Heading Down the Rivers

It is hard not to think about Huck Finn, when heading down the Mississippi.  However, it is a different world out there, and that was a long and dreamy time ago.

The barges are large and sometimes the river channels are narrow.  In addition to the barges heading downstream, there are barges on the sides of the rivers, anchored in the rivers, or simply waiting towards the side for another barge to pass.  The locks are much larger than the Erie or Trent-Severn to accomodate the barges.  Even then, the barge may need to be split into a couple loads for the lock.  The locks on these rivers are designed and planned to handle commercial traffic first, then recreational boats.  I had hoped that over Labor Day weekend, there would be a break in barge traffic, but these guys work all day, every day, even in the middle of the night.

As I headed south from the Illinois and got onto the Mississippi, my first stop was in Alton, where I filled up on fuel, groceries, and water.  The owners of the local grocery store, Schwegel's, came and picked me up, then dropped me back off on my boat.  The marina was beautiful, with the nicest bathrooms I have seen since Liberty Landing and South Jersey Marina.  Fuel was relatively inexpensive.

I went downstream to Hoppies, which is famous on the Mississippi.  I don't know that anyone goes down the Mississippi without stopping to say hello to Fern and Hoppie.  I topped off my fuel tank with 5 gallons of diesel.  I ended up not spending the night.  The marina is a couple barges at the edge of the river.  The current in the Mississippi is 4 knots or so, and the barges going by throw wakes.  There was no room on the inside of the barges, and I did not want to get tossed around.  Usually Fern gives advice as to where to stay on the river in the evening.  She was willing to take time out of her day, and take a break from mowing the lawn, to sit with me and tell me where it was safe to anchor or tie up as I headed south towards Kentucky Lake (the next available fuel stop.)  From Hoppies, there is 225 miles until the next fuel stop.

With the current, the Mississippi is fast.  I was averaging just under 10 nm/hr without pushing my engine.  After Hoppies, I stopped about 4 hours downstream at Kaskaskie Lock and Dam, where they allow people to tie up for the night on the lock wall.  It was a very peaceful evening, even if I arrived as the sun was setting.  The following day, I anchored in a fairly shallow area towards near where the Mississippi and Ohio rivers meet.  It was more of a stressful evening, as the occasional barge wake would rock the boat.

The following day, was the longest of the Loop so far.  I headed the additional 7 miles down the Mississippi, then upstream on the Ohio River, where there were two locks.  The first was a wicket lock and the wickets were down, meaning I could just keep heading up the river, without locking through.  I did not have to wait at the second lock either.  However, heading out the second lock, I had made a quick phonecall to the Kentucky Lake Lock, and turned my radio down.  I had been watching a barge just north of a bridge, thinking it was stopped, when it really wasn't.  (Many of the barges will stop near the locks, waiting on line to go through, and there were several which were stopped.)   I was heading through the center of the bridge, when I realized the barge was trying to head through the same center of the bridge, and I was being a horrible boat handler.  I quickly got to the side of the bridge, turned my radio up, to hear the guy getting really angry at me and explain right of way and monitoring the radio, as well as how I could stay out of the boat channel and head along the shore with my shallow draft.   I apologized for my idiot move, and went on my way, much more humbly.  After 60 miles upstream on the Ohio, I turned at the Tennessee River, to head upstream further to the Kentucky Lock and Dam.  I knew there would be a long delay, but decided it was worth it not to worry as much about how much fuel I had.  I anchored near the dam at 5:45 p.m, close to 12 hours after leaving.  I waited until just after 10 p.m. to be locked through.  The Kentucky Lock goes up into the Kentucky Lake 57 feet.  There was a large barge ahead, which took two lockings to get through.  Two other pleasure boats showed up, shortly after I arrived.  They were both like ski boats, out for the day.  The lock master did not give me any warning ahead of time, to pull my anchor.  For the most part, I had to pay attention to time and the locks signals to have an idea when to pull my anchor.  When the locks open their doors, they blow a horn.  So, I was able to time how long the lock took to ascend, and when it was coming back down.  At around 11 p.m, our three pleasure boats made it through the lock and onto Kentucky Lake.  It was pitch dark, and I managed to get across the lake and safely into the Kentucky Dam State Park Marina break walls. I headed off to a corner of the marina area, designated for anchoring.  I didn't want to get too close to other boats, since the visibility was so poor.  Just getting to the marina was stressful with 2 to 3 foot seas on the beam and trying to avoid buoys, which I couldn't see, but knew were out there somewhere.

I spent the following night at Kentucky Dam State Park marina, next to Atla, with Steve and his wife, Wendy.  We headed to the famous Patti's restaurant for lunch.  We actually at at Bill's, which was the overflow restaurant... same good food, same atmosphere, and we all felt badly for the women working there, because they had horrible "Little house on the Prairie", floral print, dresses they had to wear.

Yesterday, I continued upstream, up Kentucky Lake to Paris State Park Marina.  This morning, there is fog.  As soon as it lifts, I will head to another marina about 40 or 50 miles from here.  It is nice to be able to stop at marinas and walk around.  I have another 150 miles to go upstream on the Tennessee, then I will be at the Tenn-Tom.  The Tenn-Tom will be downstream for 490 miles to Mobile, Alabama.

A quick apology for not having pictures.  Once again, I forgot to put the memory card back into the camera... so all the pictures I took were not saved.   At least I come by blonde naturally!