Planning the Adventure

Late Date in Dock at Bayport Marina, Bayport, MN

Weeks of planning have culminated in setting a departure date of Friday September 12th.  In true "Colin-fashion", Late Date is equipped with new electronics (radar, sonar, auto-pilot, etc.).  Colin has completed numerous courses and charted the entire trip with the support of data from Quimby's, other boater's, blogs, and licensed captains.   

One companion decision was made early on. Our dog Guinness has been voted off the boat.  With unknown wait times for Lock and Dam access, it's possible to be confined to the boat for more than 10 hours and while his bladder capacity can definitely handle that, it is simply unkind.  

After assuring that Late Date is in excellent mechanical condition, the biggest issue has been fuel planning.  Late Date has a 300 gallon capacity gas tank total so 150 miles per day is doable but not enjoyable. Leaving after Labor Day means that we will have about 9 hrs of sunlight. So time and rate (math 101) calculations leave us with the challenge that speed consumes fuel and time limits us to day travel since night travel on the Mississippi is dangerous. How to efficiently travel from gas dock to gas dock quickly became the key element of trip planning. Calling fuel depots is the only way to confirm if gas vs. diesel is available and if the fuel depot will be open during our travel dates.  We confirmed that there are two specific areas where fuel availability is challenging: the first is from Hoppie's Marina in Kimmswick, Mo. to Kentucky Dam and the second, from Apalachicola to Clearwater, Florida.    

Navigable Inland U.S. Waterway

To give you perspective of this trip, here is a map of U.S. navigable waters. We will leave Bayport, MN on the St. Croix, merge onto the Mississippi to Cairo, IL. This is a distance of 830 miles and Cairo takes us to the mouth of the Ohio River.  The Ohio River is said to be treacherous, dirty and disgusting.  After traveling 50 miles up the Ohio, we travel up the Tennessee River to the Kentucky Lake Dam in Paduka, KY.  This Lock is a 60 foot lift that takes Late Date into the beautiful Kentucky Lakes area.  From here, we navigate to the Tom BigBee Waterway that will ultimately end in Mobile Bay,AL.