On this Tuesday March 14, I had a wonderful trip. With the exception of a few issues in the first hour, the trip improved greatly as the day went on.

I took off of the Morgan City Dock just shortly after 7am. The sun was coming up, I received approval from ICW traffic control to proceed to the lock, and I took off with an amazing speed of 8+knots. I was so happy with the speed that I missed my turn into the ICW. I recognized this about 10 minutes into the trip and turned around. Well, that blistering speed turned into a crawl in the opposite direction. I was going just over 2 knots. It took me 30 minutes to regain the ground I had lost. I then contacted the Bayou Baugh Lock and was told to hold, which I did for about 45 minutes. I was allowed to enter the lock behind a huge double wide barge. I learned that it was a mistake to park behind the tug that pushes the barge. The turbulance from his engine was so bad I could not hold onto the rope securing my boat to the wall. My boat startd to spin in the dock and there was nothing I could do about it except keep it from banging ard into the wall. My rope got stuck on the wall between two planks and I was forced to cut it loose which cost me about 10 feet of very good and expensive rope. One of my documents that helped me prepare for the journy said to always have a sharp knife with me. I bought a special knife that had Mittie’s fingerprint on it. She did the job and got the boat loose just in time to spin me one more time before I got control of the boat and exited the lock behind the barge. Nobody said a word, not the barge captain or the lock tender. I was either well hidden from them, or they were having a little fun and saw it all before. EIther way, I was good to go. I passed the barge on the “two bells” (that is barge lingo for passing on the left of the other vessel), and I was on my way for a absolutly beautiful and wonderful ride. It was a bit cold when I started moving at 6.5 knots. 46 degrees is what the local weather said, but I was better prepared today. Two pair of pants, three shirts and a coat. I was good with an occsional blanket when the wind got really bad.

The temperature and winds were pretty good when I approached Houma. My timing was not teriffic because the draw bridge leading into the marina area will not open during the noon rush hour wich did not end for another hour. The bridge was listed at 40 feet high tide, and I had measured my mast at 42 feet. So an opening was necessary, so I thought. ON a whim, I radioed the bridge tender and aksed if he knew the hight of the bridge right now. He said he did because they have radar that keeps track of that. He said 43 feet! Oh yes!!! If I had measured correctly, I am good to go. If not, I would lose a $1200 wind gauge. Here we go. I also knew if I could get enough speed I could make it through anything…..minus a mast. Well, you guessed it right, I made it. It is a relief to know my mast is no taller than 42.9 feet.

One more think worth mentioning. The first house I saw when I entered the area was a little nicer than the shacks in the swamp. I am not in the swamp any more. I posted the picture below.

I entered the Houma City Dock. Nice place. I was instructed to call the City so they could pick up the fee. The Clerk said she was busy so if I was only staying one night, it was free. Gnarly and I got on my bike and explored the town, bought a cajun sandwich and we are ready to bed down for the night.