Downstream Ohio River

50 miles yesterday. Mile 113. Like yesterday I’m floating mid-channel with the engine off, eating breakfast.  No traffic either direction. It’s a good time to write. Last night I anchored behind Fish Creek Island. The thing to know about islands is that on the downstream end there is a sand bar.  Actually a mud bar. The last of the day was hot from the low angle sun.   Shade from an island tree and the downstream breeze made for a comfortable anchor site.  I rowed in.  I don’t believe I have mentioned that I rigged oar locks on my gunnels, and use my long sculling oars.  The oars are from my rowing shell.  This is the boat’s auxiliary power, to safely slide into shallow waters without the risk of damaging the propeller.  At one in the morning, the wind came up, and there was heat lightning all around. I got up and let out some more anchor lining. As I did this, there was a huge splashing in the water not very far away.   The disturbanc...

Mileage yesterday, 58. That may not seem like much for a boat that can cruise at 22-24 mph, but I spent a lot of time at 7 mph. Plus three locks, plus a long wait at the last one, New Cumberland.  Just downstream from the lock, but tied up at Misty River Marina.   I liked the name. The location was perfect and I was hungry. It is a summertime bar, overlooking the river.  Not a place that would be heated in the winter. No screens. Beautiful view of the river. I said on the barstool next to Karen, who was next to her friend Mike.  She immediately wanted to know my business. I like that!   I reported Day One and plans. Dinner was a hamburger and the regional beer, Yuengling. Yuengling claims to be the oldest brewery in the US, dating back to 1827. Karen and Mike were fine company, and when I went to pay, Mike insisted on paying instead. They said I should recommend Misty River, and I do. My vision for the day was to find an island where I could throw my grapple...

Today is the day!  I spent a couple of hours transferring stuff to the boat, wondering if it would all fit. Amazingly it did, and then the boat had more of a homey feeling.  Before this I was more of a guest. A fisherman named Conrad stopped, and we visited.  He advised caution on the river, but accepted that I was probably prepared.  He had grown upon the Allegheny, further north.  Like everyone I’ve met here, he had great affection for the rivers. Yesterday at a street corner, a bald wirey  guy yelled to me, “Hey, where are you taking my boat!”, no doubt a Pennsylvania compliment.  At the boat ramp I met a couple of fishermen at 10:00AM who stayed there till 8:00PM.  Mike and Orlando. Orlando drives a cab, and Mike works for the same company, driving a tow truck which retrieves taxicabs.  They get in lots of accidents.  Mike and Orlando confirmed a sense I have of western Pennsylvania, that it a place stuck in an earlier time....

This is not the beginning. Seven years ago I had the thought of going down the Mississippi River in a boat.  I mentioned it to my brother then. About once a year he would say, “When are we going down the Mississippi? “   I thought he would forget, but he kept doing this. Finally in 2017, I realized the notion wasn’t going to go away. We pulled together a plan and went down the Upper Mississippi.   “Upper Mississippi” means from Minneapolis to Cairo Illinois, where the Ohio River joins the Mississippi. Lower Mississippi is the portion ending in New Orleans.  We did a basic write up here:  https://muddymo2017.wordpress.com/2017/09/02/from-dave/ Neither of my companions had any desire to go further. Another year passed, and I realized I could do a river trip by myself if I had a boat I could sleep in. I wasn’t looking for luxury.  Luxury would be taking the 11 day American cruise line trip from Pittsburgh to Cairo, roughly $6000 per person, double occupancy....