9/3/2000
Big Sandy
See, life is about facing your fears. Tomorrow
morning at 6:30 or so I will head down the Big Sandy. Yes, down to
the north - toward the Ohio River. And I am facing my fears and I
hope I will overcome them.
What's so fearful about floating down a little river?
Let me count the ways.
1) Taking out.
The map shows no places to take my little boat out.
And no, I could not carry it. Although it is only 13 feet, it still
weighs probably 250 pounds. So I HAVE to find a place where I can
back the trailer into the water to get the boat out. I feel confident
that there are plenty of such places. They are just not marked on the map,
and nobody that I talk to locally knows what it's like down the river.
The place where I am putting the boat in (right near my house) isn't marked
on the map either. It's just a bumpy, little dirt road that leads
down to the edge of the water. I know I won't have any trouble getting
my boat in.
I debated about borrowing a kayak or a canoe for
this first part of the trip, but decided I need to do the whole trip in
MY BOAT. A canoe or kayak would be no problem to haul up the bank
and out of the water. So that is fear #1 - getting out.
2) Rapids
The water is low, but not as low as it has been.
It looks like it is 3 or 4 feet deep down by my house, but I can see some
rapids on the river from bridges downstream - like the one at the bridge
to Wal-Mart. That's where another stream joins the Big Sandy (actually
the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy). The new stream brings sand and
rock in and almost fills up the Big Sandy, making a little rapids over
to the far side.
Well, I'm not too worried about rapids. I
don't think there will be SERIOUS rapids, like for 100 yards or so.
I think they will be little 15 or 20 feet rapids and just low water.
I plan to get out of the boat and drag it through so that I don't crash
too heavily into rocks and scrape up the bottom of my boat. Actually,
I don't think there will be many rapids and not bad ones at that.
But it is still a fear lingering out there.
3) Low water bridges
Blake says I can't make it because there are a number
of "low water bridges" left from the old days. He says I won't be
able to float under a low water bridge and will have to carry my boat over
the road.
Maybe. But I really can't imagine that the
river will be that stopped up. And if I can't get under the bridge,
I'll drag the boat over. By the way, I am not taking my sails and
mast on this part of the journey. The river is down in the valley
and there will be NO wind. I am sure of that. So I am taking
my trusty 1966 Johnson 3 horse-power motor with me, and six gallons of
gas. That little motor should run two days on six gallons of gas.
IF... if the water is deep enough for me to use the motor. If not,
I'll be paddling and oaring a lot. Or walking in the water dragging
the boat. But hey. It doesn't look that low down by the house,
and it should get deeper as it goes along with streams joining it every
half mile or so.
4) Gas Pipe Lines
At one of the bridges, I looked downstream and saw
a gas pipe line crossing the river right at water level. That's not
a SERIOUS obstacle, but it IS a problem. I will have to go to the
edge of the river and manage to pull my boat over the pipe line.
Not easy, but I'm not too worried about that one.
Yeah, the Big Sandy isn't a pristine waterway.
In fact, it is pretty nasty in places. But hey, it's the river that
starts at my house. Sarah and I drove down there Saturday night to
look at the launch site. It was late evening, and we saw a big beaver working
in the water. He slapped his tail at us real loud once. Which
might bring up another fear - wildlife. But I fear mosquitoes more
than beaver. Or even snakes. I don't think the snakes will bother
me. Probably.
I may spend the night tomorrow night on the river.
It all depends on whether or not I find a convenient getting-out place.
If I don't have an exit, I'll just spend the night and go some more the
next day. But then, will I find a camping site? In EVERY place
that I have seen the river (looking from the various bridges downstream),
the banks are very steep and covered with undergrowth. I haven't
seen any places that look like camping spots. But surely it has a
sandbar somewhere. Every river that makes a big turn has a sandbar
on the inside. Perhaps it won't be too overgrown or too snaky.
And worse case, I will sleep in my boat. That's not as easy as it
sounds because my boat has very little space for sleeping. Sure it's
13 feet, but that space is broken up with benches on the side and pulleys
and gear for sailing. It's not made for sleeping. So last night,
I got in it and practiced lying in various positions. I found a place
near the front where I can wedge myself in. And I got a little board
to cover the hole where my shoulder would fall off the bench. I have
a sleeping bag, foam cushion, mosquito netting, and a tent - just in case.
Of all my fears, the biggest one is taking out.
Suppose I find a great taking out place at 2 o'clock. Will I find
another one before dark? Who knows? Do I take this one and
call Sarah (I will also have my cellular phone.)? Or do I take a
chance and keep going? Those will be tough decisions.
When I do decide to take out, I will call Sarah.
But she has to find where I am. We both have identical maps so I
should be able to describe close to where I am. And for the most
part, the river runs alongside U.S. Highway 23. So I should be able
to climb the bank and flag her down when she drives by.
And my trip has been twice delayed. I had planned
to leave early Friday and float for two days. But I felt sick so
I waited. Then I planned to leave as soon after church today as possible.
But I got an emergency call right after church and had to go visit a lady
whose husband had just left her for a couple of hours. Then it was
too late to start. So now all systems should be clear for starting
early in the morning. I have the boat ready. Maybe I'll find
a good taking out place toward the end of the day and it will be one good
long day down river. Maybe I won't and I'll have to spend the night.
I'm leaving everything at work ready just in case.
See. Life is full of fears. But you just
have to face those fears and challenge yourself. "Sometimes a man's
just gotta do what a man's gotta do." And hey, I gotta do this.
Life is meant to be an adventure. And we all
know that it is really God's Will for me to be sailing across oceans and
such. But here I am landlocked with only a smelly little stream.
So I'm taking my adventure two days at a time and starting where I happen
to be.
Well, wish me luck. Oh, and pray for me too.
Won't I have stories to tell when I get back!
9/4/2000
So! Sarah and I pulled away from the house
before 7 a.m. for the short jaunt down to the river. The little path
down the last hill to the river was pretty over-grown. I got too
far to one side and was almost off into a ravine before I realized it because
of the underbrush. I had to get out on Sarah's side and walk around
the car to look at it. I was still about 20 feet from a level place.
So I tried to pull forward, but the tires spun. Fortunately, the
spinning tires moved the back of the car in the right direction - away
from the ravine! So I was able to straighten the front wheels and
back on down to the level spot.
We unloaded the boat close to the water. Not
in the water because I wasn't sure I'd be able to get the car out.
Then I inched the boat to the water by moving first the front end then
back end until I got it in the water.
Then I drove the car back up the hill without any
problem. That was an ADVENTURE that I hadn't anticipated. I
sure almost got the car stuck.
So we put all the gear into the boat and pushed it
out a bit, but I wanted to get the motor started before Sarah left.
Alas! It would NOT start. It has always been so good about
starting on the second pull, but it just wouldn't start. Well, the
water was flowing so fast that I decided I'd just go without it.
So I pulled the motor off and took it and the two gas cans up the hill
and put them in the car. That way the boat would be much lighter for going
through the rapids.
7:45
So I pushed off, waved goodbye to Sarah and told
her that if I never saw her again to remember that I loved her. I
put the anchor close by my side so that I would be able to stop if I saw
some disaster ahead - like a gas pipeline or a bad rapids.
I can sit on the very front of my boat and paddle
it down the river backwards. When I am alone like that, the back
of the boat lifts out of the water and it rides much like a canoe.
Very nimble that way. So that was the preferred way of going through
all of the rapids for the day.
But when the rapids were over, I needed the extra
power of the oars. So I could sit backward and get some real leverage
into the oars and move very quickly through the water.
I had a folding canvass chair that I put in the boat,
and I could stand it up toward the back of the boat. That way when
I tired of oaring backward or if I wanted to see what was ahead, I could
sit in the chair and push on the oars while I was going forward.
Shortly after I left, I saw a couple of blue heron
and one turtle.
8:15
Sarah walked out on the Pauley footbridge just after
I went under it. She yelled at me. I looked through the binoculars
and could tell it was her, so I waved and hollered back.
Sarah had driven down to the Wal-Mart bridge.
I could see her car parked in the middle of the bridge and could tell she
was waiting there as long as no traffic came. Then I noticed a police
car approach her from the front and turn on his lights. She obviously
talked to him a bit and then moved on out of the way. Later I learned
that she told him she was having car trouble, which she was - sort of.
It was making a funny noise.
I have been oaring a lot. There are many places
where the water is deep and the current doesn't flow very fast. I
try to add variety by oaring backward, then forward, then switching to
the front of the boat and paddling it like a canoe. The motor would
have been very useful 90% of the time. I am afraid I will get very
tired before the day is over.
The river is plenty big and has been no problem.
But I have not seen ANY take-out places so far. Haven't had any trouble
following on the map either. Well, I have miles to go before I rest.
Better oar some more.
9:45 - Mossy Bottom
I found a nice grassy place where I could hike up
the hill to the Mossy Bottom bridge so I called Sarah on my cellular phone
and asked her to come get me. I decided that I really needed that
motor and it would be worth it to take a couple of hours and try again
to get it started.
When I got home, I put the motor on a sawhorse and
a trash can full of water under it. I pulled some more with no luck.
So I took the spark plug out and cleaned it. Then I sprayed some
carburetor fluid into the piston and replaced the spark plug. The
motor hit like it wanted to start, but obviously wasn't getting enough
gas.
So I started taking the carburetor apart. I
removed the bottom bowl with the float and it was obvious that it had no
gas in it. So I started tracing the lines back to the tank, and discovered
that the gas was not even coming out of the tank. So I cleaned various
parts and filters and replaced everything without even having any spare
parts left. And to my surprise, the motor started right up.
Eureka!
So Sarah hauled me and the motor and two gas cans
back to Mossy Bottom where I toted them down the boat. On the way,
we stopped at Wendy's for lunch.
11:45 Mossy Bottom
The motor started again and I was off, much relieved
at the added advantage of the motor. I was back on the river and
the motor was working GREAT.
Now I can write and drive the boat at the same time
which is fun. And I am sure that I will make up for the lost time
very quickly. There are a number of still places on the river.
The current only carries me fast in the rapids. I would have been
oaring A LOT! As it is, I'm just letting the motor run about half
speed and it is moving me quickly down the river.
I just scared up some ducks. The fog is just
now lifting from the river.
12:10 Broad Bottom (no, that is not a woman's
nickname, that is a place on the river)
I saw my first boat in the water with steps carved
in the banks behind a house. It was a Johnboat without a motor.
A little later I saw an old boat upside down with just the back part sticking
out of the water. I hope that was not the last person crazy enough
to try to float down this river. I saw another blue heron.
I am so comfortable sitting in my canvass chair
with a tent pole in my hand. I use the tent pole as an extension
for the boat motor handle. That way I can sit comfortably well forward
in the chair and still steer. And that balances the boat better.
12:40
I had to work on the low speed idle control valve
a good bit to adjust the motor. When I took the carburetor off, I
changed the setting and didn't remember how it was. So after a good
bit of experimentation, I had it adjusted just right.
I just saw my first old car in the water.
There are two shopping carts in the water here.
The boat is leaking a little. So I dip it
out with the small tin can I have for such purposes.
No boat ramps or river access YET! Makes me
nervous.
I haven't had a real rapids since Mossy Bottom.
The river is slowing down. Thank God for the motor.
This is genuinely GREAT! I am feeling fine,
sitting in my comfortable chair, tent pole extension in my hand, motor
purring like a kitten. Just the slightest tug or push on the tent
pole keeps me in the middle of the stream. No problems! Most
of my fears were ill-founded. Isn't that the way it always is?
Looks like I can make Prestonsburg by six.
And there are a good number of houses on the banks.
I COULD get my boat out at many of them. But it would take dragging
it up a steep hill to get it out of the water. But hey! It
could be done.
1:30
I am finally beginning to settle down. Up until
now I have been very anxious - those fears, you know.
The current isn't moving much. I would have
been in big trouble without the motor. It would be frustratingly
slow. And I would be exhausted by now.
I just saw a child's yellow plastic shovel caught
in small branches about ten feet up a tree.
And I have noticed that there are not many likely
camping sites either.
Another bona fide rapids. Had to kill the
motor and swing around and use the boat like a canoe. The rapids
are too shallow for the motor, but I haven't scrapped the bottom of the
boat on any of them yet.
There's a red 1967 Dodge pushed into the river along
with lots of trash and tires. I guess it will be there for 100 years.
Who would do such a crazy thing?
Somebody has electricity running down to a small fishing
dock with a little 4X4X3 tin building on it. It must be used for
keeping bait alive. But no boat and no boat ramp.
This river is a lot like the Saline River that Andy
and I floated one Spring Break.
Except for the occasional car pushed in, this river
is not too bad. It's not as smelly and trashy as I had expected.
Someone should make more river accesses and boat ramps so it would be used
more.
2:05 Bridge at Ivel
I found the remains of a low water bridge at Ivel
and a huge water pump on the shore. There was one big concrete pillar
left in the middle of the river, but the rest of the bridge stopped at
the shore. No problem getting by.
2:15 Changed pages on my map. Yeah! Progress!
I haven't seen any fish flounce.
Well, I went 2 1/2 hours on just a little over a
half gallon of gas. That's not bad. At that rate, I probably
have enough gas to get all the way to Ashland where the Big Sandy joins
the Ohio River.
The motor occasionally makes some odd knocking noise
which bothers me. But so far so good. I need a getting out
place in Prestonsburg!
There's a blue basketball caught in the backwash behind
a sandbar. But no boat ramps.
2:43 Banner bridge
It is clouding up now. Looks like rain.
I just hit something in the water and I think I sheared a pin. No,
it sees to be doing fine now. I think something in the foot of the
motor needs oiling. But I checked the foot oil before I left.
I don't understand this. But now it has settled down and is running
fine. I hope for a boat ramp in Prestonsburg. If I could see
another boater, I would be hopeful for a boat ramp nearby. But I
have seen none.
Another bona fide rapids. There are also signs
of a low water bridge here. But the part across the river has been
totally removed.
Oops, I DO have a sheared pin. I've got the
tools to replace it, but I have to get the motor in the boat with me.
3:15 Allan Bridge
Well, it is all fixed up and we are under way again.
The sound I was hearing was coming from the broken pieces of the shearing
pin floating around where the prop is. I had to put the motor back
in the boat AGAIN and take some more pieces out, but now there are no bad
sounds. And hey, I'll know what it is next time.
Well, there's a yard on the left where I could probably
get the boat out. It wouldn't be easy, but I could do it.
No bugs so far.
There's an old tank truck (a gas truck) pushed into
the river, but it caught in the trees about five feet from the water.
There's a grassy knoll (no, not the one for JFK) on the right. That
could be another possibility for a take-out place, but it's not time yet.
When I do get out, the first fifteen feet will be straight up the bank.
There just aren't ANY accesses even like the primitive one in Pikeville.
3:25 Highway 23 Bridge
The wind has suddenly picked up and the clouds are
very dark. There's a thunderstorm nearby. I got my raincoat
out of my bag and opened the 5X7 tarp so I could cover myself up in case
of a bad rain.
I just had to kill the motor for a 500-yard rapid.
I am trying to be careful not to break another shearing pin. I hope
it doesn't rain a long time.
3:55
I spotted a floating barge on the left with a fifteen-foot
crane on one end and huge water pumps on the other. It has six-inch
water pipes running out of it up the hill to some kind of manufacturing
plant. As I motored closer, I was looking it over closely when suddenly
I saw two half-inch cables stretching from the barge all the way across
the river about two feet off the water. I tried to turn the motor,
but it was too late! The front of the boat caught the first cable,
and as I spun I could tell the cables were going to cut right across at
the top edge of the boat. The back of the boat eased under the cable,
and I was able to pick them up enough to lift them over my head, and I
drifted on under them. Whew! Wow! It's a good thing I
wasn't going fast. That thing would have decapitated me. Why
did he put those cables across the river like that? That's very dangerous,
and not friendly at all!
There are thunderstorms all around me now.
4:20 I finally saw a train. The map shows that
the railroad tracks run parallel to the river all this way, but this is
the first time I have known that it was there. It is raining hard
now.
4:45 Highway 80 bridge near Jenny Wiley
This is one of my preferred sites for exit.
But I see nothing. No possibility of getting out here.
5:35 Highway 3384 bridge on the edge of Prestonsburg
Well, this is the place where the map indicates
a boat ramp should be. This is the one I have been counting on all
day, but it IS NOT THERE! No boat ramp. How depressing!
So now I am looking very seriously at each yard trying to figure out if
I could possibly get the boat up the riverbank. This is bad news.
No boat ramp.
Wait! What's that ahead? It looks like
a big rock on the side of the river, but it could be... Yes, IT IS!
A BOAT RAMP! A perfectly good boat ramp! Yahoo!
So I eased over to the ramp, parked the boat and
walked up the hill right into downtown Prestonsburg. This is the
Prestonsburg River Park INCLUDING a boat ramp. At the top of the
hill, I noted that I was at the corner of West Court Street and Front Street
so I whipped out my cellular phone and rejoiced that the batteries were
still good. I called Sarah and explained exactly where I was.
In forty minutes she and Will arrived to save the day.
Hey, I conquered my fears and it all worked out fine!
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