Our first cruise of the year we hauled out Cloud Nine and trailered her 60 to miles Gallipolis, Ohio. We left early to hopefully meet up with the Columbus Sail and Power Squadron at Winfield Lock and Dam. That was the last time we saw them till we got to Charleston.
Unfortunately most of the boats are standard planing hulls and need more speed to get on plane than we can achieve at wide open throttle loaded for cruising. It appears our days cruising with the Squadron may be in the past.
One of the first things you see in Charleston heading upstream is Haddad riverfront park and amphitheater, it has free weekend concerts. Then there is of course the lovely golden domed Capitol building. This was the first time i had ever seen it from anywhere other than the interstate.
We stayed at the Charleston Boat Club right underneath the 35th and 36th street bridges. The marina was in pretty good shape considering that just weeks before, the docks had been up in the parking lot, due to major flooding. We were given a covered slip just downstream from the office.
A section of the covered slips had their roofs destroyed the previous winter when a snow plow sent tons of snow off one of the bridges crashing down on the roofs.
Some boat club members came over to check out our Rossi and invited us to a party that the club was having. One of the things that I enjoy most about cruising is the kindness and hospitality you see from total strangers. Not to mention lots of good food and drink. The view of the Capitol building from the party dock was really nice.
We were blown away by how many Stern Wheelers there were in several locations on the river. It was a beautiful run back to the Mighty Ohio. At the mouth of the Kanawha is point Pleasant of Mothman fame. We will have to go back some time and check out the museum.
Next stop Gallipolis to haul her back out and down to Lake Cumberland.
We arrived close to sunset at Holcombs Landing State Park boat ramp after a crazy drive in the countryside around Lexington and a nerve wracking non-launch of our boat at Lee's Ford Marina and Resort. I was sure that a strap was going to snap and our boat was going to shoot off the trailer and go flying down the way to steep access road. By the time we finally got her in the water we were looking for a nice anchorage pretty fast. We spent the rest of the week in the same cove. We had the Moon coming up every night at one end of the cove and the sun going down in the other. Talk about the beauty of nature!
