Friday, July 18, 2014

The Lock Mess Monster

Captain's Log: 18 July, 2014; Hour: 1340

 It took us nearly four hours to lock through Wheeler Lock today. Four hours! In the last 6 1/2 hours we've covered a whopping 18 miles. To make matters worse it's cold and raining and we have to be out on deck during the lock through to keep the boat off the lock wall. Did I tell you how much I hate these locks?

Pickwick Lake

We went through Pickwick Lake yesterday which is quite familiar to my family. My wife's sister and her family have a place there and we visit several times a year. Pickwick is one of the most scenic lakes on the Tennessee River.

"Anybody got a shoe horn?"
From the picture above you can see why it takes so long to get a barge through. I'm sure the barge maker gets all the width he can for the barge with only an inch to spare on either side. Some of these tugs are pushing 7 or 8 barges. Oftentimes they don't all fit in the lock in one trip so the tug has to lock through twice, which is really annoying. I know it's a tough job and all that, but doggone! This ain't the place to be if you have to be somewhere. And I hear around Chattanooga it's even more crowded. Marvelous.







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6 comments:

  1. UnknownJuly 18, 2014 at 1:31 PM

    My guess is that we need money for infrastructure improvements!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousJuly 18, 2014 at 2:38 PM

      Could be worse. You could be behind a desk like me. Happy trails!!!

      Delete
  2. AnonymousJuly 18, 2014 at 3:59 PM

    Uncle Phil, you are right... the barges are made to "fit" the lock widths. Just like the Panama Canal and the maximum beam of many ocean going cargo vessels, which is typically the width of the Canal.

    If "they" (i.e. - the Corp of Engineers) were to make the locks wider, the barge builders would quickly follow suit with, yes, wider barges!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJuly 19, 2014 at 9:07 AM

    When are you going to broadcast live again? We're all sick of those tapes. We know about your trip backwards and forwards, how come you could broadcast out in the gulf during a hurricane and can't when you're 400 miles closer on a slow moving river? How about a few answers for all of us?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousJuly 19, 2014 at 8:15 PM

      Have patience... Uncle Phil has 'splained all this before. His internet connection was much more reliable in the Gulf than it is on the inland rivers and waterways. Add in the aspect that marinas were not ideally located along his route to mesh with the timing of his show, not to mention the sporadic availability of a shore power line. Stopping and using Yesterday's non-working generator to do his show is obviously out of the question. So, it was last weekend when Uncle Phil told us all in his last "live" show that he was taking a week of "vacation" so he and his good crew could devote their energy and resources to more properly to "getting home" as soon as possible!

      Delete
    2. Phil ValentineJuly 19, 2014 at 9:36 PM

      That's pretty much it. Our main problem is our sports sister station needed the broadcast unit back at the station for SEC reports. As it turned out, we hardly had any Internet connection during the week. We were in the middle of nowhere so it was best for me to take a vacation week. But we're back on Monday.

      Delete

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