Getting up at o-dark-thirty is not one of our favorite things to do - and especially if it's cool, too. It was going to be a long day so, we didn't turn the alarm off when it sounded.
There was a beautiful sunrise - my photos are usually of sunsets! This one IS a sunrise; trust me. Note the tow on the right side of the photo - our "neighbor" on the barge.
As we proceeded down the river, it began to get foggy. There were several boats headed with us. At times we could barely see the one in front of us. As the day progressed, Loopers would drop off to stop for the night. When we passed the point where we had planned to stop with Great Escape, it was early and we decided to push on another 22 miles for Grafton Marina.
At 2:30P we were passing a tow with 15 barges when suddenly we hit something. We didn't see it before we hit or afterwards; however, it was a hard hit. The port
engine started vibrating pretty badly. Of course, we'd been going faster in order to pass the barges so the damage done was greater, we soon found out. Once clear of the barges, we slowed down to mitigate the vibration.
An hour later the starboard engine began overheating. Rich shut it down and went below to investigate. We had lost all of the coolant from the starboard engine. He couldn't see any broken hoses or determine the "why."
I called the harbor master at Grafton Marina and advised him that things had deteriated since we'd last spoken. We would like to assigned an end tie or an easy dock since we were coming in on only one engine with a bad propeller. As normal in these situations, the wind had come up so docking was going to be more challenging! Joe was there to assist when we arrived and my Captain brought the boat in famously.
Further investigation that evening determined that we had a fresh water pump fail. Luckily, we had a spare on board so Rich fixed the starboard engine problem.
The next afternoon we motored a short distance to Block Marine in St. Charles, MO, and had the boat hauled. We fully expected to change our propellers, put on the spare ones, and continue on our way down the Mississippi. Not so.....we had sustained more damage than expected. Unfortunately, it involved a call to the insurance company to report our unknown obstruction in the water and begin the claims process.
The good news is that we've been told by several folks in the area that we are in the best yard. And our insurance company has responded promptly and has been very good in the claims settlement. The yard owner gave us a realistic time line for repairs from 2-4 weeks. It looks like it's going to be 5 weeks. The weather has turned cooler, of course in late Oct/early Nov, and that means they have less time each day that they can work on the fiberglass repair to ensure it dries properly. We want the job done right, so we're trying to be patient!
We rented a car again and drove back to GA. We've used the time to do some more unpacking at home and work on getting settled. That's been amazing. We downsized considerably. We disposed of so much stuff before we moved and have continued to search out places to leave more in our new area. And things look entirely different from one home to another, so I'm about done moving furniture around but continue to move pictures. Rich is about "over it" and won't do anything more until I'm absolutely sure that's where I want it! Sound familiar, ladies??!!!
We visited with my brother and wife again in SC. We all went furniture shopping in Hickory, NC, one Saturday (the guys loved that!). We came home with nothing - can you believe it?
We've enjoyed seeing my niece, her husband and their little Miss Olivia. They live about 15 minutes from us. My brother is only about 3.5 hours away now so it's nice to have family a bit closer.
This past weekend I flew to MN to visit with my Mom and family. My two sisters and I spent Saturday with Mom in the nursing home. Mom usually doesn't recognize family these days with her progressing ALZ. She was so happy to have "her girls" with her, though, and we think she really did know who we were. It was a special, heartwarming time to spend with Mom, though difficult. As my brother Dennis said, "Each day we lose just a little bit of our dear Mom"....sad, but true. She's healthy and happy in "her world". That's about all we can ask for at this time.
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