Pushing rocks
When the boat is going fast (fast means 21-25 mph), and I abruptly shut down the engine, the stern settles down, with a pause, and then the boat surges forward, riding its own wave. That seems so for the trip also. Having shut down the throttle, I surge back into normal life. A shower was top priority.
AirBNB provided an elegant bedroom in the house of the former mayor. She said she lost reelection because of her support for the city owned transient dock, the place where my boat is tied. The dock was controversial. She said what got the project started was a $1.5 million federal grant, thanks to Senator McConnell. This is the only occasional I have found to think well of him. She was unhappy because Owensboro got $5 million for their waterfront project.
Anyway, rocks. I have tried to learn from Sisyphus, who spent his afterlife pushing rocks up hill, only to have them roll down while he slept. For eternity! I looked up Sisyphus, and he probably deserved it. For much of my life I’ve pushed rocks up hill, mistaking the resistance for meaningfulness. So my new plan is pushing rocks down hill. So when my friend wrote, “May the current be with you”, I thought why would I do it any other way?
And that plan has worked for me. But yesterday I wanted to complete the trip. Although the ultimate end is here in Paducah, the confluence with the Mississippi is 50 miles further. I started in the evening two nights ago, then anchored for the last night, stopping after 20 miles. I dropped the hook along the right shore, in shallow water. The day never cooled much, even at twilight. A light air helped. It was a hot sticky night, and the boat rocked gently when towboats ghosted by with their barge in the dark.
At sunset, sun and moon defined west and east, visible at the same time.
Mile 948
The last set of locks, Olmstead, had to be passed. Here is the Olmstead Wiki story:
Here is the confluence. Mississippi brown, and Ohio, brownish green. The color of the Ohio was the same from start to finish.
The little boat served me well.
AirBNB provided an elegant bedroom in the house of the former mayor. She said she lost reelection because of her support for the city owned transient dock, the place where my boat is tied. The dock was controversial. She said what got the project started was a $1.5 million federal grant, thanks to Senator McConnell. This is the only occasional I have found to think well of him. She was unhappy because Owensboro got $5 million for their waterfront project.
Anyway, rocks. I have tried to learn from Sisyphus, who spent his afterlife pushing rocks up hill, only to have them roll down while he slept. For eternity! I looked up Sisyphus, and he probably deserved it. For much of my life I’ve pushed rocks up hill, mistaking the resistance for meaningfulness. So my new plan is pushing rocks down hill. So when my friend wrote, “May the current be with you”, I thought why would I do it any other way?
And that plan has worked for me. But yesterday I wanted to complete the trip. Although the ultimate end is here in Paducah, the confluence with the Mississippi is 50 miles further. I started in the evening two nights ago, then anchored for the last night, stopping after 20 miles. I dropped the hook along the right shore, in shallow water. The day never cooled much, even at twilight. A light air helped. It was a hot sticky night, and the boat rocked gently when towboats ghosted by with their barge in the dark.
At sunset, sun and moon defined west and east, visible at the same time.
Another picture. Here is a drill head from a channel dredge. What a monster!
“The US Congress, through the Water Resources and Development Act of 1988[2]first approved a $775 million budget for the project in 1988 (October 1987 Price Levels). The lock chambers, completed in 2002, are 110 feet (34 m) wide and 1,200 feet (370 m) long.[3]
According to the US Army Corps of Engineers, the new dam and locks will reduce passage time to under one hour with the new system.[citation needed] Due to queuing at Lock and Dam Number 52 and Lock and Dam Number 53, it can take cargo traffic 15 to 20 hours each to transit the locks the Olmsted complex is intended to replace.[4]
When initiated the complex was projected to cost $775 million.[4] As of February 2018, the estimated cost of the project is over $3 billion.[5][4]
While the project was initially scheduled for completion in 1998, by 2016 it was projected to become operational between 2018[4][6] and by 2020”
The timing was mirrored by my own experience the lock tender said I’d have a one hour wait while tows preceded my boat one hour became three. It was okay I made breakfast and arranged for the rental car to return me to Pittsburgh.
Once through the lock, the next16 miles to the end was easy work.
After the turn, it was rocks up hill back to Paducah, the end. I breezed through the lock on return, with no wait.
Above the locks, the water was the roughest of the trip, to make the last bit of trip memorable.
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