October 10, 2009

Port Departed: Evansville
Port Arrived: Mt Vernon
Miles traveled: 38 miles
Total miles traveled to date: 240

Woke up and it was still raining. John Osgood headed off to Nashville Airport to pick up his step son. I headed to the end of the Pier and took a tour of the LST 325. The LST 325 is a landing vessel that landed troops on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. A former Viet Nam vet gave the tour. It took an hour. Facinating piece of history. The LST was purchased by the State of Illinois. From the Greek Navy. The state had a fundraising event. Winner in monies raised was Evansville. To everyone’s surprise they beat out Louisville. Back in the 1940’s similar LST’s were built at a shipyard in Evansville. There are about 30 dedicated vets that maintain this valuable piece of history. They range in age from 61 to 85.

After the tour it was back to the boat. Dustin the dock master told me to be careful as the rains had caused the river to rise over 15 feet in the past 48 hours. The current was strong. Glad that I was going with the current. Headed out of the Evansville Marina at 1:30PM.Lots of debris in the river to steer around. Motored down the river at 9 knots and headed for Golconda, IL.

Arrived in Mt Vernon at 6:30 PM. Easily found the towns courtesy dock. The only problem was that the gang plank that went to shore was 8 feet under water. The river had risen so fast that no one from town had time to raise the gang plank. It was impossible to get into town. This was the coldest night on the river. Temperatures plunged to 38 degrees. My trusty 40 year old down sleeping bag kept me quite warm.