Well, Annie got her taste of the Ohio yesterday. Locked through Barkley lock on the Cumberland River without incident although it took some time to get the lockmasters attention.
Barkley Lock
Called him on the radio several times with no response. Then blew the horn and Ron pulled the manual cable to no avail. Finally called him on the phone and he answered and locked us right through. There was no traffic at all on the Cumberland. Finally got onto the Ohio about 2 PM. Dropped in line with the many tows pushing barges. First dam was Smithland Dam, just a few miles up river
Smithland is the first lock for us on the Ohio.
. Callled the lockmaster and he locked us right through. They have two active locks and we were right in back of a tow. If we had had to wait for thoe tow it would have cost us an hour or two. . As it was he opened the lock doors just as we motored in. After clearing the lock we dropped in line with the up bound tows. It was about 21 miles from Smithland dam to Golconda Marina. We were dragging bottom getting here. There is one other big boat but probably not enough big boat activity to keep the channel blown out so were sitting in soft mud. But that’s OK. The electricity is good….not that we needed the air conditioning. It must be in the 50’s this morning with a little fog on what I can see of the river. The marina opens at 8 so we have to hang out here till then. They have a pretty nice ships store from what I could see through the window. We had called ahead and had been given instructions where to tie up. It’s a nice marina but apparently very underutilized in that half of the slips are empty. . There a very intriguing foot bridge over an adjacent creek that leads to town
Footbridge over the creek
. not a very big town but cute. Apparently it was founded by Sarah Lush who in the 1800’s ran a ferry across the river, Initially the town was called Sarahville but somehow later the name was changed to Golconda. Population is about 700.We walked into town to check if out. Has a few antique stores and gift shops, a pharmacy and a food market. There was several pubs all of which were like little restaurants. We had taked some hamburger patties out to thaw and were going to grill some burgers but ended up eating at the Divers Down Pub. Actually it was quite good.
Today should be another 50 mile day with not much to see or do except watch for commercial traffic and stay out of their way. They run about the same speed we are making which is about 7.5 mph. I estimate we have a 1.5 mph current against us going up stream. Trying to overtake and pass them is quite a chore as we can pick up about 1 mph by throttling up but it takes forever to clear them so it easiest just to drop in line and keep your distancce. Tonight will be our first night to anchor out as there are no marinas within range. Ron has studied the cruising guifdes and has an anchorsge all picked out for us. we have seen NO pleasure boats so far and from what we gather the Ohio is not a prime cruising ground but were looking forward to it and if the first day is any indication of what were looking at its going to be a tremendous experience.
The marina is supposed have wi-fi and my laptop sees it but cannot log on and our air card cannot lock on to the signal so internet access made be intermittent at best along the river. I was planning to post every day but that is not likely going to happen.
We appreciate everyone’s concern about Hillary. She is a little better although she cannot stand or walk. Carol is feeding her pedialyte and chopped up chicken sand at least she is eating a bit and drinking. I got up at 5:30 to make coffee and watch the sun come up and Carol was asleep laying on the floor in the salon where we made a bed for Hillary. Next few days will tell what is going to happen. 
I wrote this post last night and we have good news. Hillary was able to stand up this morning. Carried her down the dock and found some grass and she was able to do her doggie thing. She was able to walk all the way back to the boat but she’s still drunker than Cooter Brown. She was able to stand and eat on her own today .She’s not out of the woods yet but appears to be on the mend.
Ron Beberniss
Voyages of Annie 
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