As the White River takes you to the confluence of it and the Mississippi, you begin to have emotions that liken themselves from thrilling to shear terror. I believe, after having done it a time or two, the knowledge and fables of the violent history of the river and its magnificent power seems to raise your psyche to a point that is at least equal to your first childhood viewing of the Wizard of Oz... Well, maybe not that extreme but almost.
I think I mentioned in the blog post of making the turn out of the Mississippi and into the White as an exciting venture and the same can certainly be said about the trip in the opposite direction. To review, the White River is about twelve or so feet deep when it empties into the Ninety-something foot depth of the Father of Waters. The sharp bend in the Mississippi creates a rolling turbulence that reaches up, grabs your boat and hurls it downstream in a manner that is if not frightening at least challenging as you add throttle and steer a course that will put you safely into the mainstream and not broadside into the descending bank. Please know that we made the turn and began our eventful cruise sometimes at the mercy of not only the river but also the whims of humanity that we harkened upon as we traveled south.
The month is April but the temperature would have you believe it was February with the wind velocity of March. Kind a round about way of saying it was a difficult day weather wise. To describe the conditions further, the wind was blowing out of the south at about a steady 25 knots accompanied by gust of up to 35. The river was whipped to a froth and spray was regularly hitting the isinglass bridge enclosure making visibility quite difficult. If you cruise the rivers and inland waterways you know that high water complicates navigation as it introduces numerous free floating snags and other debris that, if hit, will pretty much ruin your day and any running gear that might be involved. I had thoughts of collision with submerged objects destine to remove wheels and rudders leaving gaping holes in the aluminum hull of my beloved Detour. I also had thoughts of what the cost would be to have Detour removed from the navigable barge channel as it became a sunken hazard to the world’s maritime system, not to mention fines from the EPA because of the pollution it caused from spilling a hundred gallons or so of gasoline and oil. Thank goodness terrible things didn't happen.
We entered the Mississippi about ten o'clock and made it through the wind, floating debris,
waves and many large tows to the fuel dock at Greenville in the middle of the afternoon, about three o'clock or so. The current in the river pushed us along at a surprisingly quick rate. I kept the engines turning at about the same speed as normal (2300 -2500 RPM) and we picked up about 4-5 knots over the 11 or 12 we find at those revolutions. I realized later that fuel consumption was about the same (1.1 mile/gal). We fueled up at Greenville, which is the last marina that serves pleasure boats, unless Vicksburg has added gas pumps, until you reach New Orleans and Lake Pontchatrain. To make the trip possible, I carried two large barrels of gasoline (I don't recommend), one twenty gallon and one thirty gallon. I made my calculations for fuel consumption figuring the river current would increase my mileage by 10 to 15 percent. Bad assumption; when you turn your engines at the same RPMs all you gain from the current is speed, not fuel mileage. If we had throttled back we might have been able to benefit from the current.
This was a difficult time in the trip for me because Pam, my wife, was leaving the cruise and Mickey and I were continuing. It had been a very difficult day on the river and the thought of trying to make a hurricane ravaged New Orleans under dangerous river conditions without the assurance of sufficient fuel was enough to challenge my good judgment in continuing. However, the adventure of the journey was heightened by the danger and unknown and quickly overcame my apprehension and Mickey and I shoved off to see what was in store for us as we moved on
I think I mentioned in the blog post of making the turn out of the Mississippi and into the White as an exciting venture and the same can certainly be said about the trip in the opposite direction. To review, the White River is about twelve or so feet deep when it empties into the Ninety-something foot depth of the Father of Waters. The sharp bend in the Mississippi creates a rolling turbulence that reaches up, grabs your boat and hurls it downstream in a manner that is if not frightening at least challenging as you add throttle and steer a course that will put you safely into the mainstream and not broadside into the descending bank. Please know that we made the turn and began our eventful cruise sometimes at the mercy of not only the river but also the whims of humanity that we harkened upon as we traveled south.
The month is April but the temperature would have you believe it was February with the wind velocity of March. Kind a round about way of saying it was a difficult day weather wise. To describe the conditions further, the wind was blowing out of the south at about a steady 25 knots accompanied by gust of up to 35. The river was whipped to a froth and spray was regularly hitting the isinglass bridge enclosure making visibility quite difficult. If you cruise the rivers and inland waterways you know that high water complicates navigation as it introduces numerous free floating snags and other debris that, if hit, will pretty much ruin your day and any running gear that might be involved. I had thoughts of collision with submerged objects destine to remove wheels and rudders leaving gaping holes in the aluminum hull of my beloved Detour. I also had thoughts of what the cost would be to have Detour removed from the navigable barge channel as it became a sunken hazard to the world’s maritime system, not to mention fines from the EPA because of the pollution it caused from spilling a hundred gallons or so of gasoline and oil. Thank goodness terrible things didn't happen.
We entered the Mississippi about ten o'clock and made it through the wind, floating debris,
waves and many large tows to the fuel dock at Greenville in the middle of the afternoon, about three o'clock or so. The current in the river pushed us along at a surprisingly quick rate. I kept the engines turning at about the same speed as normal (2300 -2500 RPM) and we picked up about 4-5 knots over the 11 or 12 we find at those revolutions. I realized later that fuel consumption was about the same (1.1 mile/gal). We fueled up at Greenville, which is the last marina that serves pleasure boats, unless Vicksburg has added gas pumps, until you reach New Orleans and Lake Pontchatrain. To make the trip possible, I carried two large barrels of gasoline (I don't recommend), one twenty gallon and one thirty gallon. I made my calculations for fuel consumption figuring the river current would increase my mileage by 10 to 15 percent. Bad assumption; when you turn your engines at the same RPMs all you gain from the current is speed, not fuel mileage. If we had throttled back we might have been able to benefit from the current.This was a difficult time in the trip for me because Pam, my wife, was leaving the cruise and Mickey and I were continuing. It had been a very difficult day on the river and the thought of trying to make a hurricane ravaged New Orleans under dangerous river conditions without the assurance of sufficient fuel was enough to challenge my good judgment in continuing. However, the adventure of the journey was heightened by the danger and unknown and quickly overcame my apprehension and Mickey and I shoved off to see what was in store for us as we moved on
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