Day 15

Yesterday's travel ended in a rush to find a place to tie up for the night, despite limited visibility and heavy rain. This morning I took a picture of the spot as I pulled away.

People ask me how I deal with commercial watercraft on the river, since I'm usually in a kayak or my small sailboat. Normally the barges and towboats are not a problem since the wake (waves) they create or low frequency rollers. I simply ride over them "roller coaster style". The exception is a towboat without barges attached, like the one in the picture. They act like a bulldozer pushing a large amount of water in front of them, which results in a much larger wake than a full tow.

While on the topic of commercial traffic, the two pictures above show the front and back of the same tow. It's easy to tell all of the barges are empty because they're sitting so high in the water.

Early today I locked through Hannibal Lock and Dam. Right after I exited the lock I crossed the river to New Martinville, West Virginia. I climbed up the river bank to a ball field and saw a Walmart just a short distance away. It was a great opportunity to get gas, ice and more food.

Later in the day I made a quick stop at the Paden City Boat Ramp to get rid of my garbage. They have a nice little community park there with even a few people camping. I also met a young fellow named Ramses who himself has spent some time on the river in a kayak. He lives nearby and was interested in my boat.

With all of yesterday's rain causing a lot of things to get wet, I installed the airscoop on the front of the boat's deck. This forced air into and through the cabin as I traveled.

I passed by Marietta, Ohio. It would have been nice to stop there for a while, but felt I needed to accumulate some milage today to make up for yeaterday's shortened trip due to rain.

This isn't a very good picture, but it's where I tied up for the night. I took me an hour to get the boat backed up this far due to the mast hitting branches in the trees above. I ended up on the lower end of Vienna, West Virginia at mile 183. I covered 62 miles today.