Big Muddy Clean Sweep Log Book Vol. 3 - Hermann Mooring

diligently recorded by Jodi Pfefferkorn

The third batch of log book entries, in which we tie up right by the Hermann boat ramp, frighten and calm school administrators, avoid Octoberfest crowds and in which Mel has an island named for her. Making a new town our home for the week, we meet everyone we can and answer a lot of questions about the barge. The trash begins to pile up. 

Tuesday, October 4 2011
Today was day one of the Hermann/Owensville education & cleanup event. We had an early wake up call at 0630. Tim made eggs, vegetables & toast. He said we should eat vegetables for breakfast because they’re complex carbs and they’ll burn slowly giving us energy for longer. Good thing, too, because we had a long day ahead. We took 60+ high schoolers out in the morning and 60+ middle schoolers in the afternoon. Except for a couple cuts from broken glass, things went off without a hitch. Well…it took Steve 45 minutes to convince the Hermann High School principal that the way we do river cleanup is safe and the students could proceed to go on the river. 

Hermann students gather at the boat ramp - photo by Racin' Dave Stevens

Jodi pilots a boat of Owensville students out to their trash site. photo by Steve Schnarr

Some of the students were doing a multi-media project on their cleanup, taking photos, posting to twitter and doing a Skype-feed with other students unable to join. 

As we were cleaning up from the event, a couple paddled up to the barge in a canoe saying “I owe someone on this boat 20 bucks!” and waving a 20. Turns out Patrick met the Living Lands & Waters crew on the Mississippi several years ago when he paddled the entire Mississippi. Someone lent him 20 bucks and he never got the chance to pay them back. And here he sees that same towboat on the Missouri! So he wrote down the story and taped it, with the $20, to the refrigerator in the galley.

Now Patrick and Misty were paddling a simple aluminum canoe down the Missouri, all they way from Three Forks, MT. First we saw Dirk, the Australian, in Jeff City and now Patrick & Misty in Hermann. I wonder who we’ll see in Washington? Patrick & Misty couldn’t stay for dinner because they needed to log some more miles before the end of the day. So after a quick tour and brief chat (& a couple sodas) they were on their way.

Patrick and Misty Rose leave the barge on their last leg of their huge journey. photo by Steve Schnarr

Our friends Roger & Barbara Giles are piloting their newly purchased sternwheeler down the Ohio, up the Mississippi and now up the Missouri. Anthony’s been following their progress on Facebook and he saw that they were around New Haven heading upstream in our direction. So we all hopped in a plateboat to intercept them. A few miles downriver (on the infamous Berger Bend) and there she was, moving ever so slowly upriver. (We sure know how that feels.)

We find the Nancy Ann on Berger Bend and escort them upstream at sunset. photo by Racin' Dave Stevens.

We came alongside the Nancy Ann and hopped aboard. Roger was maneuvering the sandbars on Bates Island Bend and didn’t want to pull our boat. So Anthony, Habibi and Jeff took turns at the tiller, keeping our boat alongside the Nancy Ann while the rest of us toured the boat. It was quite a site – with an upper & lower level. The gangplank was at her bow, and raised and lowered via an electronically operated pulley. The pilot house was part of the upper level & to the aft was the texas deck. The lower level had the master bedroom, kitchen, bathroom & living room. Roger, Barbara and their engineer Lee were riding in luxury.

When we got back to the barge, Anthony, Habibi & I took most of the crew’s laundry into town then headed to Sharp’s Corner Tavern for beers & dinner. Tim was already there watching the Cardinal’s game (they lost by one). Jeff, Steve & Racin’ stayed behind to help tie up the Nancy Ann. They joined us later & brought Lee. Donna popped in, seemingly out of nowhere but apparently Tim had kept her informed of our whereabouts.

Those who had brains in their heads and exercised good judgment went back to the barge after dinner. Those who didn’t (Steve, Anthony, Habibi & me) stayed at the bar and played cards with some locals, making it back by midnight (or so).

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Sunrise on the barge deck in Hermann. photo by Steve Schnarr

Today was day two of the education and cleanup events with high schoolers & middle schoolers. Scott Voney from MDC brought the “Disney Boat”. Apparently this is the first time it’s been out this year. There were no injuries today & Steve didn’t have to persuade any principals. The middle school principal was very protective of her students, but by the end of the day, she and her students were climbing on rack piles and digging out all they trash they could find. Those kids were really into it today. Students in both groups that I took out commented that the trash in the river made them mad.

This guy came back with trash fish (silver carp). photo by Steve Schnarr

Habibi’s first group was a little less energetic. His students weren’t really into the cleanup idea and one of the adults on board didn’t like mud or spiders. Good thing Habibi had a better group in the afternoon because he had boat problems. Finding no tools or spare parts in the boat box, he got creative & removed the (beware: girl term ahead) thingy from gas line & manually pumped gas into the line by sticking the hose end directly into the tank.

Racin’ & Anthony stayed on the barge today, installing the trash fence onto the trash barge. Basically, they welded small metal tubes perpendicular to the face of the sand flat coaming, then slid t-posts into the tubes and attached the fence to that. They were able to finish the whole thing in one day – it looks awesome! We were able to put it to good use because we cleared the work flat of trash that had been collected over the past two days. 

The river has dropped a few feet since we arrived on Monday, and Racin’ thought it would be in our best interest to move the barge out a little. Habibi put a little slack in the stern line that was attached to the winch. I put slack on the head line. All the while Racin’ was in the pilot house maneuvering the barge. We all used radios and everything went off without a hitch. We sure act like we know what we’re doing!

Racin' moves the barge off the bank. photo by Steve Schnarr

Tonight we had a couple extra crew members and a few guests for dinner. We weren’t going to fit around the dining table in the galley, so Tim served dinner on the work flat. Tables & chairs were set up and we enjoyed a delicious BBQ chicken and roasted potatoes under the soft glow of the lights in the riverfront park (we turned off the generator to cut down on the noise). Our guests included Gary & Marcia Leabman, Dave the River Slave, Donna & Nancy McKenna. For dessert, Tim served up warm strawberry rhubarb pie with frozen custard.

Quote of the Day – (Steve found a message in a bottle)…it reads:
“Hi – My name is M… M…… I am a gay white male looking for someone to spend time & romantic time with. I am looking a male 20-30 years old in good physical condition. For the right man a possibly move into my apartment. (grammatical errors are from the original) Please call, Sincerely, M… M……. (two phone numbers included)”

Thursday, October 6, 2011
Today was a much needed and deserved off day! The crew was allowed to sleep in – some a little longer than others. We all had our own off-day agendas. For some of us this meant going for a bike ride or a walk, eating lunch in town, checking out the shops in Hermann, getting laundry done, working on the computer or attending the train wreck known as the community theater.

Mel arrived today with Gale – Ruthie showed up in time for the community theater outing. Craig made his appearance as well.

Burgers and sweet potato fries for dinner then a chilaxin’ evening.

Friday, October 7, 2011
Today was the scout for Saturday’s clean-ups. We divided and conquered. 4 went down stream and 5 went up. Habibi was the only crew member who didn’t go on the scout because he had to print off maps for us at the Hermann library. He asked the librarian if he could print some river charts from his USB drive on the library computer. The librarian said to him, “Well, I understand ‘computer’.” Abibi drew from all his world travels & lost-in-translation experience to communicate his needs to the librarian. Unfortunately, he needed color maps but could only get black & white.

Steve, Anthony, Ruthie, Racin & Gale (& Gale’s dog, Mr. Foxy) went downstream for the scout. They scored some good sites on Bate’s Island Bend. The water has dropped a few feet since we got here on Monday, so getting to shore to check out these sites was harder than before. Several wing dikes and trail dikeswere either showing or just below the surface…lurking in the muddy waters, waiting to prey on the lower units of the boat motors.

Tim & Mel did the driving for our scout team, which included Craig & myself. We scouted several sites on the Missouri & Gasconade. Many of our sites didn’t have enough trash to send a group to, so we just cleaned them ourselves. We also scored a perfectly good picnic table stuck in a driftwood pile. When we came back from the scout our boat looked more like a trash haul than a scout.

Our trash scout turned into a trash & treasure haul. photo by Melanie Cheney

By early afternoon, the weekend crew was starting to arrive. Liz was waiting for us when we returned from the scout. Rod & Nanci had arrived while we were scouting, so they hit the town while waiting. John Brady, Bernie & Brian all arrived in the early afternoon & Mel’s mom Lucie came.

Everyone did their own thing in the afternoon Som e folks ran errands, others visited a winery & one group went thrift shore shopping. Steve set up a little office under the pavilion in the park so he could get internet reception.

For dinner, Tim & Liz cooked up schnitzel and German-style potato salad. Tim had never made schnitzel, and decided to stick the pork loins in a ziplock bag, lay it on the barge deck and pound it with a 2 pound mallet. Half he grilled and half he fried. They were all great.

Racin' Dave took this one from the dome of the Gasconade County Courthouse. photo by Racin' Dave Stevens. 

Saturday, October 8, 2011
We had an early start because of the cleanups today. So Tim & Liz made breakfast sandwiches. That way we could eat quickly & cleaning up was simple.

Instead of having one big  cleanup, we had the boats ready to go for any groups hanging out at Oktoberfest. Ruthie made a sign inviting people to clean-up the river. We had a few folks come. Some just wanted a boat ride, but others actually came to clean up. A few people that came were folks that had stopped by throughout the week to see what was up with the barge. We’d tell them about the clean-up today & they actually came!

Others were families whose kids had gone to the clean-up with their school earlier that week. The assistant superintendant of one of the Hermann schools brought his family. A bunch of folks from Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources & Science (MANNRS) from Lincoln University came for the morning. They went with Racin’ Dave and Gale and took on the huge Bate’s Island Bend site. They completely filled the boat with trash and loved it.

There were a couple of boatloads of just MRR crew members who went out to clean up. All in all, I think we pulled three refrigerators from the banks. And if you ever want to spend 45 minutes pulling a refrigerator through the river, then find yourself waist deep in the river, heaving the refrigerator into the boat…then go on a trash haul with Jim Karpowicz, Jeff Barrow & Rod Power. Those boys were coming up with ideas that included ropes over trees, carabineers, usning the bow of the boat to “stand” the frig up. After we all stood on the log rack and heaved the frig into the river (we missed the boat), the guys looked at each other and exchanged compliments that said “yeah, we meant to do that”. Well, 45 minutes later, the frig was in the boat and Karp & I were soaking wet.

We did most of the trash haul today. We had planned on doing it tomorrow, but we figured whatever we could haul today would be helpful.

Karp & Liz load a truck tire. photo by Melanie Cheney

Moving the trash from the work flat up into the trash barge. photo by Alicia Pigg.

Dragging to the pile. photo by Alicia Pigg.

Dinner was catered by Hermann Catering as a donation to the crew. Theresa Black, the caterer, told Jeff that her son worked on the river but had died in a work-related accident. She wanted to serve us because she felt like she was giving something back.

The ladies from Hermann Catering donated dinner to us...after they had already catered a 150 person barge tour on the Hermann Sand barge

We had taken the chain at the head of the barge down to help Theresa get the food onto the barge. Well, we forgot to put the chain back up and while we were eating, two different people wandered onto the barge (from Octoberfest) and wanted to “party” with us. Steve was the diplomat that handled both of these situations. One of our surprise visitors was a biologist that had been a boat operator at our cleanups before and was hanging out with friends at Octoberfest.

Dinner was chicken alfredo and apple crisp. Half the crew went for an after dinner moonlight cruise. They called the rest of us and said they landed on an island (“Mel’s Island”, because she took a nap there earlier in the week) and had a campfire lit so we joined them. That’s where we had our pass-the-feather circle. Not a bad ending to a busy but fun-filled week.

Oh yeah…a bunch of us got to take showers today!

Sunday, October 9, 2011
We had a late pancake breakfast today. After a brief meeting about the 340 (which would be starting on Tuesday in Kansas City) we divided & conquered on the rest of the trash haul. It turned out that we had girls against boys. Steve, Habibi, Tim, Jeff & Bernie were in one boat with Mel, her mom Lucie, Gale, Donna & I were in the other group. I’m not sure how much trash was actually hauled by each group, but the girls brought in the biggest piece of trash. It was a huge barrel that was completely smashed in on one side. Let’s just say…it took 7 guys to unload it…but only 4 women to load it!

The all girl trash haul with the big crushed tank. Donna, Gale, Jodi & Lucie. photo by Melanie Cheney

photo by Alicia Pigg.

After the trash haul, Anthony & Racin’ washed off all the decks. Mel, Steve & John Brady shuttled all the vehicles to Washington. When they came back, they had Captain Mike with them!

Tim made burritos for dinner. We ate on the work deck one last time before the cold sets in. Movin’ out tomorrow!

The River Cleanup leaves Hermann. Photo by Alicia Pigg. 

Big Muddy Clean Sweep Log Book Vol. 2 - Jefferson City Mooring

diligently recorded by Jodi Pfefferkorn

The second batch entries in the Log, recording our adventures moored in Jefferson City. The barge team continues getting the barges ready for living and working while more crew gathers to get ready for the Jefferson City Clean-up and Race to the Dome on Saturday & Sunday. The Clean Sweep and the barge have finally met up!

Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011 

photo from the bridge by Bernie Arnold

Early morning wake up for everyone except for Jeff. He was out like a light until 0900 when Habibi finally woke him.
Steve ate breakfast with his computer in front of him. Things are just that busy. We certainly wouldn’t be here without the tireless efforts of Steve, Mel & Jeff.

While I took a can of WD-40 & a bag of rags into the engine room to try to cut down some of the diesel soot, the guys set about moving our small work flat to the back of the house barge. Then they loaded up the propane tanks & headed into Jeff City to fill them.

Habibi stayed behind to get started on the “Great Sand Removal of 2011” After I emerged from the engine room looking like a chimney sweep, I joined Habibi. We monkeyed around with a water pump for a while before finally settling on a system which resembled shelving coal into a furnace. We worked ourselves silly then took a watermelon break.

Jeff, Anthony & Racin’ got back from their propane run (which was a fiasco in & of itself) at 1600. By this time Habibi & I were very exhausted, dehydrated & sun-stupid from shoveling sand all day. But we all rallied to unload the propane tanks, scarfed down some sub sandwiches which Lee Diekroeger brought for us, then packed into the “Jimmy” to head back to Columbia to load the box truck for Saturday’s cleanup (Anthony stayed behind to take care of things on the barge).

We dropped Racin’ off at his van because he’s off the barge for a few days to take care of some things. Then we were mad schlepping fools.

Back on board the barge by 2045. Anthony grilled brats and rocked a mad kitchen overhaul & reorganization. We came back and helped Jeff with the schedule of events for the next 30 days. Better get some rest now, because there doesn’t seem to be and sleep in the schedule…

Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011 

photo by Bernie Arnold

Took DNR employees out for a morning on the river. They were mostly clerical workers & this was a chance for them to get out of the office and get on the river that flows beneath their building.
We took all three plate boats. Steve, Anthony and Habibi all drove boats. I was Habibi’s first mate. The whole outing was organized by Joe Engeln. We drove the boats about 5 miles upstream & tied them together then Joe stood on the bow of his boat and educated his fellow DNR workers about the Missouri River. They seemed to really enjoy it.

Steve & Jeff took management level employees out in the afternoon. This was more of a floating meeting for them, covering topics they might have discussed around a conference table but this time in boats.

Josh Pennington stopped by after lunch. He, Anthony & I motored upriver past Claysville Island to take a tour of the sand dredge moored up there. The dredge wasn’t in operation, so we explored Claysville island where we found a cool zippo lighter and a maglight. Both of them worked! We also accidentally discovered a great trash site for Saturday’s clean-up.

Friday, September 30, 2011 
Today was the big “Jeff City Cleanup Prep Day” Jeff got the morning kicked off right with scrambled eggs, bacon & fried potatoes for breakfast. That was the kind of energy we needed to put up the Flying Nun kitchen tent for the crew camp. How many river rats does it take to figure out an angle? I think it’s safe to say none of us retained anything we learned in high school geometry but we got ‘er up and she’s flying proudly. The Flying Nun is made from a semi-trailer tarp stretched over a frame made from scrap metal tubing (a Racin’ Dave design from 2004).

The Flying Nun - photo by Brian Waldrop

Habibi had the great idea to tie a banner with the MRR logo to it. Now people don’t have to ask “Who are you guys?” Instead, they ask “What does Missouri River Relief do?”

Upstream scout - photo by Bernie Arnold

A quick lunch of sandwiches at the boat ramp, then the scout began. Racin’, John Brady and Gale peeled off to set up the propane system for the fridge. Mel, Anthony & Craig scouted downstream & Habibi, Bernie & I went up. An abandoned homeless camp, a few log jams filled with bottles and the occasional tire were what we found. Plenty to keep a bunch of volunteers busy Saturday morning.

By the time we got back, our crew was starting to arrive. Soda Popp fried catfish – the best darn fried fish any of us have had – and so began the evening. A Lengthy pow-wow around the fire for the clean-up and Race to the Dome. Then it was foshee flying time. It turned into an early evening because of the early wake up call for the clean-up.

Before the meeting - photo by Bernie Arnold

Saturday, October 1, 2011 – 

Today was the Jeff City Clean-up. We sent out over 140 volunteers and had about 30 crew members on hand.

Veteran river cleaners - photo by Steve Schnarr

We rocked and got a good system for loading trash onto the barge.

Hauling one big honking tire onto the work flat - photo by Melanie Cheney

Back to the river - photo by Brian Waldrop

After the clean-up we were standing on the ramp drinking beers when a kayaker coming off the river asked us if we knew Steve. It turns out he was an Australian who had kayaked from Montana. He stayed for dinner but headed out after that. We asked him to stay the night but he needed to put on a few more miles for the day – he had to catch a flight home in St. Louis in just a few days.

New crew members that we had today were Jason (who operated a boat for MDC- Chillicothe shop), Kris and their awesome little boys, Isaac, Ethan & Avery. Jason works for MDC & was one of their boat drivers. He decided to bring his family along & they had a blast. We hope they come back for more!

Sunday - October 2, 2011 
Today was Race to the Dome. Mel trailered one plate boat to the Providence Access and Steve & Joe Englen were the sweep boat for the 26 mile race. Bernie trailered another plate boat to Hartsburg and Habibi & Jeanne were the sweep boat for the 15-mile race. John Brady & I waited for the fog to burn off. Then we took the 150 upriver and met the racers as they were coming down.

Hartsburg start to Race to the Dome - photo by Bernie Arnold

Racin’ & Gale & Anthony stayed on the barge and busted ass with cleaning and organizing. When we returned from safety boating we were blown away by the difference. Then everyone rallied to break down camp and schlep stuff to the barge. Tim Nigh moved in to be our cook and he set to work getting the galley in order.

Fixing the rigging -photo by Steve Schnarr

Habibi arrived in Hermann to pick up Capt. Mike Hanlin. Captain Mike has been the pilot for Living Lands & Waters since they got their first barge (and their tow boat was a Vietnam era push boat with a John Deere tractor cab stuck up on stilts for a wheelhouse. He happily offered to push us downstream for the Big Muddy Clean Sweep. Once a week he would come and move us on downstream to our next location then head home to East Moline, IL.

As soon as he stepped aboard he put us to work moving rigging around so we could move the towboat. It didn’t last long because as soon as Capt. Mike fired up the engines, we discovered that something was jamming up the starboard engine. Capt. Mike mumbled some curse at the Missouri River.

After a bit of standing around, poking around, and a dip in the water by Racin’, we deduced that we needed different tools, but it was too late to go the JCRT yard, so we chowed down on ham and bacon soup that Tim whipped up. It was good eatin’!

After dinner, Habibi, Jeff, Tim and I went to Lee’s to take showers. Did ya’ hear that?...Showers!!! Quote of the day! Jeannie Kuntz referred to the Capital dome as “the ‘space nipple’ where aliens come down and…”

Monday, October 3, 2011 
Racin’ made an early morning run to the Jeff City River Terminal to get a pipe wrench & some extension pipes. He used the wrench to try to loosen the shaft of the starboard engine. Whatever was jammed between the prop & hull was jammed pretty good.

At different points in the morning, Habibi, Tim & I found ourselves standing on the pipe wrench extensions. The wrench itself was attached to the shaft of a 600 HP diesel engine. Racin’ was manually revving the engine. This caused whoever was standing on the pipe wrench to bounce up & down while holding onto anything in the engine room to keep from getting bucked off. But hey…it worked! The log popped out & the shaft spun freely.

As the culprit drifted downriver, we all flipped it the bird and bid it fare-fxxxxxg well.

Once the log was free we were able to pull up to the boat ramp and take on water. The Jeff City Fire Dept. brought a truck and crew down and filled our tanks for us! We were under way by 1215 & heading in the right direction (downstream) for the first time this trip.

We pull away from the ramp and head downstream - photo by Joe Wilson

Steve & Habibi trailered a plate boat and peeled away to pick up the trash from the Mokane Clean-up on Saturday. Going downstream is much quicker than going up, and we were able to average 9-10 mph. This meant that any time a plate boat departed or returned the barge had to slow down. Capt. Mike was happy to comply.

Did I mention how cool Captain Mike is? A world class gentleman for sure. He’s a patient rigging instructor & a fun guy to joke around with on the radio.

We were lucky to have the most experienced river cleanup towboat pilot ever - Mike Hanlin

We arrived in Hermann at 1700. Steve & Jeff met us in a plate boat with a reporter and camerawoman from the Washington newspaper. We finished tying off by 1800 & Capt. Mike immediately left. He was itching to start his 4 & a half hour ride home to Illinois.

We pull into a perfect little spot at the Hermann ramp - photo by Steve Schnarr

Tim grilled up some rockin brats he’d bought at a shop in Hermann. Perfect!

 Quick Links

• Jefferson City Cleanup Page 
• Jeff City photos
• Other Jeff City Blog Entries
• Race to the Dome homepage
• Big Muddy Clean Sweep homepage

Sunrise over Hermann - photo by Bernie Arnold

Big Muddy Clean Sweep Log Book, Vol. 1 - Upstream

Alton, IL  to Jefferson City

diligently recorded by Jodi Pfefferkorn

The first batch of entries in the Log, recording the trip from Alton, IL to Hermann, MO. The lead crew of the River Cleanup barge (Racin’ Dave Stevens & Jodi Pfefferkorn) works with Living Lands & Waters and Hermann Sand and Gravel to move the River Cleanup set-up upstream, picking up a sand flat from St. Charles along the way. Jeff Barrow, Anthony Pettit & Daniel Belshe join the crew in Hermann.

Thursday – Sept. 22, 2011 
Between Jeff in the River Relief van, Tammy in the Living Lands & Waters truck and Chad in a Living Lands & Waters plate boat, we were able to get all of our gear schlepped onto the barge by 2200. This included locking the plate boat up through the Alton Lock (#26) to pick up gear and back down again. Chad was pretty pumped when the lock master called him by name.

Racin’ and I hadn’t eaten all day so we scarfed down a DiGiornio pizza at 2330 while waiting for our barge pick up. (We later found out that Jeff had to suffice with fritos that wee in the van – I guess barge food isn’t so bad).

Friday – Sept. 23, 2011 
We finished hooking up with our barge ride at 0145 near Wood River, IL. A strong Missouri River current & downhill flow to the Mississippi River made progress very slow at the Confluence. 1.3 mph for the first 3 hours, but managed a 2.3 mph pace by the time we reached Pelican Island.

Racin and I took 2 hour turns in the pilot house of the “River Cleanup” tow boat. We needed to keep both engines at full throttle to help the Kathryn Ann pull us upriver. I was in the pilot house at 1100 when the Kathryn Ann’s starboard engine suddenly shut off. I looked over at the pilot house & saw one of the deck hands motioning for me to pull back on my throttles. I complied and when I looked ahead I noticed that the barges were making a B-line for the bank. I couldn’t quite figure out what was going on. Before too long, the Kathryn Ann was reversing full throttle and we were underway again. I later found out that the second of the Kathryn Ann’s two pilots ran the tow boat over a wing dike, lifting her rudder up through the hull. When we got to St. Charles, the second captain asked to be let off the barge. He was literally dropped off on the bank.

We got to St. Charles around 1600 & stopped to pick up a sand flat from Gateway Dredging. While we were rigging up the flat, Jeff drove the 150 out to meet us and drop off supplies. He got a tour of our set-up & met the Kathryn Ann's crew - Chris, Kenny "Junior" & Capt. Steve. We were underway again by 1700.

We significantly picked up speed again & averaged 3.8-5.0 mph for the day. We pulled over & tied off for the night (to a tree) around 2330.

Hermann Sand & Gravel Kathryn Ann pulls the River Cleanup up to Hermann. photo by Dave Marner

River Cleanup tow at Hermann Riverfront - photo by Steve Schnarr

Saturday – Sept. 24, 2011
We were back on the river by 07:00 & kept 4 MPH average all day. Racin’ Dave & I kept our 2 hour shifts in the pilot house of the River Cleanup towboat. As far as food goes, I’ve cooked breakfast the past few days and Racin’ has taken care of dinner (we fend for ourselves at lunch). For breakfast: tomato, onion, & cheese omelets with bacon yesterday; and fried eggs with bacon and toast today. Racin’ made pork chops with boiled for dinner yesterday J. We tied up at the Hermann Sand & Gravel Plant at 1945. We have finally arrived! Dinner at “The Barrel” bar and restaurant, with Junior, Chris, Gale, & Jeff then some much needed rest.

Sunday, September 25, 2011 
It was day of errands. Jeff, Racin’, & Gale motored upstream to the Gasconade River to check out a work barge that the Corps of Engineers had. I stayed behind to get some editing done. No editing got done though, because I brought the wrong power cord for my hard drive...

When they came back, Jeff stayed on the barge to get some work done while Racin’, Gale, & I took the van into town to get groceries and odds & ends. Gale and Jeff headed out in the late afternoon. Habibi & Anthony are coming tomorrow!

Monday, September 26, 2011
Wake up call at 0620. After breaking our fast with breakfast burritos and coffee, Racin’ & I set about making our game plan for the day. Items that we needed to address were…
1)    Get the Port-o-potties emptied and refilled.
2)    Fill the water tank in the basement
3)    Get diesel fuel for the engines and generator.
4)    Fill up tanks and get two more. Before we could do any of this, we had to ask Steve to tow our barge over the Hermann boat ramp because we were moored across the river at Hermann Sand & Gravel.
Captain Steve graciously offered to help us, so Racin’ and I set about making phone calls. When it was all said and done, we were able to get items 1 and 3 completed. We also took on two new crew members! Habibi and Boudreaux are officially on board with us.

Racin’ quickly put them to work changing the hydraulic filter. Habibi also whipped up a delicious dinner of pork steaks and mashed potatoes.  It was the best way to end a task-filled day in which only two tasks were filled.  Midnight cruise anyone???

Tuesday, September 26, 2011
Early wake-up call today: 0630. By 0700 Anthony & Racin’ had left in the 150 to go upriver to discuss borrowing a work flat from the Army Corps of Engineers boat yard at the mouth of the Gasconade River. Habibi & I set about getting some cleaning done. We completely dleaned & organized the basement, which was quite a task. By 0945 Anthony had returned (Racin’ stayed with our new tow crew from Jefferson City River Terminal.) Habibi & Anthony took the 150 to the Hermann boat ramp to make a hardware store run.

At 1045, the JCRT boat “Jamie Leigh” arrived with our work flat. By 1145 we were all hooked up & cruising upriver. We were only able to go about 3.7 mph because the work flat sits so low and kept taking on water. We did some re-rigging and were able to push on at around 5.5 mph

Racin’ Dave & I were able to take our first showers in 6 days thanks to the generosity of the amie Leigh deckhand, John. He let us use the shower on their tug & I even got to do some laundry!!

After a spaghetti lunch, compliments of Habibi, we all set out cleaning everything from the galley windows to the cobwebs around the house barge.

No rest for the weary…at around 1600 the boys had to pump out the hull of the house barge. The head had a small leak which we were aware of. But we weren’t aware that none of the other compartments had been checked for several months. It was a momentary stress for Racin’, but he was reassured after giving Geoff Manis a call at LLW and getting the scoop.

Passed the Osage River around 1945, eating a deluxe chili dinner prepared by Anthony. A perfect dish for this chilly evening.


We pulled up into Jeff City at 2230. We finished tying up and said our good-byes to Capt. Mark & John by 2300.

Jeff & Steve were here waiting for us. Welcome aboard boys!