Last night was another very cold night. It was hard to get out of our warm bed. We did get up about 7:15 and called the next lock to check on availability. We were anchored about ½ mile from the lock and he said he’d have everything ready in about 20 minutes. There were 6 boats staying at a marina about 2 miles from the lock and when one of them heard our radio conversation, called to ask if the lockmaster would hold the lock so they could lock down with us. That was fine with us, if you miss a lock opening it’s a minimum 1 hour wait to get in.
We were out of the lock at 8:30, along with the other 6 boats. The next lock was in 11 miles but we found out there was a northbound and a southbound tow that would need to go through the second lock before we could. So, we slowed way down and got to the lock as the upbound tow was coming out. We still had to wait for the southbound tow to go through and we had passed them about a mile before the lock. That was where he waited until the northbound tow had passed him.
It was quite frustrating to wait, because by the time the southbound tow got in the lock, we could have been locked down and the chamber refilled and ready for the tow. So, while waiting, we dropped the anchor and had lunch.
We came across the identical situation at the third lock. This time, however, the lockmaster asked the tow captain if he should let the pleasure boats go first. The tow operator said yes. We were very appreciative.
Fortunately we were planning to go only 36 miles today, but with the 3 locks plus the wait, we didn’t get to the marina until 3:30. It took us 8 hours to go 36.7 miles.
There was a lot of debris in the water today. We had to keep an eye out so we didn’t hit any logs or anything that will hurt the propeller. It turned nice and warm by mid-afternoon. A welcome change after the past few days.
3 locks – total 101
