Pairadice and ASD Columbia River Adventure 2018

[Al]

Oooooo say it isn't so:
Arlington Marina is an awesome place. Moorage is free, electric is $10 a night. Yes the highway and railroad bridge is next to the marina, but it is a clean friendly place. Diesel is $2.69 a gallon here…..They have a few restaurants, hardware and grocery store. Because of weather, we will be hold up here for the next 3 days. I could think of worse places(LIKE KETCHIKAN???) to be stuck!!

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Originally Posted by Al

Oooooo say it isn't so:
Arlington Marina is an awesome place. Moorage is free, electric is $10 a night. Yes the highway and railroad bridge is next to the marina, but it is a clean friendly place. Diesel is $2.69 a gallon here…..They have a few restaurants, hardware and grocery store. Because of weather, we will be hold up here for the next 3 days. I could think of worse places(LIKE KETCHIKAN???) to be stuck!!

Oh Al. I love Kecth. My comparison was the noise. It is very loud in Ketch, maybe not AS BAD as Arlington, but pretty close. Trains, planes and cruiese ships...

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

This was a very relaxing part of the journey so far. Calm waters, very little current and awesome views. When Lewis and Clark or the Oregon Trail folks came to this part of the river they saw Mt. Hood for the first time. She stands tall and white in the distance.

Lots of fishing boats on the river, with a few being caught. The current on this part of the river isn't bad. In fact, we can see the water starting to drop. There are also a lot of little islands and sand bars to navigate around. So paying attention to the charts are a must.

Then we got attacked by thousands and thousands of moths!! They were over everything! They didn't bite but man there is a lot of them.

We were welcomed to the Umatilla Marine. This marina really isn't set up for any thing over 35-40 ft. But they found room for us. ASD is at the end of the dock with the geese and Pairadice backed nicely into a slip. No charge for moorage or electric. They were glad to see cruisers up this far on the river.

This morning, Sunday we arose to an awesome sunrise. Once past McNary Dam it is only 33 mile to Kenniwick. Looked at AIS, no traffic on the river, so we called the lock master to see if we could lock through at 7:30. Nope we have to wait for the 0900 recreational lock up. So here we sit.

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

A few more

[GFC]

Nice pics all. Can't wait to hear about your final day's journey into Kennewick.

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

We had planned to leave at 7 AM. We called the lock and he would not lock us through until 9 AM. We left at 0830 and made the lock at 9 AM. To reach the lock we slugged it out at 2 kts to get to the door.

Locking is no big deal now. The Admiral is comfortable handing the Bullard line. The lock up was easy and no worries. When the doors came open there was a bunch of trash and logs. Being Pairadice was in front he created a log free zone.

The trip to Kennewick is only 33 miles. We are now in the heat at 90f. no wind and a beautiful cruise. The canyon walls were part green and brown. Made you wonder what this canyon looked like in the Lewis and Clark exploration.

We exited the Canyon and every think went flat. As we approached the Junction of the Columbia and Snake River there was a lot of trash in the water, logs, branches tumble weeds. I heard a “thump thump” but no damage.

We also had a run in with a little sail Kat. This guy must think he owned the river!!! He could see us coming from a distance. He was tacking back and forth across the river. He purposely sailed toward John. He ended up at Johns stern screaming and hollering. He then tacked toward me and across my bow. I was fighting logs and trash in the water but was able to steer around him to his stern. Rules of the road. He started screaming at us stating he had the right of way. He was busy screaming at us, he wasn’t paying attention and the wind swung his boom over and smacked him in the head. This angered him more. We waves and continued.

There are 2 railroad bridges that need to be raised before we are able to get to the moorage. The first one is automated and is default in the “up” position, until a train needs to cross. John called the bridge no response. Finally, someone responded from the other bridge. He could not understand why the bridge was down. He called John on his phone to give him some phone numbers, which he called and we hoovered.

No progress, so John called the USCG Sector Columbia River. They got right on it. It wasn’t long before we saw two guys working their way to the control house on top of the bridge. Here we sat hovering for an hour, still waiting. Then just as John was getting ready to call the coast guard again, we see a truck go across the bridge to the east side. He stopped and we could see him stomping on a switch. Magically, the bridge raised!!! Second bridge no worries.

We will be moored at Kennewick for a week as John has family joining him, while I will be in court observing the trial on the guy that sank my shed last summer.

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

A few More

[Crusty Chief]

Meeting up with TF members.
Aft Deck Capt.
Eric helped us in docking and then a few beers and lots of lies. Great to put a face to our online buddies.

[Crusty Chief]

And the GFC, Mike showed up and the lies continued.
Thanks Mike!

[GFC]

The pleasure was all mine guys. Nice to me you both and even nicer to meet your Admirals. Home front issues kept us from hooking up for dinner tonight, but you know what those issues are and know it's not by choice that we had to beg off tonight.


It looks like tomorrow will work so I'll give you a shout in the morning. Sleep tight.

[Aft Deck Capt]

Tom & John it was great to meet you and your wives. It turns out that we're in town this weekend after all. My wife and daughter would like to meet you as well.... we'll see how the week plays out.

PS: Thanks for cropping the milk crate out of the pic!

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Well Mike and Eric, the Admirals want to give you all a tour of their boats. We also have Klondikes for you Mike.......

[GFC]

Tom, I think we're on for tonight. How about the Crow's Nest? Tina is gone right now but as soon as I hear from her we'll give you a call. Looking forward to seeing both boats.


Mike

[Aft Deck Capt]

Originally Posted by Alaskan Sea-Duction

Well Mike and Eric, the Admirals want to give you all a tour of their boats. We also have Klondikes for you Mike.......

Tom, I'm planning on catching the tour at noon tomorrow! Sorry I missed you guys tonight. I didn't see Mike's PM until late plus we had a lot going on this afternoon & evening.
I still hope my girls have a chance to meet all of you.

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Look forward to having a tour......

[Miz Trom]

If you don't mind me asking, how does someone "sink" a shed?

[Al]

Originally Posted by Miz Trom

If you don't mind me asking, how does someone "sink" a shed?

After viewing what can only be called. "Refreshing Post Office Photos" of these two you want to know how to sink a shed??? O just you wait, the tale you will hear from Sir Tom, will bring tears to your eyes, of humor, not sadness.

Al-Ketchikan

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Miz Trom

If you don't mind me asking, how does someone "sink" a shed?

You and I both know people in Florida who would be fully capable. As to his shed, I'll leave that to him to disclose.

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Originally Posted by Miz Trom

If you don't mind me asking, how does someone "sink" a shed?

40K in damage!

Like this:

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

We had a nice visit at the boats with Eric, Mike, his wife Tina and their grandson.

Pictured here is the "Passing of the Klondikes!" A long long tradition with me and Mike. He will be on the hook next time we meet!!!

Thanks for coming down to see us. Crusty will be posting a group photo later.