How about installments? #1....
Of coarse the trip began with preparation. Most of it was spot on. Everyone here was part of that step. Thanks. We thought we had understandings with people to do certain things to the boat at the lake & NEET us at the marina on the Ohio River. WRONG! Promises were broken, contracts rewritten. Things went South, fast.
Pirates, well.... none of the traditional type. In fact, one of the queer things about the whole trip was the lack of other boats on the rivers. Sans the barge traffic, which was heavy every mile of the trip. Our "pirates were opportunists. Taking advantage of our situation at exorbitant prices. Getting off the lake to the river was the worst part. When someone has you over a barrel, they want that barrel filled with $$$$$.
Once in Evansville thing went great. Untangled from the "transporter" & sitting on dry ground, we proceeded to install the thru hull transducer & other chores best done on land. The only exception was the motel owners who ransacked our room and stole a few things. 1/2 a day was lost filing with the police. Oh well.
Other than the foreign motel owners the rest of Evansville was GREAT! I just can't say enough good about our stay there & the people. Evansville has our hearts. NU Plaza Yacht Club and ALL the folks there went way above the term "hospitality". Jim Hall thank you! If possible stop there, you won't regret it. Also eat at the Dog Town Tavern. MMMMM, mmmmmm.
We had a fair bit of modifications & additions to do to the boat. We had repair of the genset to do & spare parts to buy. We spent a week @ the marina, All our dealings were fair and fun. On 1 occasion we had a parts dealer drive 10 miles to the marina, jump into the engine compartment, find the # he needed & returned to his store. He then returned with the part and charged only $30 for the impeller! The whole stay reflects that type of help/.
On Sat. June 22, our friends flew in from Arizona. We laid in last minute stores and left Sun. morning around 9AM. In spite of having made a tow bar as described on this forum, I elected to leave our 20" skiff tied to the side of the houseboat. Bad move! as we went along on the stormy Ohio, every wave was spilt into the skiff. It darn near sank. I arrived in time to bail it out. We held up & tied the tow onto it. It was safe & well behaved all the way home. Down stream we headed & I saw the hint of what was to be a problem all the way home.
Tomorrow.... 1st lock, how funny we looked!.
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