sunday October 31st Left Peoria city dock at 0815 weather is still good cool and sunny. Port engine still giving trouble. Passed Coon Hollow Island. Time 0952 MM 140.5. Time 1430 Passed by Browning Marina MM 97.5 at gas tanks; out of service so we didn‘t stop. Hoping to make it past La Grange Lock today. MM 80.2. Time 1420 made it to La Grange there is a double Tow/Barge locking through had to wait 2 hours. We didn’t need that! Its getting dark. Great! Having trouble with port engine again, transmission not going into reverse. Finally got thought the lock at 1748. Out of the lock and we are looking for anchorage running in the dark. Using flood lights to see the nuns and buoys to find our way. Finally anchored at MM 61.6 by a railroad bridge time 2015. Thank God for the radar and GPS. Fuel 25” port, 3.5” on starboard.
Day 3 Monday November 1st We were moving at 0725 Bill added oil into both engines and antifreeze to the port engine. The port engine ran a little warm at 190 degrees. Lost oil pressure starboard engine had to shut down Chief engineer Bill went down to the engine room again. A hose from the compressor had pushed out all the engine oil- Bill refilled the oil got the engine going. Thank God! Back to running at 8 knots, Hardin Illinois time 1147. MM 8.0 time 1312. Arrived on the Mississippi River MM 218.0 at 1405. Lost the Port engine, had to restart it after Bill talked to it for a few minutes. Made it to Alton Marina 1550 MM 203.0 , fueled up in the dock at 1615 it was still light out and very nice. Took on 111 gallons of fuel. Met Mark here he brought more tools and filters, antifreeze, oil to keep the ol’ girl running. Had a shower, dinner at “Fast Eddies”, and Good nights rest.
Day 4 Tuesday November 2nd MM 201 left out of Alton Marina 0705 another sunny cold morning and entered into the Melvin Price lock 0720-0750. 0830 entered into the Chain of rocks Canal. Lost the port engine again! Bill changed the filters we spun around out of control. No Port engine. Out of the lock at 0950 no fun here. Bill got the engine going again 1015 MM162.3. This time he changed the pre-filter to the port engine which had been overlooked since Racine, WI when the previous owner brought her down to Starved Rock Marina (this was the root of the port engine problem not running as it never missed a beat after that filter change). At 1144 Bill realized he’d missed seeing the arch in St. Louis MO. as he was in the engine room. Passed Hoppies’ Marine time 1202 MM 158.5, port engine running good. Running good at 11 knots. 1680 RPM’s we are at MM 147 on the Mississippi River. MM117.5 passed Kaskaskia
River; too early to stop. 1645 MM 102.3 River side of Rockwood Island there is a dredge working in the area. We had decided to anchor had to use 2 anchors current running fast. Bad idea; forward anchor let go over the stern. It took an hour to get the anchor back up and 2nd reset. Now we moved into calmer water but shallow. Bill worked hard and was exhausted . Hope we have a good night. (Met a Butthead on the river that didn’t want us to anchor near them as they wee afraid we would break loose again and bump his boat. Can‘t blame him he had a nice boat but his derogatory remarks were painful.)
Day 5 Wednesday November 3rd had trouble waking and getting up. Worked Bill hard again as the Mississippi current was a bear to contend with; but we got moving at 0650 ahead of the butthead. Time 0725 Port Engine running warm again 195 degrees slowed the RPM’s had to cool the port engine. 0800 time 1550 rpms running very good 10.4 knots. Started the Honda generator and charged the cell phones. MM44.0, RPM’s 1590 at 1134, temp 190 degrees on port engine. Cloudy and chilly but no rain yet. At 1208 still running good. 1408 running very good 13.7 mph very good due to the current on the ol’ Mississippi. MM00 at 1510. Lots of towboats on the Ohio MM 981. Passing Olmstead Lock still under construction. Trying to get to lock #53 . Arrived @1735 went over the dam, as the wickets were down, tried to stay there and asked lockmaster for permission to tie-up to lock wall, but they wouldn’t let us due to 9/11 and Homeland Security and Corp of Engineer’s ruling. Going on to MM 949.0 to anchor for the night its getting dark again. Speed is down to 6.2 knots running against the current on the Ohio. Ran in the dark until MM 949.0 dropped anchor @1950 had a very long day.
Woke at 0300 felt the boat moving wind has picked up. Boat had not broken loose from anchorage but wind had picked up and shifted us around running the bow up onto the sandy shore. Made sure everything was OK, slept again after that.
Day 6 Thursday November 4th Fuel 24.24 inches port, 4 inches starboard. MM # 949.0 got moving at 0650 hours next lock is 10 miles ahead. Lock # 52 on the Ohio must be at least 25 tows waiting to lock through we had to stop and wait. Wind is blowing, what a mess. 1045 wind is blowing we were the first into the lock. Interlude 2nd then 3rd a 30 ft Bayliner. Lock has no lines we had to use ours lines were not long enough we need longer than 25 foot. Out of the lock at 1155 MM 935.5 we are passing the Tennessee River and going on up to the Cumberland River and onto Lake Barkley. Wind is blowing hard at our back. 22.4 miles to Barkley lock. Finally onto the Cumberland River it is calm, and out of the wind. Water is deep but not too wide. Hope we don’t have to pass a tow. Time 1330 AND yes we did meet a tow MM 10.5 on a curve in the river, we had room, all went ok. Boat running good. 1750 RPM’s, 7.5 knots port engine a little warm but ok 195 degrees. Weather clouded over and cooled passing MM 24.4 time 1600 hours radio is quiet. Into Barkley lock time 1655 the rise in the lock 57 foot, lifted in about 15 minutes was out at 1715. We arrived at Green Turtle Bay Marina at 1715 Had a wonderful hot shower. Dinner at the restaurant. Another nice night plugged into electric with heat. Slept good.
Day 7 Friday November 5th Arrived at Rottegring Marine on Barkley Lake MM 43, where Bill will do needed repairs and upgrades on Proud Lady; planning to have her back into the water by February 2011. Captain Ken found a 44’ DeFever in the Rotterging Marine yard that had been sitting there for 3 years. She was beautiful and Ken got the contact information from Bobbie at the office in the hope of finding a good deal on her.
More Pictures in following post- thanks Joy
