September 24: The Mighty Mississippi: Alton to Hoppies: We left Alton on a beautiful sunny morning and began our journey down the Mississippi. The Mississippi runs over 1,700 miles from Minneapolis to New Orleans. However, we will only travel on the upper portion of the Mississippi for 218 miles. In normal times, the current runs between 3-4 knots and 6-8 knots in flood time. We flew down the river doing 11-12 knots versus our usual 7-8 knot speed. There are only two Locks that we will have to traverse. The first one is close to Alton. We called and received permission to Lock down with 5 other boats.
This section of the Mississippi is lined with high cliffs on the left descending bank.
An interesting house nestled on the high cliff. Hope they had a good architect!
The Mississippi is primarily a thoroughfare for commercial vessels.
Our journey today takes us past St. Louis, MO which is a busy commercial port. There are Tows moving in and out everywhere so one has to pay close attention.
The famous St. Louis Arch. Unfortunately, there is nowhere to stop to explore the city.
St. Louis City Hall which is framed by the Arch.
Hoppies Marina in Kimmswick, MO, is one of the few places pleasure craft can stop on the Mississippi. We covered the 50 plus miles in record time. The owner Fern is somewhat of an institution. She has lived on the Mississippi all her life and gives Loopers a briefing which covers current conditions on the river every afternoon.
Some prime real estate in Kimmswick, MO.
September 25: Down the Mississippi: We left Hoppies on an overcast, cool morning. Unfortunately, the weather did not improve and we covered the 110 miles to our next stop in almost constant rain.
His Majesty trying to stay warm!
We arrived at our anchorage for the night, Little Diversion Channel, to find 5 other boats already there. The anchoring conditions were not good due to the heavy rain that we had experienced all day. The current going into the channel was so strong it felt like we were going through a washing machine. Once in the channel, there was still significant current and a load of floating debris. Several of the boats already there had dragged their anchors so we let out 75 feet of chain and anchored successfully.
September 26: To the Ohio River
Early morning in Little Diversion Channel. The mist did not lift for a few hours so we did not deem it safe to leave until it did. Today we leave the Mississippi and head up the Ohio River. The Ohio is 981 miles long and we will be going against the current. Fortunately, we will only be travelling up the Ohio for 60 miles. It was quite a change only being able to travel at just under 6 knots after the speed we enjoyed on the Mississippi.
We stopped for the night just before Lock 53 which is the first of two Locks that we will have to traverse on the Ohio.
September 27: Still on the Ohio River: The good news this morning was that the Ohio River is so high due to the recent heavy rains that the dam is lowered and we will therefore not have to lock through. This saves us a lot of time as there is considerable commercial traffic on the river which would result in long wait times for us. Even better news at Lock 52: we can cruise right through as well as the dam is down as well.
We stopped for the night just before Lock 53 which is the first of two Locks that we will have to traverse on the Ohio.
Fellow traveller on the Ohio River.
September 28: Leaving the Ohio for the Cumberland River
Early morning at our last anchorage on the Ohio.
Commercial traffic on the Ohio was much more than we expected. It is quite challenging passing some of these Tows in narrow sections and knowing what exactly is around the next bend. Fortunately, we installed an automated identification system (AIS) before we left. This enables us to at least know what is coming at us.
Here is part one of a Tow that we had to pass.
Part 2.
And part 3!
Same Tow. Check out the wake that it creates! We were pleased to leave the Ohio behind and enter the Cumberland River. The Cumberland River runs 690 miles through Tennessee. We will only be travelling about 180 miles up to Nashville. Our destination today is Green Turtle Bay Marina which is about 31 miles up the Cumberland River. First though we have to traverse the Barkley Lock and Dam. This Lock provides a 57 foot lift.
Unfortunately, we arrived there with a few other boats and had to wait for a Tow to lock through so we had an extended wait.
A fellow Looper in the Lock gives some perspective to the 57 foot lift.
September 28-October 1: Green Turtle Bay Marina at Grand Rivers, KY: After the rigors of the Mississippi and the Ohio Rivers, we really enjoyed being in a full service marina with hot showers and a restaurant. There are quite a few fellow Loopers here as everyone is taking a few rest days. Rest days, of course, include boat cleaning, laundry and food provisioning. We went into Grand Rivers for dinner and took in an excellent show, Smoke on the Mountain which was an irreverent look at life in a Baptist Church communinty in the 1938. All the actors were locals-very impressive performance.
Green Turtle Bay Marina
Lots and lots of turtles around. They are really shy. Only managed to catch this small one sunning itself on a rock.
Getting ready to cook up a big batch of Chicken Paprikas.
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