From Sarah:

The next day, Carol and Ralph were leaving to go back home. We got started a little late going back to Elizabethtown to the boat. That's when Mickey found a problem with the boat. We borrowed tools from the people at the bed and breakfast.

Mickey left so I drove toward Paducah. As I looked around and drove, there was nothing open since it was Labor Day Monday.

From Mickey:

It's ten minutes until 12 (Eastern time) and I am finally underway. I just realized as soon as Sarah pulled away that we left my bags in the truck. My bag with clothes is not a problem, but the other one has my marine radio in it and the GPS. I have to go through two locks today without a radio. That is a bit of a problem. But I guess everything is alright.

We spent the morning repairing my motor mount. It's a wonder that my motor had not fallen off the back of the boat! But I feel really good about it now. It's nice and strong.

I guess everything is just fine. I have all I need. I've good food and water. And I do have a pillow! And I have gas.

I am alone today so that will be interesting.

I have really been worried about what I was going to do going through the locks without the marine radio. I worried about that all the way to Rosieclaire. Finally, I realized that I DO have my cell phone and the river charts have the phone number for the lock and dam! When I get near Smithland Lock and Dam, I will call the on the phone and say, "I'm in a sailboat almost there. Open up for me!"

At Rosieclaire they have a water taxi that goes downstream first and then upstream. The man said it costs $8 to take the ride.

I managed to borrow a drill from the owner of the bed and breakfast this morning so that I could fix the motor mount. He had a battery powered drill which made fixing my motor mount a snap. I put three bolts in the motor mount. I would have put four, but the thread striped on the last one. But it is a lot, lot stronger. I feel very lucky that my motor, motor mount and all the fiberglass on the back of my boat didn't fall off into the river in the last two days. You have to look at the positive side of some of these things.

I've seen a lot of black ducks that look a loon. Maybe the are coots.

This is the first day on the trip that I have wind. I have a nice steady 10 knot wind blowing right on the nose, of course. If I were in a stretch with the wind blowing from the side or behind, by George, I'd put up the sails.

The temperature is much nicer today. I think this wind has blown through a cool front. The wind makes it feel really good.

I set the alarm on my depth sounder at 7 feet so it will let me know if I start getting into shallow water again. Don't know why we didn't set the depth alarm before running aground yesterday.

My boat has only a trickle of a leak. I am sure it is coming in around the slot for the keel in the cockpit. But it is not much of a leak. Last night I took out less than a half gallon from a full day's run. That's pretty good.

I still have a little concern about the place in the front of the boat that I hook my winch to. I think it leaks some around there. The first day I found about three gallons in the front compartment, but yesterday Ralph and I stayed at the back of the boat. There was no water in that front compartment. That was very encouraging. Of course, I put a little epoxy on it and may have actually fixed it. But today, with less weight, I shouldn't have any problem.

I just realized the one thing in the black bag I am going to need, and that's my binoculars.

Yesterday, I was in a panic about four hours out because I realized I hadn't checked the oil in my motor since before sailing camp. I've put 25-30 hours on the motor since then. I thought, "All I need is for this motor to run out of oil and lock up." But I checked it this morning and it was in good shape, and I topped it off with just a little more oil to make sure. I feel really good about my motor now. I've got plenty of gas and I've got oil and the thing is brand new. I am halfway confident that it is going to get me down the river. And I think my motor mount is going to hold on now.

I see the mountain where we spent the night last night. It has taken me about a hour to get here, but we drove it last night in ten minutes. It has a beautiful view overlooking the Ohio River from a bluff up there. It was a great place.

I see eight power boats coming to me. This is a couple of times that I have seen what is obviously a group of folks traveling around together for the day.

Sometimes I think maybe Blake was right. I should have taken this trip from the Mississippi back to Pikeville rather than going downstream with the current because the prevailing wind is from the southwest. Sure enough, when I have had any wind at all it has been against me. You know, the wind doesn't ever blow out of the Northeast, but it always blows out of the southwest.

This is a really nice wind. If I was going the other way, it would be perfect. It's about 10 mph and steady as can be.

Everybody waves at me! There are lots of power boats coming by still.

I am passing Golconda, about 2 p.m. which means I have gone about 7 mph, which is pretty hard to believe.

This is by far the most pleasant day. I am proud of the weather. There has been a pleasant breeze a lot, even though it has not been in a direction for sailing. The temperature must be at least five degrees cooler than yesterday, maybe more. It makes a huge difference. It's just pleasant.

Everything is going so good. And this motor is hardly using any gas at all. Everything is balanced so well. Good day.

I finally got Sarah on the phone a while back. She's in Paducah. I said, "Sarah, look in the back seat in that black bag and get out my marine radio. Call up Smithland Lock and Dam and tell them I want to lock through."

There is a lot less boat traffic today, although there are a few pleasure boats about. It is noticeably less than on Saturday and Sunday.

A while back, I was crossing the channel and the depth flashed up to 56 feet deep. That's the deepest I have seen. Most of the time, it's been around 40 feet deep.

My rubber inserts on the board in the floor of the cockpit have just worked great. The cockpit is whole lot dryer than it usually is. Of course, we haven't had many waves. But I am glad to have dry feet for a change.

I am also proud of my little microcassette recorder. This is the only way to take notes because I am just too busy to write with my hands.

I studied the charts a while back and it looks to me like there are three possibilities for places to dock the boat in Paducah. I feel pretty optimistic about finding a place there. We'll see. I may not even make it that far.

Now it is Monday and I have clean underwear on.

I have been counting on calling the lockmaster on my cell phone, so now that I am almost to the dam, I have no service! That's a problem! Maybe I'll get service before I get there, but so far I don't have any. We'll see what happens.

Well, I got through after all. I managed to get a little bit of signal on my phone and called the lock. I told him I was about a mile away in a little sailboat coming downstream and wanted to lock through. He asked where I was again. And said he couldn't see me, but then he added, "These cameras are not very good." I guess he has a camera pointed both directions so he can monitor the boat traffic from inside. He said, "Are you sure you are coming downstream?"

I said, "I think so."

He said, "Are you coming from.." and mentioned two places that I wasn't familiar with. So I said, "Well, I'm coming from Owensboro!" He said, "Oh well, that's down stream!"

He said he had someone call him earlier in the day and told him they were heading south. He kept looking for them, and they showed up on the other end. They were going up stream after all.

I said, "Well, there's so little current right now that it's a little hard to tell."

He said, "That's right. We're sitting dead in the water right now. We only have six feet."

Later I realized that he meant that his depth was six feet below the dam, which is why there was so little barge traffic. The loaded barges draw about nine feet of water. So only empty barges could make it through this part of the river.

He finally said, "I think I see a little white dot out there in the middle of the river. I'll be ready for you."

I am about one-half mile from the dam now and there is no service again. It's a good thing I called him when I did!

I used the boathook to put the deck lines over the floating bitts, and it was just "too easy!" This is the best lockage I have done.

When I came into Paducah, I saw the very shallow water at the mouth of the Tennessee River. I had to swing really wide to avoid the sand bars. Then I went behind the island to find Bluegrass Marine and the other possible landing sites. But there was nothing but commercial traffic back there. I must have seen 15 or 20 towboats and a refueling station for them. I also saw the Daniel E. Brock Marine Training Center. This is where you learn to drive towboats!

Finally, I found the Executive Inn which has a nice commercial dock for transient boaters. It cost $15 to keep the boat there, but it is worth it to not have to worry all night about the boat. And I am glad that Sarah and I can go to a nice motel where I can shower and get a good night's rest.

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