yes dear …

September 30, 2018 Sunday  Clifton Marina, Clifton, TN mile 158.5       0 nautical miles   Why move if life is good?

35°23’07.5″N 88°00’20.7″W
35.385425, -88.005738
Elevation: 364 feet  **up 5 feet from yesterday due to the water being released from Pickwick Dam

Today’s entry actually starts last night, past the posting of yesterday’s blog and past Looper midnight (9:00pm). Just as we were getting ready to go to bed the mid-ship bilge pump kicked on. Dale looked at Mary and casually says ‘The boat is sinking’. Of course this sent her into panic attack even though the slow leak we’ve been watching wasn’t any worse than it has been for the past week.  The class in Marine Mechanics 101 followed. Dale with his injured arm coached Mary as she worked on the leak.

Waffles for Sunday morning breakfast! The Looper boat SELAH invited BLUE GOOSE and us over for breakfast. What a treat!

Water is up 5 feet from yesterday due to water being released from Pickwick Dam. During the night the water swished and swirled around the marina rearranging the hippos and alligators (dead trees and logs). The little stagnant pockets in the corners of the marina have all been refreshed and look appealing. Lots of turtles crawled on logs to check out the rearranged digs.

The NICKELs came BACK to visit! We’ve been friends for 30+ years. Ray and Judy drove down from Nashville. We sat on the marina patio and watched the Tennessee Titans beat the Eagles. Other Loopers slowly congregated for docktails around us. There is an old Girl Scout song about friendship ‘Make new friends but keep the old. Some are silver but the others gold’ . Ray and Judy are definitely gold! We truly treasure our new Looper friends too.
HA. A couple of Loopers who had met Ray earlier compared him to a bad penny that keeps showing up. Really it’s getting a nickel back.

At the end of the evening we visited with the marina office manager Sonja and the marina owner Gene. Sonja makes us laugh and Gene is the epitome of a Southern gentleman. Do we really have to eventually leave? I’m thinking we should check out annual rates.

Pictures

September 29, 2018 Saturday  Clifton Marina, Clifton, TN mile 158.5       0 nautical miles

35°23’07.5″N 88°00’20.7″W
35.385425, -88.005738
Elevation: 359 feet

Lock people have nothing to do with dam people and dam people do what they damn will please. I was surprised to see Looper boats BLUE GOOSE and SELAH still in the marina when I got up at 9:00 am this morning. Pickwick Lock just upstream, the direction Loopers are heading, opened 6 flood gates making the current horrendous. BLUE GOOSE and SELAH decided to wait a couple days till it settles. Through out the day 5 more Looper boats came in to wait the water out.

Two factors are combining to make the current on the Tennessee River especially strong now:  recent heavy rains in the Valley and the beginning of the seasonal drawdown of the lake elevations from Summer to Winter pool. For Winter the Pickwick Lock drops the Tennessee River down from the normal 414 feet elevation to the Winter elevation of 408 feet in preparation for rains.  Both the Pickwick and Kentucky dams are discharging 100,000 cubic-feet/second by spilling at the gates and running most of the generators.  We’ve heard discharging < 40,000 cubic-feet/second and all the generators running is ideal for approaching Pickwick Lock.

One piece of the local color is Tim aka ‘Wooly’. (Make sure you see his picture is below). Dale’s has sat in the marina restaurant almost long enough and jawed almost long enough to become part of the local color himself.

We walked to downtown Clifton, 1 mile way, in the afternoon to get a little exercise. After walking down the middle of the road to get there we sat a on a Main Street bench for half an hour or more and counted cars… four.

Dale has been talking to the locals about a good marine mechanic in the area.  Yes Dear has a vibration on the port side and a small leak in the packing on the  starboard shaft. Nothing serious, but they need to be looked at. The owner of the marina had to go out today and rescue one of the recommended marine mechanics today because he ran out of gas. Guess Dale won’t be calling him.

We are planning on staying here to at least Tuesday so the pinched nerve in Dale’s neck has time to get better.

Pictures

September 28, 2018 Friday  Clifton Marina, Clifton, TN mile 158.5       0 nautical miles  95 statue miles

35°23’07.5″N 88°00’20.7″W
35.385425, -88.005738
Elevation: 359 feet

We originally were thinking about staying in the Clifton Marina for 2 days.  Looks like we are going stay here for a couple more. Dale has slightly pulled muscle in his chest from pulling up the anchor a couple of days ago. Coddling it while we cleaned the boat caused a new pain to manifest as a pinched nerve in his neck and arm. Thank goodness the marina has a courtesy car. Dale felt so crappy this morning I drove him to the doctor.  He got a shot in each check (a cortisone and an anti-inflammatory) and 3 prescriptions.  He feels a lot better already, but still needs to lay low for a couple days.

Shortly after we got back into the marina the fellow Loopers BLUE GOOSE, who we met earlier, and SELAH pulled into the transient dock for the night. It was fun catching up with them.

Pictures

September 27, 2018 Thursday  Birdsong Creek, Kentucky Lake/Tennessee River mile 103.5 Camden,  TN   to Clifton Marina, Clifton, TN mile 158.5       50.3 nautical miles

35°23’07.5″N 88°00’20.7″W
35.385425, -88.005738
Elevation: 359 feet

O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain
For purple mountain majesties, above the fruited plain
America, America, God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea

I think Katharine Lee Bates missed a verse when she wrote America the Beautiful.  The verse about how beautiful the Kentucky Lake/Tennessee River is, is missing. (Then again she had been dead for 20+ years before the Tennessee Valley Authority built the dam.)

The Kentucky Lake/Tennessee River stretch of the Loop has been beautiful despite the past few rainy days. (Yes, it did rain again today but we did the sun at sunset.) Most of where we traveled is not even viewable by road, only by water. I feel very fortunate to have been able to travel this waterway.

We are starting to see a hint of color change in the trees.

Pictures

September 26, 2018 Wednesday  Birdsong Creek, Kentucky Lake/Tennessee River mile 103.5 Camden,  TN       0 nautical miles    0 statute miles

35°58’15.5″N 88°02’54.5″W
35.970980, -88.048482
Elevation: 359 feet

Judy asked us yesterday when she picked up Ray ‘Are you still having fun?’ The answer is definitively yes! There are both new adventures and new problems every day. We enjoy actively working at living; always alert for air and water conditions, actively planning and contingency planning, figuring out the next anchorage, the next grocery stop ……

The problems are simply that. Problems. Part of actively living.

Today was sort of a nothing day. We decided to stay at Birdsong Marina for another day and work around the boat. The place is starting to grow on us.  The Birdsong Marina employees are really friendly.

It has been great having people on traveling with us, but today it was nice just being the two of us.

Pictures

Yes, it rained again today.  The sun will come out Tomorrow! Tomorrow! Tomorrow!

September 25, 2018 Tuesday  Birdsong Creek, Kentucky Lake/Tennessee River mile 103.5 Camden,  TN   0 nautical miles   44+ statue miles (2 trips to towns)

35°58’15.5″N 88°02’54.5″
35.970980, -88.048482
Elevation: 359 feet

No surprise it rained again today!   After a leisurely cup of coffee we borrowed the marina car and went to Camden, TN for breakfast and groceries. I was surprised to find riding in a car nerve racking. I think it’s because it’s been about 2 months since I have traveled over 18 mph. Dale actually parked funny in one parking slots because he was subconsciously calculation wind, drift and pivot point.

Judy, Ray’s wife, came to pick him up shortly after we returned to the boat from our errands. Quick hugs in pouring rain and then they were off. If the weather was nicer they would have stuck around longer … bummer. Ray, you’ve been a great deck hand! Judy, I’d have loved to have visited with you longer. Next time!

O solo mio.  Back to just Dale and Mary.  Maybe I should say ‘solo noi due’, just the two of us.

The Bird Song Marina had an electrician stop by to take a look at power issues from yesterday. Dale helped him. They got everything going except the AC on our boat. Dale suspects the marina circuits are old/weak and trip too easily when the boat AC draws current.  Guess we will find out if it’s really the boat that has issues when we stop at the next marina.

Pictures

We did get some sun late in the day

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September 24, 2018 Monday    White Oak Bay, Kentucky Lake/Tennessee River, mile 81.5, TN to Birdsong Creek, Kentucky Lake/Tennessee River mile 103.5, TN 23 nautical miles

35°58’15.5″N 88°02’54.5″W
35.970980, -88.048482
Elevation: 359 feet

Awake from the anchor out in White Oak Bay, Dale was up early and saw an amazing thing. A fish jumped and suddenly the entire bay was filled with jumping fish that were not Asian carp. A few minutes later it happened again.  He was so amazed he had Ray and Mary go sit out side with him in hopes to see it again.  After several cups of coffee, toast and great conversation watching the straight down rain, it didn’t happen again. Consolation Prize: A rooster started to crow and crowed for about 30 minutes.

We are all catching up on our reading. Ray: Sue Grafton ‘Y is for Yesterday’; Mary: Frederik Bachman ‘Us Against You’; Dale: National Geographic.

It would have been beautiful if it wasn’t raining (Wash Rinse Repeat) …. Just like yesterday it was rainy, hazy and gray.

It did get interesting once we started to pull into Birdsong Creek mile 103.5 and heading to the marina.

White Oak Bay where we anchored out

Putting Ray to the Test – Final Exam on his last full day

Birdsong Creek Marina.

This place is a hoot.  The dock hand put us in golf cart and took us on a tour of the place. The marina office had a sign stating ‘No Smoking’.  I’m guessing it meant no smoking for the patrons because it smelled so smoky in there I could hardly breathe.

September 23, 2018 Sunday    Green Turtle Bay Marina, Grand Rivers, KY  to   White Oak Bay, Kentucky Lake/Tennessee River, mile 81.5, TN   54 nautical miles

36°15’46.8″N 87°55’05.6″W
36.262993, -87.918220
Elevation: 358

Leaving Green Turtle Bay in Lake Barkley (Cumberland River) we took the 1.5 mile long Barkley Canal west to Kentucky Lake (Tennessee River).  Both large reservoir lakes run north/south. The area of land between these two reservoirs is named The Land Between The Lakes. Imagine that.

Lakes are a bit more boring than rivers.  No dodge a log or dodge a barge.  Mary had really looked forward to traveling on the Kentucky River. It would have been beautiful if it wasn’t RAINING.  The shoreline and small islands are dramatic.

Green Turtle Bay Marina where we stay

Tales from the Loop… Several boats leaving from Alton Marina on the Mississippi River had their strainers clog up with mud and had to be towed to safety and a service marina.  I think we will check our strainers before we take off again. Dale definitely has a full time job keeping the boat functioning. Yesterday he was tinkering with a soft O ring that was leaking oil. Each day there is something new to look at.

On Kentucky Lake

White Oak Bay anchorage

We anchored in White Oak Bay. Depth on the charts read 11 feet. Depth on the depth finder read 4.2 feet. Our draft is 4 feet. When we kicked into reverse to set the anchor the depth changed to 0 feet!!!! Mud bottom …..   It should be interesting pulling anchor tomorrow.

Back to Green Turtle Bay Dock Life (I took a lot of pictures and didn’t want to bore you so I put them on the bottom… if you get to here)

September 22, 2018, Saturday    Paducah, KY  to Green Turtle Bay Marina, Grand Rivers, KY    40.9 nautical miles

37°00’25.3″N 88°13’22.0″W
37.007028, -88.222772
Elevation: 352 feet

Tales from the Loop… Yesterday RECESS, who we were traveling with, had had enough of anchoring on the river so they decided to run it to Green Turtle Bay on the Cumberland River. I can understand why RECESS was tired of being on the river. The last night we anchored with them a sizeable flotsam log got tangled in their anchor chain.  Rick had to drop his dingy and go cut the log off. (We only had to work it out of the mud.) Unfortunately when RECESS got up to Barkley Lock & Dam, first Lock on the Cumberland River, he had to hang on the lock wall for about 10+ hours because the lock was offline. He finally got to Green Turtle Marina at 8:00 PM and had to dock in the dark. About 10 people met them with flashlights to help him in.

Haven’t had this problem before…With navigation lights on and light rain yes dear left the Paducah Dock with SPIRITUS and CHANGE OF PACE having heard the Barkley Lock & Dam was again operational. About 1/3 of the way learned ‘operational’ meant ‘running on auxiliary power’. They hoped to be able to keep it operational and we should check back when we got closer. Guess it breaks down a lot. Wonder what their annual budget is for duct tape?  We kept cruising forward at our exhilarating 5 knts.

Haven’t had this problem before…The weather changed to cold and rainy. In the upper helm coffee was getting cold before we could finish it. We all went downstairs to use the lower helm so we could enjoy a warm cup of Folgers.

Haven’t had this problem before…What actually drove us to the lower helm was the heavy rain.

Pictures …

 

 

Dinner with friends in the local restaurant and docktails on our boat past looper midnight (9:00pm). RECESS and BLUE GOOSE. Haven’t had this problem before…Both Dale and Ray managed to spill a glass of water on Rick (RECESS) before our meal even came.

September 21, 2018, Friday    Bean Branch Creek, Kevil, KY  to Paducah, KY   17.2 nautical miles

37°05’35.3″N 88°35’52.9″W
37.093130, -88.598022
Elevation: 304 feet  (up river 14 feet)

Immediate task on hand was to shower then paint the town!

After a bite to eat the 3 of us took a Lyft to go grocery shopping. New experience.  None of us had ever taken a Lyft it before. We had to first down load the app.  Getting to a liquor store, our next stop, was interesting to say the least. The first one we went to was a pull-up window with bullet proof glass.  We drove by. The second was permanently closed. The Lyft driver suggested we go to the one she likes rather than us keeping pulling names out of Google. Good idea. It worked (too well).

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September 20, 2018, Thursday    Little Diversion River, Cape Girardeau, MO  to   Bean Branch Creek, Kevil, KY 72.5 nautical miles

37°12’19.1″N 88°53’12.8″W
37.205314, -88.886881
Elevation: 290 Feet

There are 2 things about boating that scare the bejeezes out of me: docking and anchoring. Happy to report anchoring last night was a breeze. Anchor held and equally important is came up with no problem. Must have been a sand bottom. I had anticipated mud and logs.

We had hoped to make it to Paducah, KY today so we were off the Ohio River and could provision. A rise in water level and current as a result of Hurricane Florence is anticipated in the next couple of days. We couldn’t get reservations in the marina so we are on the hook for another night.

Geography Lesson

Today we started above the ‘i’ in Missouri and ended the day under the capital ‘O’ in Ohio River (kinda close to Monkeys Eyebrow, KY)

River Stats
Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal: 24 statue miles
Illinois Waterway:
– Calumet Sag Channel and Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal: 30 statue miles
– Illinois River: 273.0 statue miles
Mississippi River: 218 statue miles
Ohio River: 89.9 statue miles

Mississippi River – Ohio River Confluence 360 degree view

Ohio River!!!!
We dropped about 4-6 kts turning the corner. We lost the Mississippi River 2-3 kts current push and then headed up the Ohio River against a 2-3 kts current.

Settled in for the night. On the hook AGAIN with Dale and Ray.

The generator ran all last night and will again tonight so we can have air conditioning.  It 95 degrees and HUMID.

September 19, 2018 Wednesday  Kaskaskia Lock, Modoc, IL to Little Diversion River, near Cape Girardeau, MO   61.3 nautical miles

37°14’58.0″N 89°31′ 06.8″E
37.249429, -89.518566
Elevation: 314 feet – dropped 46 feet elevation. No lock. Guess that explains the turbulence

Today is ‘Talk Like a Pirate Day’
What is a Pirate’s favorite restaurant?   Arrrrrrrby’s

Cloudy and windy BUT NOT HOT. Traveled with Recess to the next anchorage.

Kaskaskia Lock where we spent the night

Down the river a ways

Down for the night

September 18, 2018,  Tuesday   Alton Marina, Alton, IL  to Kaskaskia Lock,  IL 75.5 nautical miles

37°59’01.5″N 89°56’42.5″W
37.983746, -89.945131
Elevation: 360 feet      No Internet or phone service

All before noon

Left Alton Marina with 5 other Loopers. Spiritus, Bucket List, Jubilant, Change of Pace, TxAu (Texas Gold).

Mel Price Lock and Dam 26 (2 chambers) mile 200.8 – Sure speeds up traffic with 2 lock chambers

****** NOON ******

Downriver all afternoon.… Barges were traveling faster than us in the current.

Mile 117.5, Kaskaskia Lock – Dockmaster gave us permission to tie up to damn side of the lock jetty for the night.  Two other Looper boats, Meridian and Recess, were already tied up there. They immediately invited us for docktails at 5:00.

September 16, 2018, Sunday   Buckhorn Island, Montezuma Township, IL  to  Alton Marina, Alton, IL    55.7 nautical miles

38°53’03.2″N 90°10’37.6″W
38.884224, -90.177102
Elevation: 417 feet       (4 feet lower elevation than yesterday – 0 locks)

******** On the Mississippi River ***********

 

Alton, IL  –  It is like every day is Saturday but we just discovered today is Sunday!!!! Foot ball is on!   Vikings tied Packers. I’d have preferred to see Vikings win.
It’s hot here! 100 degrees.

September 15, 2018, Saturday   Tall Timbers Marina, Havana, IL to Buckhorn Island, Montezuma Township, IL (on the hook)   65.5 nautical miles    1 lock

39°30’02.3″N 90°35’22.5″W
39.500630, -90.589583
Elevation: 423 feet  down 10 feet.     Lock was only about 2 feet. Rest of the 8 feet was down hill river.

Late night visitor We had been warned about tieing up at public docks as many boats had been boarded and raided during the night. Thought we’d be safe at a private marina ……….

Miles to make traveling at 8.5 kts, 8:00 AM departure, through the wilderness of Illinois, Land of Abe and Barack. Not a lot going on through this stretch.

Mile 117 Just how flat it is – power lines reflecting in the water. Way in the distance you can barely see tops of trees.

River Living

I decided earlier today I was done taking pictures of barges.  But I needed to take one more.

Must have seen 3 dozen or more eagles! Wabasha, MN I think they have you beat.  It’s hard to believe this peaceful lazy stretch of the river is connected to the heave commercial traffic up river. I swear we saw over 100 monarch butterflies (10-15 per hour. This their migration path)

The La Grange Lock & Dam is a wicket dam. Wickets are raised to dam the river and provide sufficient depths for navigation. During high water the wickets are lowered to the bottom of the river to allow the traffic to pass over them without having to lock through.

ON THE HOOK FOR THE NIGHT

Sweet Ray

Ray is sweet, svelt and compactive,
Flies and spiders find him attractive.
Dale and I’ve never been bit
Flies and spiders find Sweet Ray find him a hit.

September 14, 2018, Friday  IVY Marina, Peoria, IL  to Tall Timbers Marina,Havana, IL      44.4 nautical miles    1 lock  (3+ hour wait for 7 feet)

With 30 Looper boats behind us on we were sent on the run by the marina. The IVY Marina was booked solid for tonight and we were asked to leave as soon as possible.  Dale quickly swapped out the fuel filter and we were on our way. The fuel filter god was in our favor. Port engine purred.

Peoria, IL

Peoria & Pekin Union Railroad Drawbridge mile 160.6 stopped us in our wake. Posted height was 19.8 feet.  We called for clearance check. 15.0 feet. Glad we asked. We waited about 20 minutes for a coal train and another 10 because the bridge tender forgot to lift the bridge. It was close quarters waiting with a barge less than 50 yards behind.  <you don’t get pictures of everything>

Peoria, IL Lock & Dam mile 157.6 stopped us in our wake for 3 hours while they squeaked a chemical barge up the 7 foot high lock.   (3+ hour wait for 7 feet)

We turned up our turbos to a whopping 12 kts to ensure we got to our marina before dark as there were no safe anchorages or marina for a boat our size on this stretch.

This section of the river was narrow and there was plenty of barge traffic. Several buoys had obviously been snagged and dragged by the barges so they couldn’t be relied on for navigation.

We picked our way through dodging alligators and hippos (slang for logs and trees floating in the water way). Occasionally we had moments of the great wide open.

We saw lots of wild life (herons, eagles, bobcat, pelicans) and asian carp

Passing on the 2 (closely)

Other pics

 

Today lesson:  Polishing fuel
Dale says don’t worry about the fuel filters. It is a common issue and it’s only one tank, the port, we are having issues with it. The 3-4 foot waves all the day long coming across the Great Lake churned up all the ugly crud on the bottom of the tank.

In a diesel there different kinds of crud. The fuel additives take care of the bacteria crud and water in the fuel, and fuel filters take care of some of the other crud which looks like coffee grounds. A diesel does not use all the fuel that goes into the engine like a gas engine does. The not used fuel that gets recycled back into the tank is considered ‘polished’ as it has already been run through the fuel filter once. This means that the more we run the engine the clear the fuel will become.  Eventually the tanks will get completely polished (unless we get a load of bad fuel).  I still worry.

September 13, 2018, Thursday   Mariners Village, Seneca, IL  to IVY Yacht Club, Peoria, IL  ~87 nautical miles   2 locks (44 feet) perfect timing no wait!

40°44’57.1″N 89°33’24.6″W
40.749180, -89.556836
Elevation: 440 feet

We set out with a stowaway around 7:30 AM

Marseilles Lock and Dam 244.6

Al Capone used to hang out in this area of river

Starved Rock Lock and Dam mile 231.0

 

Main span of this bridge was take down in August.  Just finishing up the work

 

The port fuel filter clogged around 4:30 PM so we ran on the starboard engine only until we got the marina. For those of you reading the blog regularly, yes this is the same engine we had to swap the fuel filter on earlier this trip.

We made it to IVY Marina and Tam’s friend came to pick her up. 🙁    Who knows. We might see her for the Norfolk to New York run.

Poem from Tam the Tour Guide Carlsen
From the docks through the locks the current takes us down,
From one to another, little river towns.
New friends new adventures O’er water on wind,
Safe travels Yes Dear ’til we meet again.

September 12, 2018, Wednesday   Mariners Village, Seneca IL   0 nautical miles   7+ statue miles

41°18’00.4″N 88°37’05.2″W
41.300111, -88.618108
Elevation: 484 feet

Tobin Factor. All the excitement of the big balls was deflated this morning.  The 18 inch round fender had a hole in the seam and had deflated.  Spring Brook Marina, who we bought it from, came over to our dock to make an exchange so we didn’t have to bike over. Thanks for the great customer service!
The 21 inch round fender needed a little more air so we took it inside to further inflate. We could barely get it through the door to take back outside.
Note to self: Watch your weight. At least I know what my max size can be.

Whew.  The last of our expected deliveries arrived today. Shout outs to Sharon and Holly at from the Seneca Post Office for watching out for our items and helping ensure we got them. Mary and Dale resembled a shark feeding frenzy going through the box of mail that had been forwarded.

I had a mule. Her name was Sal. 15 miles on the I&M Canal (Erie Canal). We rode bicycles along the old Illinois and Michigan(I&M) Canal from Seneca towards Marseilles. The I&M Canal, opened in 1848, connected the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico. In Illinois, it ran 96 miles from the Chicago River in Bridgeport, Chicago to the Illinois River at LaSalle-Peru. Just like on the Erie Canal, mules were used to move the barges and other nautical vessels down the canal.

Droning – Seneca, IL Mariners Marina

 

New Fenders

I&M Canal Trail

Note to self: Do not put lotion on face for sun burn too early in the day or bugs will stick to your face for the rest of the day.

 

September 11, 2018, Tuesday   Mariners Village, Seneca IL       0 nautical miles  ~ 7.0 statute miles

41°18’00.4″N 88°37’05.2″W
41.300111, -88.618108
Elevation: 484 feet

Nothing like big balls. After a leisurely morning on the dock drinking coffee with Kerry and Ray we went in search for big balls on our bicycles.  We found some across the river at Springbrook Marina. The same marina we stayed at the first night we were in the area.

Ray had not been on a bicycle for 27 years.  As they say it’s just like riding a bike. You should have see us old farts slipstream drafting down the roads in Seneca and over the bridge. I’ll tell you, Lance Armstong had nothing over us. (I tried to take a picture but almost fell off my bike doing so. You don’t get one. HA.)

Thanks Amazon for getting our packages as promised to us today as promised. There was a little confusion over the mailing address. No problem. We rode our bikes to the the post office to pick them up.(1.3 miles)

Tam the tour guide stopped by to check on us late afternoon. So we had a sangria.  We have just about talked into riding with us to Peoria and having someone pick her up at the end of the day. (hour by car). Fingers crossed.

Big Balls  OK. Are you wondering what we bought? We bought 2 round type fenders(bumpers) for the boat; one 18 inch and one 21 inch, back and bow respectively. They supposedly are better at holding the boat in position on a dock and in a lock as they don’t roll like the cylindrical ones do.  Guess we will find out.

Big Balls