We spent 11-1/2 hours on the Ohio River today -- mostly against the current -- but we locked through Locks 53 and the dreaded 52 faster than most of our Looper friends.  There was less traffic on the Ohio than on the Mississippi and the Ohio is a cleaner river than "Old Muddy."  

We always have a story so here's our tale about Lock 53.  When we arrived, the lock was open and ready for us.  Our friends on Makin' Memories were ahead of us and a sailboat was about a mile behind.  We requested the lockmaster to wait for the sailboat so we could all lock through together and he agreed.  We had tried to contact the sailboat numerous times on the radio, as did tugboats all along the Ohio as well as  the lockmaster.  The sailboat which had two men aboard and no name on it anywhere never responded, it just came into the lock.  The procedure is to announce yourself to the lockmaster and ask for entry.  In this double chamber lock.  The lockmaster asked if we wanted to tie up or just "float" -- we decided to float as did Makin' Memories.  The sailboat did not respond.  

After repeated calls, the lockmaster walked nearly the entire length of the lock to speak to the sailors personally and asked them to turn their radio on.  They did -- and they decided to float.  The lockmaster walks back to his post and then says over the radio "What is going on with that sailboat?  Is he just doing donuts in the middle of the lock?"  And it was true, the sailboat was going around in circles in the lock.  Then they lost a fender and had to get out the boat pole to retrieve it as it floated away from them.  The lockmaster called on the radio and asked if we were all ready to go, the sailboat responded and said they'd like to tie up. 

The lockmaster went all the way back to the sailboat and one sailor on the bow threw the lockmaster a line that the lockmaster tied on to the bollard.  He suggested they get another line on the stern.  They tossed up another line but it was too short and the lockmaster just turned around and walked away. I guess he was done with the shenanigans.  He let the water into the lock and we were out of there in 15 minutes. We spent 40 minutes locking through when it could have taken 15.  

When things are strange, I often say "There's always a piece of the story you don't know."  And that is most likely true in this matter, but I can't help thinking of something else I often say:  "No good deed goes unpunished."

Before we entered Lock 53, the lockmaster came on the radio and said he had two tugs coming down in the large chamber and when they were through he would take the one tug and the two pleasure boats up in the small chamber. (Up because we were actually heading North on the Ohio today).  We were required to wear life jackets and have two 50-foot lines ready on the port side.  The sailboat was nowhere to be found, thank goodness, and after waiting an hour and a half for the tugs to lock through from the other direction, we got through in 35 minutes.  They lockmasters dropped down lines with hooks on them, we put our coiled lines on the hooks and he pulled them up, wrapped our lines around the bollards and dropped our lines back to us. When the water was raised, we slipped our own lines off the bollards and left the chamber.  It worked out well.

We arrived at Cumberland Towhead at 5:30 PM and dropped the hook.  We traveled 59 miles today. 

Self portrait:  Happy Anniversary to Us!!

Locking through Lock 52

The errant sailboat and the kindly lockmaster

Tonight's back yard -- we've been so blessed to see beautiful sunrises and exquisite sunsets.