Ted655 – Coming down the Mississippi.

[swamp snorkler]

cant wait till the next installment

[BananaTom]

Mrs. Shelton Chimes In.

Hi everybody, this is Marybob-Teds better-half. I am not the story teller that Ted is-he always keeps in fun with his great stories-but they are about his days on the ranch as a cowboy, trapper, and all that goes with it...These boat stries are true----I can attest to that!!! His buddy was....well he just was.

From the female point of view--It actually was I who wanted to live on the water..... I lived on the Colorado River as a child and have never gotten it out of my system I guess. I was excited about getting the boat and having an "adventure" as Ted kept telling me it was going to be, but.... I also was quite apprehensive-----to say the least!!!

I was concerned with all that could go wrong-if we had to do this alone-but once we had friends to go along, that would help-a little (little did I know)- I had read as much as I could to be prepared for the trip-WRONG...

1. I just knew the barges would run us over-as it turned out-we couldn't have been treated nicer (except for when Ted’s bud tried to play chicken with one!!!

2. I was prepared to have problems with pirates-hey that is what I read!!!!-other than the people not being very friendly in Paducah, again no problem

3.Then also I had read somewhere-the eddys (whirlpools) could be a big problem-WELL I did not have a problem-now Teds bud did say that one of the times he ran over a BIG marker buoy-was because of the eddy around it....

I had a GREAT time-cannot imagine a better summer.

Well Ted and I would have preferred to have taken longer in getting down here. We never stopped, or even slowed down to have a look or a good time. The one night that all went well was when we stopped about 1700 and had time to get dinner grilled and relax before the skitos found us.

I would do this over again in a minute!!!!

It was nice at the marinas. People were nice to interact with--but it was just as nice being on the water.

I would have preferred to have planned at least one hot meal a day- but they were happy with cheerios and hot dogs!!! Did learn one important thing-our friends bought granola bars for lunch and snacks-not good on a boat with one small latrine!!!!!!!

If we had the money and time (well we do have the time-will have to wait till we win the lottery) I would turn around and go back to Evansville for the summers and down here for the winter!!!

Nice to talk to all of you- bye for now-Mb

[BananaTom]

#12

5 AM came & went this final morning on the Mississippi. We all slept in for the first time since Evansville.. This was to be a mixed day of emotions. If you truly love cruising, you will feel a since of regret at leaving the Big River. In spite of all the challenges, I was sad to make the starboard turn when the GPS said it was time to leave the main channel & start looking for the gates of "Old River Lock".

Vicksburg & Natchez, with their beautiful homes on the hills they both had in common, were safe from the sometimes angry, high waters. While passing both towns I imagined old retired river pilots spying on the barge traffic as it made their way up & down the channel. Maybe they felt even sadder than I that they weren't a part of it anymore. Who knows?

We soon saw the lock, a call on channel 13 raised the lock master. We switched (as usual) to channel 14 & received our instructions. The lock was set the wrong direction so we were told to wait at the "bull nose" while he filled the chamber. Wreak #, ??, hell I've lost count by now, but you guessed it.

Zone man did not know what a bull nose was. By the time we had a quick group meeting & decided it must be the big oval pillar that anchored the end of the crash fence into the chamber, ol speedy was well on it @ a fast speed. The boy just NEVER developed a "feel" for a boat! If any of you EVER have as many wreaks as my buddy while learning to pilot a HB, then sell your boat cuz you ain't "getting" it either.

Trying to salvage the approach, I asked him to slow up & we would tie off on the crash fence, Now I don't know WHY, but he turned to port to do this BUT didn't cut speed! We were darn sure going to test out the resilience of the fence! Here we come!

Spreading my feet & bracing for impact, I truly closed my eyes. Ahhh, at the last second possible, he spun the wheel hard to starboard AND (believe this) increased the throttle!! We hit a glancing blow & turned hard. This served to whip my poor skiff, full length, VERY hard into the fence. Whack!!!

I scrambled towards aft to see if I has anything left floating. As I passed the door I was screaming %%$&&!!!**%%$%%.

My wife later told me that Zone man looked @ her and said "He could lose a good friend, using language like that", to which Marybob replied to him "Sink his skiff & YOU could lose your life".

By now we had made a circle in front of the gates. There was a blast & the gates opened. Somehow, I felt as if our reputation had preceded us, but the kind LM said nothing & we descended down to the level of the Atchafalaya River.

It was Noon, the 3rd of July. Already I had experienced anticipation, sadness & regret, anger bordering on temporary insanity, anxioety, and disbelief. It was JUST noon. Sheer panic wouldn't hit until just at sunset.

What a day!

[BananaTom]

Final stretch!

We all came to realize our biggest complaint of the whole trip was "chairs". If you take nothing else away from my story, let it be this. Buy the very best chairs you can afford. The most expensive helm chairs ARE worth the money. Ours was a bar stool with (what we considered @ the start) a very soft cushion.

Just 2 days out from Evansville & I wish I had skimped more somewhere else and bought a good helm chair. The navigational chair was really a nice, adjustable office chair with arm rests. It was not tall enough to steer from, nor did it have a foot rest (very important part of sitting high for long stretches). We also skimped on cabin chairs, opting for chairs that folded up, in case we needed the room. We never did need the room & paid for our choice the whole trip! On a hike it is your feet but on a long houseboat trip it is your butt. Air movement @ the helm was a issue also. A 12V. fan would have been nice.

After my lunch, I reminded everyone we were on a smaller river (after the Miss., the Atchafalaya seemed tiny) and we needed to slow & reduce wake when we encountered fishermen. This was for the obvious benefit of Zone man. He was on the home stretch & acting like a barn soured horse, chomping at the bit & prancing, with saliva oozing out at the corners of his month.

I knew we "could" make it home today BUT... it would mean trying to find mooring late in the night getting friends out of bed & transferring gear in clouds of mosquitoes. Sorry bud but we will spend 1 more night on water. I had a craving for boudin (boo-dan) for a couple of days. I wanted to stop @ the only real town downstream & buy a few links, then find a spot for the night close by. Shoot tomorrow was the 4th, (we were 2 days ahead of schedule), maybe they would have a Cajun band & Fe Do Do, who knew? I took a nap.

Well, you snooze, you lose! I woke up to find a "executive decision had been made whilst I slept. We were well past the town & headed home. Mutiny! Just plain ol mutiny. I wanted to set him & his wife in the skiff and set them adrift. It was late afternoon by now, the first cove I came too I pulled in & dropped anchor.

The atmosphere was "chilly", not much more than nods & mumbles. It had been 1,000 miles & many days in close quarters. We needed to be done with this trip.

" Were SINKING!" came the cry." The basement is all wet!" While not a nautical term, I knew what our friends meant. The cuddy floor was under water. A quick check of the forward bilge pump revealed it had given its life in its attempt to save the boat.

You could smell that it was toast, a dark spot was evident on top of its housing. Man, I tell you, a thousand things rushed through my head! OK Ted, you're the Cap'n , now what?

I saw the "deer in the headlights" look on the faces of my 3 crew. I started barking orders." Pull the skiff along side, Get a bucket, Call the Parish sheriff, call Bob (a friend) Get the papers, Make sure there is lots of repellent in the skiff, get flashlights!" Oh my gosh, were these words coming from ME? They sounded far off somehow. Could this really be happening? The rest snapped out of it, they started thinking of things to do also.

We were a GREAT team; all was done (and more). We had never talked about or drilled for a real emergency. We all did great, I must say. I settled on a little ledge just forward of the bilge well. and started bailing like hell.

Zone was the stair man, he lifted the heavy 5 gal. bucket up out of the cuddy & twisted to set it in front of the sliding door. His wife pushed it over & the water ran over the deck, into the river. Marybob made the calls and gathered the "stuff". Bless her heart, she also called our son and bade him "goodbye" In a moment of calm I overheard this. "This isn't the $&^%*^ Titanic, were NOT going down in 40 fathoms" I hollered "were going down and I don't know HOW deep it is" she replied. We were only 20' from shore. Lol.

As we settled into a regime of bailing, it seemed at first the water was not going down! I kept at it, we all did. I'm not sure when, I remember I was dog gone tired, maybe after 1 hour of intense work, I got a whiff of bleach.

Whoa there, my brain said, this isn't river water. It's potable water. We were not sinking. " Are you sure?" "yep, fix some sandwiches, were OK".

I'll wind up tomorrow with pretty dull ending & some thoughts.

[BananaTom]

Home!

Nope! I can't tell you what happened with the water system. I will tell you when I find the cause. I've not pulled the floor yet as it's been too hot & sticky. Sitting on the mud @ a 30 degree slant makes it hard to walk in.

It was a mess but we worked into the night & cleaned up what we could. I would bail & sponge the well dry but in 30 minutes water would fill the well again. This was alarming to my friend’s wife. She wasn't convinced we were safe from sinking. She was up most of the night checking the well. What was going on was simple run off from ALL the bilge structure it takes time.

We had other water in collapsible plastic containers. We had a good, last breakfast, weighed anchor & headed home. Being from Arizona, the friends were amazed at how green the country was. For the first time they were @ 1/2 throttle and enjoying the sights. A cell phone call had Bob waiting on the riverbank as we choose a spot on the far bank. I untied the skiff & motored across to Bob. By the time I got back to the HB, they were all packed and ready to go. They were not up to the final 6 miles & the last lock.

Bob drove us all into Lafayette where they chose a Holiday Inn. Their Amtrak train wasn't due until the next day. They both vowed to sleep until then. We hugged, I shook Zones hand & it was over (for them).

It was the 4th of July, our sons wedding wasn't until the 7th. We returned to our swamp & the boat.

It takes a 24 hr. notice to pass through the antiquated contrivance the Corps calls a "Lock". We would have to arrange another day to pass through, this day was shot. It was already raining hard. No matter, we were home. Truthfully, my butt was longing for my recliner & a link of boudin. Marybob jumped into what was left of the wedding preparations. My able first mate turned back into a "girl".

While in Evansville, I hooked directly to the water supply there. The pressure was too high. It expanded the tanks & made the floor bulge a little. We soon discovered it & unhooked. For the next week we watched for any harm that might have been done. We found none. I checked the bilge every day, it remained dry. I checked it a few times during the trip also. We were dry in Memphis. The last refill was Greenville, Miss. I must admit that I did not check the well after Memphis. Tons of suitcases & other things were stacked over the access. All the faucets worked with good supply.

While the Gibson took wakes well, there were a few that were gigantic. Marybob or I would angle into them IF we were the pilot. Falling under the heading of "not" getting it, the Buds would simply wallow in them. Twice under their watch, they both wallowed in BIG, hard wakes that resulted in tossing everything off & out of the counters. Once I was rolled out of my bunk. Could this be a clue? Was it the markers we mowed down? Was a tank "ripped" or a sitting pulled? I reckon I'll know after I pull the floors. There are 2 tanks hooked into a common supply. Whatever happened, the WHOLE total of water ended up in the Bilge (and floor) Many, many, many 5 gal. buckets worth!

Tomorrow, some final thoughts

[BananaTom]

[SIZE=3]It might seem this was the trip from hell. I have had better weekends with fewer issues I must say. Our journey was not a day tour, a Disney adventure ride or a weekend outing. It was a 1,000 miles of challenges, hilarity, boredom, beauty and education. There were NO guarantees or time outs. The "possibility s" of danger and failure heightened the experience and gave the effort a strange sort of value to us. Even in a "groundhog" sort of way, we would do the same trip again in a heartbeat. There was so much more to this adventure that I did not or could not write about here. Those that can should make a similar trip, but do try to take willing people.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3] The Gibson was great. My main complaint with her was the way the cables & wires are "built into" the boat @ time of construction. Including the way the helm is constructed, it is almost impossible to find, trace, repair or replace anything concerning cables, or wires. The steps I made and the equipment I bought were good & performed well. The boat was comfortable above but not in the cuddy. Once in the lower 1/2 of the trip, our friends slept on the salon floor just to get some breeze. Those better financed may run the Genset & ACs all night I suppose. I found that redundancy wherever possible is best. I am going to install a set of engine gauges IN the engine compartment, a gas AND hand water pump & a solar battery charger.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3] The computer-based navigational/GPS was great. The 20" monitor however was over kill, hot & a power pig. A laptop screen will do better. I was VERY glad I had installed a separate battery bank just for the navigational system. The sonar should be wired there also. We had 2 VHF radios, 1 was hand held, "The best" item we bought was the portable icemaker! It worked best when the ACs had the cabin temps down but even in the Deltas ambient heat, it made ice. We just had to tend it after each batch. No other single thing was better than ice in your drink while fixing another issue. It kept moral up & was responsible for letting cooler heads prevail. Buy one.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3] WE were a motley group! Various afflictions & disease spread between us. We filled in each other’s gaps & made a slightly dysfunctional team. We did it! There were no real “Lower Mississippi” dangers. Luck played some small role (as it does in anything), but mostly we were cautious, alert (3 of us), & used common sense. No big deal really.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3] Thank you all for wanting to hear our story!![/SIZE]