Justin grabbed breakfast sandwiches when he went to explore this morning. We tried to pump out the loo but halfway through the line broke — great. After we were on our way, I called Downtown Marina to pay for our overnight docking. I left a message. When the guy called me back he told me to tuck the money up under the mat. I told him we were already on our way and that I needed to pay by credit card. He said that since they only accepted cash or checks, it was all ok. I offered to mail him a check; he said no, we were fine. I said thank you with the biggest smile ever. Yesterday it was bananas and brownies, today it was overnight docking fees. Wow, I love Louisiana.
Our typical tooling along the ICW was soon over. Our period of almost carefree progress was over. We were in the big league now. We were running with the big dogs! Barges were all around us and they were moving. Some of these puppies are five barges long and three wide. We were required to wear life jackets when we were going through locks. Dalton spent time on look out and on the radio. Justin and Stephen took turns at the helm. Me? I stayed out of the way.
Oh, yes, they were moving. For about three miles of our trek, the Intracoastal Waterway is the Mississippi River. Coupled with the current of the mighty Mississippi and the wind, our speedometer topped out at 12.4. Remember we are running only on two 9.9 hp outboard engines.
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| I10 was identifiable even from this viewpoint. |
At the end of the day we'd reached our destination at Pontchartrain Landing, a cross between a resort and a marina just outside New Orleans. Stephen was able to get a slip for at least a month and that seemed to work for his plan for the moment.
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| As they were packing up at the end of the evening I asked these guys how long they'd been playing together. One replied "since high school." |
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