Day 240: Lake City, Minnesota

2016's Last Lock

One minute you're a neophyte; the next you're a graybeard.  In retrospect, the transition between the two seems instantaneous.  In real time, it took us ten months to get comfortable transitioning locks.  Entering Lock 3 today the Tainter gates were wide open.  Bicki's relaxed attitude in the photo above reflects that and she knows the ride down will be swift, short, and smooth.  The value of experience is knowing when not to be worried.

Hjortie 37VT63 Steams Past

For the past six days we've been buddy-boating with Hjortie.  Trev knows these waters and it was nice to be able to tag along.

Lake Pepin Looking South

So much for wind forecasts; 6 to 8 turned into 20 to 25 mph winds.  This created a sea state reminiscent of the Chesapeake: short, tight, and rough. 

Red Wing, Minnesota to Lake City, Minnesota

Wow, what a ride!  How else can I summarize the past 10 months aboard Nellie?  We celebrated the successful cruise with Lee and Dee Anderson, Jack Robert 37VT17.  It'll be hard to top our five course meal with matched wines--but it'll be fun trying...

A fast but bumpy 23 miles today.  Total for the trip is now 4,368 miles.  DBH

Day 239: Red Wing, Minnesota

David Gates' Berkeley Mini-Tug was Launched in 2016

Nellie is Pouting as She Doesn't Like Competition in the Cute Category

Treasure Island Casino's Pool Complex

The strong southwest winds made us think twice about leaving the dock.  Then the discovery of the Casino's hot tubs sealed the deal. 

Nellie is still in the Treasure Island Marina, Red Wing, Minnesota.  The total for the trip remains 4,345 miles.  DBH

Day 238: Red Wing, Minnesota

Eighty Hopper Barges got Loose on the Ohio River Yesterday--Wouldn't Like to See that Coming at Me!

Confluence of the Minnesota River (L) and the Mississippi River (R)

Approaching the Minnesota River our speed is 4.4 mph.  Last night's heavy rains have increased the current.  Once past the confluence Nellie's speed jumps by 25%.  Why does 25% sound so much better than 1.1 mph? :-)

South of Lock and Dam 1 the River Narrows; Gone are the Wing Dams

Lock and Dam 1's water fall is 35' high today.  Its rapid, swirling waters are intimidating

Minneapolis, Minnesota

We reached Upper Mississippi mile marker 854, aka Minneapolis, aka the end of the navigable River.  No where to go from here except down.

The Top of Lock 1's Infinity Pool hides the 35' Drop Just on the Other Side.  You Don't Want to Miss this Lock's Entrance!

The Source of St Paul's Sewenamis.  All of downtown drains through two of these ports

St. Paul to Minneapolis to Red Wing, Minnesota

Nellie is in the Treasure Island Marina, Red Wing, Minnesota.  It was a long but satisfying 70 miles today.  Nellie averaged 10 mph going down the river.  That's something I could easily get used to.  The total for the trip is now 4,345 miles.  DBH

Day 237: St. Paul

Hidden Expenses--Clearing the Log Jam

Fancy Daisys

Hill House

This is a great walking town and we saw a lot of it today.

The rain is really coming down.  Hopefully not hard enough to create a sewenami.

No miles today and holding at 4,276 miles for the trip.  DBH

Day 236: St. Paul

Lucy and Bicki

The statue of Lucy seemed incongruous outside the St Paul Yacht Club until I learned that Charles Schultz grew up here.

Fall is In the Air But Flowers Still Abound

Marina Humor

Beware the sewenami we were warned.  While I didn't understand what a sewenami was, the 3' waves accompanying it got my full attention.  There's been one sewenami this year.  It threatened to capsize some boats while doing extensive damage to others.  A sewenami, it turns out, is a local phenomenon and a portmanteau of sewer and tsunami.  When St. Paul gets a lot of rain in a short period, the water first inundates and then backs up in the storm sewers.  The entire city drains through two large pipes.  One of them is just across the Mississippi from the marina and is pointed, like a fire hose, right at it.  There are flash flood warnings tonight.  Last time Nellie was tied up with this many lines a hurricane was expected.  Better safe than sorry.

Sign and Sentiment Courtesy of Lee and Dee Anderson, Jack Robert 37VT17

St. Paul Yacht Club (SPYC) Gas Dock to SPYC Miller Dock

We moved today.  While one mile isn't much, it's movement.  That ups our journey total to 4,276 miles.  In the Miller Dock at the SPYC.  DBH

Day 235: St. Paul, Minnesota

Jack Robert and Hjortie on the St. Croix

The Glinski Fitting did its job.  The thruhull is unobstructed, the raw water is flowing faster and the engine is running cooler.   To prove the point we ran at 2200 rpm for about 20 minutes while passing a towboat.  I must have looked at the temperature gauge a hundred times.  They say a watched pot never boils.  Thankfully, the engine felt no need to disprove the point.

Very Low RR Bridge Ahead

We lower the mast and antennas then make a wish as the train passes overhead.  My wish?  May the reported bridge height be correct.  Steel and fiberglass don't mix!

St. Paul--An Apparition on the Plane

I remember cruising up from the Keys and seeing Miami off in the distance.  My first thought was, El Dorado!  After 830 miles on the roaring Mississippi, St. Paul is my new El Dorado! 

No Hiding St. Paul Behind a Wall or Levee as She Stands Proudly Over the Mississippi

View of St. Paul from Our Slip

Hudson, Wisconsin to St. Paul, Minnesota

Tonight Nellie's in the Yacht Club in St. Paul, Minnesota.  It was a 44 mile, 7 hour trip by boat.  For reference, it takes 25 minutes by car.  Who knew the 'road' less traveled was so much slower...  Total for the journey is now 4,274 miles.  DBH

Day 234: Midwest LNVT Rendezvous, Day 3

Clearing the Blocked Thruhull with the Glinski Fitting

LNVTs Attract a Lot of Attention

Al Peterson Models His New LNVT Shirt

Still in the St. Croix Marina, Hudson, Wisconsin.  No miles today and holding at 4,230 miles for the journey.  DBH

Day 233: Midwest LNVT Rendezvous, Day 2

The Tugs All Dressed Up

Our Villa On Parade

Al Peterson, The Leader of the Pack

Al and Rie Peterson joined us aboard Nellie for today's parade of tugs.  They're an inspiring couple: they bought their tug, Kedge, new, some 30 years ago; they've done the Mississippi seven times; Al's 90 and they're still on the river.

Presented at tonight's dinner, It's Official--We're River Rats!

Hudson to Stillwater--Navigable Terminus of the St. Croix River--and Back

We had a slow paced, relaxing, 15 mile, out and back cruise today.  Since there's virtually no current on the St. Croix River, 1000 rpm yielded the same speed as 2000 rpm on the Mississippi.  The trip's total is now  4,230 miles.  DBH

Day 232: Lord Nelson Midwest Rendezvous

Nellie on the Mississippi Yesterday (Photo: Dee Anderson)

Five tugs and 16 folks have gathered here in Hudson, Wisconsin for the fifth annual Midwest Lord Nelson Victory Tug Rendezvous. 

Cruising up the Mississippi is tough.  Nellie's crew, being the latest to finish the trip, received some good natured ribbing today from the crews of her sister ships.  Bottom line is we all survived the trial of wing dams, high currents, towboats, and locks.  For Bicki and me it feels good to be accepted as fellow River Rats. 

Joe Glinski with His Fitting for Cleaning Thruhulls

Nellie's certainly not the first tug to suffer a plugged raw water thruhull.  After Joe and Arvilla Glinski had a similar problem, Joe made the fitting pictured above.  Connect it to the thruhull, then connect two garden hoses to it, turn on the hoses, and the powerful flow of water will clear any blockage.  Tomorrow morning Nellie will get the Glinski treatment.

In the St. Croix Marina, Hudson, Wisconsin.  No miles today and holding at 4,215.  DBH

Day 231: Hudson, Wisconsin

Lee and Dee Anderson's Jack Robert

We left Hansen's Harbor with two other Lord Nelson tugs this morning.  In the vernacular, traveling in the company of others is called buddy boating.  This is the first time we've buddy boated since leaving Naples. 

Fall Colors are Starting

There are advantages to buddy boating, like safety in numbers.  It's also nice to have other cruisers, especially ones familiar with the waters, lead the way.

Trev Croteau on Hjortie in Lock 3

However, there's a big downside to buddy boating with equally lovely sister ships.  Hjortie, leading our pack, turned every on-lookers head.  Jack Robert, who was just behind Hjortie, got plenty of smiles, waves and thumbs-up.  By the time it was Nellie's turn for adoration, the on-lookers had grown bored of the procession.  Nellie was lucky to get a sideways glance.  Needless to say, this was a crushing blow to Nellie's ego. 

Burlington Northern RR Bridge, Mile Marker 0 on the St Croix River

For the first time since the ides of August, Nellie isn't on the Mississippi.  After 811 miles going up the big muddy, Nellie made a right turn and proceeded up the St. Croix River.

Hansen's Harbor, Minnesota to Hudson, Wisconsin

It was an uneventful 51 miles to the St. Croix Marina in Hudson, Wisconsin.  Total miles for the trip is now 4,215.  DBH

Day 230: Great Idea Gone Bad

Nellie's Coolant Overflow Bottle and the 30 Wiffle Balls Which Were Inside It

Humility.  I'm getting a big dose of it lately.  My latest surefire idea to go south involved putting 30 wiffle balls in the overflow bottle to keep the coolant, which is bouncing all around because of engine vibration, from escaping out of the cap's vent hole.  The escaping coolant problem has dogged Nellie for 10 years.  The wiffle balls were the first remedy that cured the problem.

What's the Gray Matter?

A few months after the balls went in, I started noticing an accumulation of gray matter in the overflow bottle.  While cleaning the bottle today I took all the balls out and inspected them.  It appears they are being dissolved by the coolant as they're both thin and brittle.

The clean bottle is back on the engine, there are no wiffle balls in it, and I'm a little humbler and back to square one on solving the problem.

Tomorrow we head north towards Hudson, Wisconsin.  Nellie's still in Lake City, Minnesota.  No miles today and 4,165 miles for the journey.  DBH

Day 229: Chasing the Gremlin

The Waterlift Muffler's View When Looking Back, Through the Exhaust Hose, at the Engine's Raw Water Injection Elbow

The hose, pictured above, is rated at 250°F.  A few weeks ago, when cooling water didn't emerge from any of those 20 little holes, thanks to my bout of forgetfulness, 600°F engine exhaust, emerged from the large center hole and scorched the hose's interior. 

As dramatic as the failed hose looks, I doubt it's the gremlin causing the engine to currently overheat.  Needless to say, that scorched hose was replaced today.

The Stern Exhaust Hose, Removed from its Thruhull, with the 'Chimney Sweep' that's About to be Pulled Through it

My working theory for the overheating problem was that the exhaust hose was partially blocked by pieces of PVC which had melted out of the muffler.  Two other Lord Nelson tugs had this very thing happen.  The theory was shot down, however, when a 'chimney sweep' went through the 21' long hose unobstructed.  Darn.

When everything's ruled out and the problem remains, something has been overlooked.

Perhaps the gremlin is in one of the very first places we looked: the raw water thruhull.  In this case what was overlooked, or at least discounted, was the thruhull's low flow rate.   Using a waterhose and forcing water backwards through the thruhull improved the flow rate dramatically.

So, it appears that the over temp problem was a simple matter of marine growth or debris blocking the thruhull.  Darn, my melted PVC theory was so much more elegant...

Where's Nellie?  Way up North!

In Hansen's Harbor Marina, Lake City, Minnesota.  No miles today and 4,165 miles for the journey.  DBH

Day 228: Lake City, Minnesota

The Wide Vista at Lock 5A MM 727

The Mississippi is a river in a hurry.  The current's speed varies but the flow is relentless.  For the last month, against the relentless current, we've been happy traveling 5 mph.  If Nellie made it all the way to 6 mph there'd be big, goofy smiles on our faces.  Today we entered a wide spot on the river called Lake Pepin.  It might as well be the Twilight Zone.  For it was here that we saw 8 mph! 

Lake Pepin at MM 774 Looking North

Lake Pepin Chart at MM 774

I knew that mechanic pictured in yesterday's blog posting was not to be trusted.  Today the engine's over-temp gremlin was back and playing hide and seek with us.  One moment it was there, the next gone.  The solution to this problem lays in its consistent inconsistency.  Stay tuned.

Hjortie and Nellie Last Visited on the Chesapeake in 2012

Winona, Minnesota to Lake City, Minnesota

Tonight Nellie's in Hansen's Harbor Marina which is just a few miles north of Lake City, Minnesota, MM 776. Fun fact: Lake City is where water skiing was invented.  Today's was a 50 mile trip and that ups our total to 4,165 miles.  DBH