Day 1. After 6 inches of rain on Thursday and again on Friday, the weather turned very good for our departure on Sunday. Our route was down Galveston Bay to Galveston where we entered the Gulf Intra Coastal Waterway to head South and West to Brownsville at the U.S.-Mexico Boarder. We stopped for the first night in Freeport for a daily run of almost 70 nautical miles. We celebrated Mother's Day by taking Admiral Terry out to the Seafood Restaurant. It was about a mile to the restaurant so Terry rode her bike while Jim and I followed on the electric scooters.
Day 2. This can be an interesting day because we must cross two major rivers. When these rivers flood, they can send enough sediment into the ICW (that is the Intra Coastal Waterway) to block the waterway. To prevent this situation, the Corps of Engineers has installed flood gates across the ICW at the Brazos River, and actual locks on either side of the Colorado River. When there is no flooding, the gates/locks are left open and traffic is normal. When the river floods, they are closed and long delays result as barges are locked through one barge at a time....
Freeport as we departed at 5:40 am in order to cross the Brazos River before 7:00 am. THIS IS NOT my idea of a fun day with a start this early, but it was necessary to avoid "wasting" a day.
The next photo shows us lined up to transit the lock on the east side of the Colorado River. The gates were open, and all we had to do was wait for any traffic inside the lock to exist before we could enter.
The last photo shows us putting the Colorado River Locks in the rear view mirror. Althought neither river was in flood stage, there are eddies where the flowing river water passes the stationary water in the lock. These eddies trap logs and sticks from the river. At one point we had to gun the engines, then quickly put them in neutral as we "crashed" through one of these swirling eddies of debris... The boat pushes the smaller pieces of wood aside, but it is not a pleasant sound to hear a long log bouncing along under the keel! Fortunately, we came through this experience with no damage. All in all, it was a beautiful weather day, and we coverd nearly 70 miles on the way to Port O'Connor where we are spending the night. On the way into the town, Terry sat on the bow and leaned over to watch dolphin surfing in our bow wave. As she put it, she was totally mesmerized by this experience...
The last photo shows us putting the Colorado River Locks in the rear view mirror. Althought neither river was in flood stage, there are eddies where the flowing river water passes the stationary water in the lock. These eddies trap logs and sticks from the river. At one point we had to gun the engines, then quickly put them in neutral as we "crashed" through one of these swirling eddies of debris... The boat pushes the smaller pieces of wood aside, but it is not a pleasant sound to hear a long log bouncing along under the keel! Fortunately, we came through this experience with no damage. All in all, it was a beautiful weather day, and we coverd nearly 70 miles on the way to Port O'Connor where we are spending the night. On the way into the town, Terry sat on the bow and leaned over to watch dolphin surfing in our bow wave. As she put it, she was totally mesmerized by this experience... 
Too Cool! Wish I were with you!
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