We called a couple of marinas this morning as we were underway in the La Crosse, WI area looking for diesel fuel. We first spoke to North Bay Marina next to the French Island Yacht Club. They said they had plenty of diesel, but did not have a transient slip for us tonight. So we called Petitbone Boat Club which is about 4 miles further down river and they told us they had diesel and had plenty of room for us for the night. Great.
I start thinking that we might arrive in La Crosse early and figure we need to check other options. So we decided to call further down the river to Lansing, Iowa in case we were making good time and wanted to continue. The marina in Lansing told us he only had 100 gallons of diesel remaining in there tank, but we were welcome to it. No thanks. So we decided the best thing was to fuel up in La Crosse and then run down to Lansing for the night.
Got to Petitbone around 4:30pm to top off the tanks. We called them for docking instructions and they tell me they don’t sell diesel. After 5 minutes of talking to a dumb a$$, I realize I am wasting my time. So we have to turn around and run about 4 miles back up the Mississippi to North Bay Marina. We call them on the phone and try hailing them on the radio and no luck. We arrive at about 3 minutes before 5pm and they are closed. Won’t be open until 8:00am tomorrow morning.
At this point, we can sneak into an empty slip and wait until 8am to get diesel fuel or continue on our trip south to Lansing, Iowa which is only 44 miles away. It’s only 5 o’clock, the sun is out and it stays light until 8:00pm. Clair and I think about it for a few minutes and decide to run down to Lansing, take on about 50 gallons of fuel and call it a day.
Only one problem; we have one more lock (Lock #8) to get through before we can get to Lansing. We run down the river and arrive at Lock #8 at 6:00pm. Lock master is ready to put us right through, but one of the barges wants to go first. It must have been that captain’s first day on the job, because it took him 2 hours to get that frick’n barge into the lock. He had that thing practically sideways trying to get in the lock. It was comical. So finally at 8:15pm, we get to go through the lock. By now it is dark and we still have 15 miles to go to make Lansing. Just as we are leaving the lock, the lock master informs us that a big storm is on its way and will arrive in about an hour. So we start heading down the river hoping to make Lansing before the storm.
We don’t make it. We are about 6 miles short. The storm comes in and now it is raining sideways and the wind is howling and it’s dark and we can’t see. It is now 9:00pm and we have been at it for over 14 hours. Time to bail. Pull off to the side of a channel and drop the hook. Get the anchor set and ride out a monsoon complete with a lightening show. Clair must think I’m nuts, incompetent, or both. Right now I think I am both. What a total fiasco.
So now we are sitting at anchor with a frozen pizza for dinner. Such is the glamorous life of a delivery captain. At least the boat and the occupants are safe. We will run down to Guttenberg, Iowa in the morning where they have plenty of good diesel fuel for us and we will continue making our way towards Saugatuck.
I do have some pictures, but I will try and post them tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment