Progress report

September 1 to September 7


     I was still intriqued by the old stone building across the river from Martin's Ferry this Monday morning, so I asked one of the few boaters on the docks at this early hour if he knew anything about it. He didn't. We launched into light fog turning to mist with no wind. This 21 mile stint was more difficult than yesterday's 30 miler. Only while it was raining a couple of hours did we not have 5 to 15 mph headwinds. Finally we arrived to a friendly welcome at the docks of Riverside Restaurant in Powhatan Point, Ohio. We got Ted a meatloaf at the restaurant, and Arlene and I went back to Arlene's new location in Williamstown where, with limited time, I made a few updates to the webpages.

Riverside P.M.

Riverside A.M.


    Tuesday morning we were at the boat at 7:30 to pack up. As we started to head up to the restaurant a fellow in a canoe (completely skirted) paddled up to the dock to talk to Ted and I and take our pictures. He had heard of our journey on the news. We exchanged info. He was canoeing the entire Ohio doing water quality surveys with instrumentation he had on board. He said he made 40 miles a day, so I guess we won't see him again. After that, the Riverside restaurant gave Ted, Arlene and me a free breakfast.
    Off and on headwinds. Off and on rain. We made Hannibal Locks and Dam at 3:00 as I predicted. Arlene watched us lock through at the visitors observation deck. Leaving the lock we encountered rain and a ten mph headwind. With the resistance of the rain shade our progress was slow. Three miles down we stopped at Valley Boat Docks which was closed and the owner would not let us dock. He was fearful of rising waters. At this time we noticed that the water levels were considerably high and the current was swiftening. Arlene stocked us with fresh provisions, and we launched during a lull in the rain. Even with the rapid current, headwinds slowed us to a crawl. We decided to try camping on the off-channel side of Paden Island (a mile long island on the WV side of the river below Paden City. The wind and rain stopped and suddenly the 6 mph current carried us easily between the island and shore. I searched for a camp site. All beaches were flooded. We looked for a tree to tie to. I decided on a large three trunked tree partially submerged on the WV shore whose branches were clear of the mast. As we turned toward the tree a fortunate back eddy stopped our rapid downstream progress, and I was able to get a line around the tree. We layed out 15 feet of line to the tree to allow for rising water. The current soon increased to 7 mph. Our boat did a periodic dance in its mooring. First, lines were slack our bow snugged up to the tree. Then the boat would drift out into the current and be pulled downstream. The lines would become taut and we would drift back toward shore into the eddy where we would gently be stopped by overhanging bows of at small tree. Finally, the eddy would pull us back upstream to the tree we were moored to, and the cycle would start again. This was the first time that we had to stow our gear and set up the tent all from the boat, with no off craft storage. We managed successfully, and had a peaceful night with no wakes from the barges since we were off-channel.
    Wednesday I noticed the water had risen a foot on the tree we were moored to. We packed up by 7:30 and fought headwinds and rain 5 miles to Sisterville Boat Club arriving at 9:15 on our 18th day of our journey. The owner was on the docks and his helper tried to grab our line as we fought the 6 mph current in an atttempt to dock. The strain was too much, and we almost hit a moored boat. We backed out and paddled to the downstream end of the docks and swung around to attempt the shore side of the docks. The current was only 3 mph near shore, so with vigorous pedalling we managed upstream progress to a point where we could be moored.

Sisterville, WV ...strong current made landing tough


    It was nice to have people helping from the dock. Arlene was across the river watching us struggle in the rain. She took the ferry across the Ohio to meet us there in Sisterville, WV. We took the rest of the day off to set up the tent, get lunch and take Ted to the library, look at future potential landings and do updates to the website.
    Thursday, our nineteenth day was foggy while we packed the boat. Ted was able to attend an 8:30 mass a few blocks away. Ted met Judy Light, a reporter for the Tyler Star News while he was in the library yesterday, and she showed up early to see our launch at 9:40. Arlene and I had planned an easy day of 12 miles to Leith's Run. (a beautiful park on the Ohio shore) We moored at an off-channel stream adjacent to the park. While Ted showered, called the media and got a hot meal, I did boat maintenance. Now, I am back at the motel doing updates. Here is a picture of our mooring at Leith's Run.

We are planning to do 21 miles tomorrow to reach Williamstown, WV across from Marietta, Ohio where the Stern Wheel Festival is starting Saturday.
    Friday we were packed in a record time of 40 minutes and launched at 7:30 in chilly calm weather The 2 to 3 mph current aided our 5 mph progress. We continued to have good weather and current, and even with a lock down at Willow Island Lock we made 22 miles to Williamstown Park just across from Marietta by 12:30. A gradually sloped grassy landing under the Williamstown-Marietta highway bridge was the best landing. We tied off to a one of the bridge supports. We grabbed some food at a snack stand while we waited for Arlene. We had not expected to be here until 3:00. The stern wheelers were massed across the shore of the Ohio River, and loud music wafted across the water.

Moored to the bridge in Williamstown, WV

The Marietta Times reporter and photographer arrived at 4:00 and will publish their report tomorrow morning.
    We are planning a short trip of 11 miles tomorrow to reach Blennerhassett Yacht Club in Belpre, Ohio.
    The water level dropped a foot overnight, and large rocks showed their teeth around our grounded boat early Saturday morning. With careful lifting and nudging, Arlene, Ted and I eased the boat into deeper water for a 7:30 launch. All was quiet, as the midnight party-goers were all still in bed. A three mph current and calm air made for a short two hour trip to Blennerhasset Yacht Club where many of the members were away for the stern wheeler festival in Marietta. Fortunately, that left us an empty spot on the docks. Greg, the commodore gave us permission to dock at this private club, and we are very thankful. At 2:00 Ted had a surprise visit from his granddaughters and great grandchildren. He was shocked and pleased, and they took him off for a swim and to his weekly attendance of mass at the Catholic church.


    Arlene and I went to town and purchased small boat fenders for our small craft. At first, I felt fenders would do our boat no good since we had too thin a beam to attach them to, but Ted had a good idea which was to attach them to the dock instead. We installed them, and they worked well to keep our boat's frame in good shape when the large wakes rolled the docks to and fro. Arlene's cell phone had stopped working, and we were in a quandry about what to do. We could call the dealer, but who knows how long it would take to get a replacement, and how would they get it to us in our travelling mode? A technician for our service provider recognized our predicament, and said that if we were to get an ATT tdma type phone we could reactivate our service on that phone. The first cell phone dealer we found said they could not sell a phone without a service contract, but they told us an ATT dealer up the road would be able to. We went to the ATT dealer and found that no dealer sells phones without a service contract. WHAT??? A fellow named Russ was standing in line and mentioned that he had several used phones, and he was just today replacing one because it didn't fit him well in his work. The antenna poked him when he sat in the truck. We checked with the ATT dealer and found that russ's old phone was compatable, so we followed Russ home and purchased his two-month old phone. We called our service provider and the technician rapidly got our service transferred to the new phone. Now I know how to buy a cell phone. Stand outside a dealer and talk to the customers. We are hoping to lauch at 8:30 tomorrow and be in Hockingport, Ohio in the afternoon. (16 miles from here) We are getting further from Arlene and her motel, so it may be some time before new updates are made. Hang tight. Only 1689 miles to go.
    Sunday, a thick fog arrived before dawn, and our scheduled departure was delayed by 1/2 hour till 9:00. After our launch, that chilly morning, the skies quickly cleared. A one mph current increased our speed to 4 1/2 mph. During our 16 mile run we encountered two stern wheelers going downstream a little faster that us. As they came up on our stern I encouraged Ted to give it some steam so we could compete with them. We could almost match their speed for a couple of minutes. At 12:30 we arrived at Athen's Boat and Ski Club in Hockingport, Ohio, where we had a warm welcome from Jerry and Jan and many others. They were concerned for our comforts. They made all their facilities open for us, and gave us beverages and an invitation to supper.

Arriving at Athen's



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