Lyon's Ferry - River Trip Day 5

And here we are at Lyon's Ferry.  Thankful for wi-fi and the chance to catch up here.

We had a great laugh at Lower Monumental Dam today.  (Beautiful day on the river before then, by the way.)  It was a bit rougher than we'd like going in, but nowhere near as tough as Ice Harbor.  But we get there, about 20 minute out, and we radio in for passage.  No answer.  Try again, no answer.  We've NEVER not had an answer at a lock!  Still don't know if our radio wasn't transmitting properly, or if the guy was just on lunch break, but... we get through the "rapids" below the spill gates and into the pool at the lock gates, behind the breakwater, still with no contact about when we can transit the lock.

So I says to Glen, I says, "There's a sign over there.  Can you read it?"  No.  So I get my binoculars out.  And I read.  And I blink.  And I read again.  "For lockage: 1)  Pull the cord below..."  YES REALLY.  It said, to request lock, pull the cord.  A rope hanging down from the concrete wall, like a bell pull."  I read it out loud to Glen, and he says, "you're kidding me."  Well he used different language than that, but it's not polite to type it here.  Then we do read "or call on Channel 14".  Which is what we've been doing for over half an hour.  Tried about 8 times.

So... we pull the cord.  Glen carefully guides our 36-foot boat over the the wall that's designed for small 10 foot craft and such, and I reach out and pull the cord.  We hear massive buzzing noises from the control / observation rooms above the lock.

So, yes, it was a dam-sized doorbell.  I kid you not.  We have the pictures to prove it.