MANCHESTER ISLAND, KY TO AUGUSTA, KY

Wednesday, August 6th, 2014

Day 2
Miles Traveled Today: 31
Total Miles Traveled: 88


  Our day started with a beautiful sunrise at Manchester Island.  What a great way to start the day. 

Sunrise at Manchester Island

  What Dan calls the "preflight check" found no problems and we were on our way.  What is the "preflight check"?  This is a check of every thing in the engine room - oil check, fuel filter check, antifreeze check, etc.  He does this every morning before a cruising day. 


  The cruise took us by Maysville, KY and Ripley, OH.  We did not stop at these towns as we have been to them before.  Maysville is a neat little town and has murals painted on it's flood wall facing the town.  For those boating the Ohio, it is a nice stop.  Ripley was the home of John Rankin who played a big role in the Underground Railroad in the 1800's.  Harriet Beacher Stowe set her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin in Ripley, OH.  The Ripley boat club has a dock and restaurant with power and water and live entertainment on most weekends.  This is another great stopover. 


  We arrived at Augusta and got anchored with plenty of time to get some lunch and do some site seeing.  

Anchored at Augusta, KY

  Notice the all the fenders on the starboard (right) side of the boat?  Augusta has a nice town wall dock but not enough water for our boat to dock there.  So, we anchored just upriver from the riverfront and took our dinghy (Puffer Fish) to the dock.
  This was the first time we had been anchored out and took the dinghy into shore.  We found an app, Anchor Watch/SMS/Alarm, for our phones that will send a text from one phone left on the boat to another if the boat moves a certain distance.  While eating lunch, we got a text that Seahorse had moved.  Dan ran out to check the boat's position, but all was well.  False Alarm!  We will have to adjust some settings so that we don't get these false text alarms when away from the boat.  

  After lunch we took the Battle of Augusta Walking Tour.  To read more about this tour go to:  http://www.battleofaugusta.com/
Some of the homes and buildings had been well maintained and restored and others had not been.  This was the home and office of Dr. Joshua T. Bradford.  He was a surgeon who organized the Bracken County militia and lead his home guard against superior Confederate forces.  While he lost the battle and Augusta was burned, enough Confederate casualties occurred to cause a retreat back to the South instead of an invasion of Cincinnati. 

Home and Office of Dr. Joshua T. Bradford

Similar to the "Shake Down" cruise, the challenges continue.  It was time to return to Seahorse, but Puffer Fish's outboard would not start.  Dan got more exercise rowing us back home.  Due to his past history of working on engines with his father, he figured out that the engine was flooded with gas.  With the gas off and the throttle wide open he cranked until it finally started.  After a test run, he declared the engine fixed.  We'll keep the oars on board just in case. 

Successful dinghy test run

  Life aboard a boat is not always easy, but the rewards out way the challenges.  As Dan always says, "Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain."  
  Let's Dance !!!