WOW . . . this truly has been a crazy few days. We are thinking we've entered "The Twilight Zone" :) As we started cruising yesterday, it seemed as if we were back on the Mississippi River, as we saw:
MANY towboats with barges!
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"Beached" boats :)
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Campgrounds and marinas.
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Even jet skiiers . . .
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RACING!!!
THEN, things got a little crazy! As we approached the lock, we were told there was a towboat in the lock and we'd have to wait one hour to go south. The lockmaster told us there was no where to anchor and that we'd just have to idle around above the lock. After one hour, we noticed the tow going SOUTH out of the lock and ANOTHER tow coming into the lock to go north!!! After seeing that, we threw out the anchor!!! :)
After finally getting underway, we came to another lock. We were thrilled when there wasn't a tow and the lockmaster said the lock was ready for us! Once in the lock, however, he told us that their lock had a broken valve and while it took the normal time to lock someone down, it would take approximately 1 1/2 hours to lock someone northbound! Good thing we were going south!!! BUT, since the lock wasn't working properly, they wanted to make sure they had as many boats that needed to go south as possible. SO, there we waited for another half hour until a tow (no barge) entered the lock with us. (We did have a little luck on our side, as at this point the lockmaster said that they'd probably have to CLOSE the lock for some hours tomorrow to fix the valve!!!)
It was now 3:30, and we STILL had 5 hours of cruising!!! We decided to Google the restaurants near the town where we would end up for the day, and Kelli and I were really excited when we found there was a Mexican restaurant two miles away with taxi service! Well, interesting story . . . when we got to the town of Chillicothe (what a name!), we called the taxi service. One was no longer in service, and the other had a recording that the taxi car was broken down and should be up and running the following day. So, John called the Mexican restaurant to try to schmooz a worker to come and pick us up (he even said we'd tip well)! The owner said unfortunately they were understaffed and it wouldn't work. From there, we decided to start to walk to town, in hopes that a fellow boater in the marina might lend us their vehicle. The LAST boat on the dock was a family tidying up their boat for the night. Dave asked how far town was, and the boater then offered HIS WIFE'S vehicle!!! As she hesitated in getting her keys, he asked where we were thinking of going to dinner (at 9:00 on a Sunday night!) and we said Tumbleweed Tex Mex. The family said they never heard of that place and then said they just had the best pizza ever at Castaway's Bar. As we headed in the beautiful silver family van, Dave told me to us the navigation tool on my phone to direct us to the Mexican restaurant. When it popped up, it said it was 7 HOURS AND 26 MINUTES AWAY!!!! Who knew there was another Chillicothe in OHIO!!!!
Lucky to have found Castaways . . . the BEST pizza in Chillicothe, ILLINOIS!!! :)
After finally getting underway, we came to another lock. We were thrilled when there wasn't a tow and the lockmaster said the lock was ready for us! Once in the lock, however, he told us that their lock had a broken valve and while it took the normal time to lock someone down, it would take approximately 1 1/2 hours to lock someone northbound! Good thing we were going south!!! BUT, since the lock wasn't working properly, they wanted to make sure they had as many boats that needed to go south as possible. SO, there we waited for another half hour until a tow (no barge) entered the lock with us. (We did have a little luck on our side, as at this point the lockmaster said that they'd probably have to CLOSE the lock for some hours tomorrow to fix the valve!!!)
It was now 3:30, and we STILL had 5 hours of cruising!!! We decided to Google the restaurants near the town where we would end up for the day, and Kelli and I were really excited when we found there was a Mexican restaurant two miles away with taxi service! Well, interesting story . . . when we got to the town of Chillicothe (what a name!), we called the taxi service. One was no longer in service, and the other had a recording that the taxi car was broken down and should be up and running the following day. So, John called the Mexican restaurant to try to schmooz a worker to come and pick us up (he even said we'd tip well)! The owner said unfortunately they were understaffed and it wouldn't work. From there, we decided to start to walk to town, in hopes that a fellow boater in the marina might lend us their vehicle. The LAST boat on the dock was a family tidying up their boat for the night. Dave asked how far town was, and the boater then offered HIS WIFE'S vehicle!!! As she hesitated in getting her keys, he asked where we were thinking of going to dinner (at 9:00 on a Sunday night!) and we said Tumbleweed Tex Mex. The family said they never heard of that place and then said they just had the best pizza ever at Castaway's Bar. As we headed in the beautiful silver family van, Dave told me to us the navigation tool on my phone to direct us to the Mexican restaurant. When it popped up, it said it was 7 HOURS AND 26 MINUTES AWAY!!!! Who knew there was another Chillicothe in OHIO!!!!
Lucky to have found Castaways . . . the BEST pizza in Chillicothe, ILLINOIS!!! :)
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