Mississippi Mile Marker 1 to Olmstead Lock/Dam on the Ohio River

After leaving Angelo Island, We realized that had we walked a bit futher we would have found a nice park area to explore on the point. Oh…well next time. We pulled up anchor and within seconds it seemed like we were in the Ohio River. There was a Huge tow blocking the river. Bryce called him on the VHF and we stopped till he made his turn. Then he asked us to pass him on the Starboard side. Believe it or not he was speeding up must faster than us so we just let that big guy have the right away. They are building a new lock on the Ohio River Olmstead is replacing lock 53 & 52; completion is 2020. We watched a show on channel 56 they expect it to really open in 2019. Lock 53- 52 are always an issue. Lock 52 is closed for at least 36 hours due to heavy rain perhaps longer. The Army Corp of Engineers was not going to commit to a repair date. We hear commercial traffic and cruisers are piled up on each side of the lock.

As usual, we anchored in the river. Actually our anchorage was very nice. We are about 4 miles downstream of the new Olmstead lock/dam. River current is 1 mph, depth is 14 feet. We are over 500 feet from the red buoy. Remember I said it feels like the Mississippi has a magical spell over us?

Not ones to sit around for long, we made a decision after Bryce spoke with the lock master to turn around and do the lower Mississippi rather than the Tennessee-Tom. We will have to back track about 15 miles. I text some friends who live in New Orleans and they are excited that we are coming that way. Perhaps they can show us around New Orleans. See you in a month or so Laura and Bill. The lower Mississippi will be a new adventure for us.

Ann Elise, was the tow blocking the river. I was thinking we should just go forward and stay on the Mississippi and Bryce thought the same thing we we didn’t communicate until later that evening.

Or view of the Ohio River after we turned from the Mississippi.

This is the view of the park. We were anchored just on the other side of this bridge.

Another train bridge over the river.

Extra …Extra Read all About it…Boatniks is making a come back

October of 1989 Bryce and I were on our way to Cedar Point in Ohio on our 245 Sea Ray. When we decided to pull into Metropark and see if we could ﬁnd someone to go with us. We didn’t know that there was a boat show going on. We decided to take a stroll though the show and walked out buying this new 3288 Motor Yacht Bayliner.

We have been looking for a diﬀerent boat for a while now to use during hurricane season while Beauty is on the hard. Every time, I stand in the kitchen doing dishes or making dinner I look at Boatniks through my window. I couldn’t wait to sell her to get a bigger boat. Wait I thought she is paid for. Why go into another boat payment ? It wasn’t until this trip down the river we started talking about getting a boat with a shallow draft to explore the nooks and crannies of the river system. It was like magic we both knew we already had the perfect boat. We just needed to look in our own back yard. She is a beautiful boat. Maybe that’s why we haven’t put her up for sale.

Her draft is only 27 inches and the props are in prop pockets protected additionally by a keel. What a great depth for the ICW and all the rivers on our journey. We will be able to go anywhere with that depth. We plan to completely redo her and use her as a riverboat and an ICW boat. I will blog our steps of redoing her so you all can see. We expect to start next spring after we arrive home.

One thing is for sure, she will keep her name Boatniks. We named her Boatniks because that was Bryce’s nickname for me at that time. But it came from the movie. Maybe I should buy the movie. LOL

In 2010 we got into sailing..We loved it and still do. We are going to leave Beauty in Florida for our Bahamas boat and long distance traveling. We just love her new jet-ski lift that Bryce built. Yes, that is Boatniks under the white cover. Now we will have both our girls in the water. Until Bryce fully retires Boatniks will stay in the Great Lakes. We are planning the winter on Beauty and the summer on Boatniks. I should say until it’s to cold to be on the lake.