9/11-9/14/2012

 

Tuesday - Another long day in store so we are off early.    6:15 we leave the piling along with Muriel June. Peggy called ahead to Lock 53 to make sure we could get through and this early, it wasn't a problem. 

 

 Sunrise on the Ohio River just above Lock 53.  Muriel June led the way. 

 Construction activity at the new Olmstead Lock, 6:20 in the morning.

We haven't experienced locks like this and hope we don't again.  Big, round concrete pilings with rusted metal around them. 

When Peggy called the lock, she was told that we would be rafting at the lock.  They entered and got tied up then we came up beside them and tied to their boat.  We understand this was the norm for lots of other loopers.

Peggy holding the lines at the bow of Muriel June.

 A shot of the chartplotter with all the barge traffic.  Each triangle represents a tow.  Most have barges, some are off to the side and not moving others are coming and going.

I thought this was interesting.  The barge is lifted on rails, kept level, emptied or filled, then lowered back into the water.  Similar to the Big Chute in Canada only on a much smaller scale.

I-24 bridge across the Ohio near lock 52.  Called the lock requesting lock through and were told the wait would be about 2 hours.

 As we are waiting for the lock, we anchored on the lower side of the dam, we saw a pleasure craft  transiting on the upper side.  Just looked funny to me at the time.

Our wait was about 2 hours as expected.  We were told to provide lines to the line handlers.  They would loop them around the stationary bollard then toss back to the boat.  This lock is incredibly busy.  Jerry found a US Corp of Engineers website with lock status.  We could see how many boats were waiting.  Pleasure craft are way down on the list, so we were lucky to get through so quickly.

A closer look at the lock pilings.

Once the lock had filled, we were told to get going because a tow was waiting to get through.  You can see it on the other side of the lock gate.  It happened to be 6 wide so we didn't have a lot of room to get by, from this vantage point.

Capt. Mema.  Have to wear life jackets in the locks even if you're not out on deck.

That's Muriel June sliding past the barge. Plenty of room.

Passing Paducah, KY riverfront.  A decision point to either continue up the Ohio River and join the Cumberland River or enter the Tennessee River here.  The Kentucky Lock is the deciding factor.  It is privately run and isn't pleasure craft friendly.  Peggy tried to call and they didn't even answer so we went on to the Cumberland.  A longer run, another 25 miles but the wait at the lock could be a problem. 

Lots o'rocks

Jerry is good, he shot this picture of a bald eagle with a fish in it's talons.  Too cool!

 The I-24 bridge about 3 miles from Barkley Lock and Dam

Entering the Barkley Lock makes us feel kind of small.  This lock is newer so has floating bollards.  Also this lock provides a 57 ft lift.  The lockmaster isn't very chatty but gets the job done.

Pulling into Green Turtle Bay marina at about 7:00 pm.  Another long day, 76 miles, 10 hours.  We are so close to the end of the loop, only 25 more miles. 

 

We are greeted by several fellow loopers.  They are going out for dinner.  I just want to shower and veg.  Our plan here is to rent a car, recover the Expedition from St. Charles and plant it at Kenlake marina where we will spend a month or so once we finish the loop. 

 

 

Wednesday - Enterprise in Paducah picked us up.  I can't say enough good things about what good service we have received from each of the Enterprise offices over the last year.  Some have been hesitant to drive 20 miles or so to get us but most have lived up to their motto. 

 

We drove to Port Charles Marina where we had left the Expedition.  Picked up the car, had lunch then headed back to Green Turtle Bay.  Dinner was planned this evening with two other loopers, Muriel June and the Blue Heron at Patti's in Grand Rivers.  We arranged to meet them there.  It worked out great, had a wonderful meal and good conversation.  I would highly recommend the 2" thick pork chop (but split it).

 

Thursday - a couple of other looper boats arrived so we had docktails with them in the evening then dinner at the marina restaurant.  I think there were 13 for dinner.  Great time. 

 

 

 

 

Friday - the big day!!!

 

We departed Green Turtle Bay about 9am. Back out on the Cumberland for about a mile to the Barkley Canal or "the cut".  This mile and a half canal connects Lake Barkley (Cumberland River) with Kentucky Lake (Tennessee River). 

 

A Coast Guard work boat was replacing buoys in the cut and pulled out in front of us.

He moved onto Kentucky Lake but stopped to replace another buoy.

Almost a daily ritual.  Our morning snack was celery, carrots and hummus.  No reason today should be any different.

The Eggners Ferry Bridge, the end of our Great Loop.

It doesn't count until we go under the bridge.

And now we can display the AGLCA Gold Burgee replacing the white one.  We are happy campers to have completed the loop.  Hard to believe it's been just shy of 11 months, 6,217 miles traveled. 

 



 

9/8-9/10/2012

Saturday - we are off the dock by 8:15 from Port Charles Marina. 

This is the cut between the two islands that we should have taken to come into the marina.  I'm not sure why the water looks so blue in this picture, I can assure you it wasn't.

 

 Three girls on a boat, Taylor, Elizabeth and Capt. Mema.

We went through Mel Price Lock and Dam on the Mississippi.  Our visitors have never seen a lock so they were impressed by its size.

 
 The first of several, on the water, dry docks for the massive river tugs.   We saw some of these dry docks in Baltimore for the Navy ships.  Incredible the amount of tonnage these can lift.

Coming into St. Louis, this is one of two 400 ft bridge structures for the new Mississippi River Bridge.  The bridge will connect downtown St. Louis and southwestern Illinois.  Poplar Street Bridge currently carries three interstates including I-70.  This project will relocate I-70 traffic from the Poplar Street Bridge to the new Mississippi River Bridge.  It should open for traffic in 2014.

Bridges across the Mississippi with the arch in the background.

Fun pictures of all of us under the arch!!

 

Some bluffs on the Mississippi River.  The house on the bluff was cool looking.  What a view!

Taylor at the helm.  Papa instructing.  She did pretty good on this big curvy river.  We traveled 63 miles today.  Had a wonderful time including the kids in this part of our journey. 

Arriving at Hoppies.  This marina is right on the river.  It's been around for about 70 years.  Fern and Hoppie run the place with their daughter.  The current is about 3mph so I had to go past and come back up river to dock in between two other boats.  It's hard to imagine how this place has survived.  It is just barges rafted together anchored to land with cables.  Pretty crude arrangement but a welcome site knowing there isn't anyplace to stop for another 40 miles.



 

 

Fern gathers all the crews and provides local knowledge of the Mississippi.  She gave us anchorages to try as well as places to avoid.  Told us what to watch for, like specific mile markers where the curve of the river along with the weir dikes makes for narrow, rapid water.  Other boaters report back to her with water depths since the water is lower than it has been in the past so the information is relatively current.  These "Fern" talks are legendary.   

 

We opted for dinner in tonight.  Jeremy, the grill master, did a superb job.  What a great weekend!

 

Sunday -  Had breakfast in.  The kids left about 10am.  We took off shortly after.  A couple of other boats left earlier heading for Kaskaskia Lock, a 40 mile run with the option of spending the night on the lock wall.  This isn't a lock we transit but was a wonderful option since the next anchorages were iffy and no marinas.  And we knew our next day would be a long one, over 100 miles. 

 

Just wanted to give a perspective of how crude Hoppies is.  Only as wide as a single barge with junk strewn all over. 

That's Wind Song to the left. 

This is the gathering place for the "Fern" talks.  She is a heavy smoker so the obvious need for the ashtray.   

Here we are at the Kaskaskia Lock wall.  Tuff eNuff (sailboat) is rafted to Murial June.  I believe they did this so there would be room for us as well. Nice.  Several work boats were tied to the wall in front of Muriel June so space was at a premium.  Also, there were no cleats so we had to borrow lines from Muriel June to tie to the railing over 50 ft from the boat.  It worked, thanks to their help.  They also invited everyone over for docktails this evening.  We discussed an early morning departure since it would be a long day.

 

Monday - 6:03am and we are off in the fog and it is still dark, in my book.  I hate it when we do this.  

 

A picture from the bridge sitting at Kaskaskia Lock.   At the speed we travel we knew it would be a long day so wanted to get going early.  Discussed our departure time with the crew of other two boats so we could sort of travel together. 

 Leaving the entrance to the lock we could see the sun peeking out. 

Sunrise was 6:36 but the fog stayed with us until after 7am.

 Jerry sounded our fog horn as we traveled down river.   Fortunately, we didn't meet any tows while in the fog.

 

Oh, did I mention that it was cold.  I layered, grabbed my coat and gloves and was still chilled.  We opened the windows to watch for floating logs as well as on-coming traffic.  We were a couple of hours in before the fog lifted.

 The tugs going upstream really had to work.  You can see the water being churned up behind this one.

This shows the significant current against the buoy.   Based on the GPS speed vs the water speed, we were getting about 3-5 mph help going  downstream.

This tug had what looked like 24 barges (4x6).  Most must have been empty.

Some shoreline along the Mississippi

This was a narrow spot.  We waited while the tow got around the curve. 

Cape Girardeau waterfront.

The bridge at Cape Girardeau

Little Diversion Channel used to be a great anchorage but isn't an option with the low water levels. 

It's about 4:30pm.  We've traveled the Mississippi to where it meets the Ohio River.  At this point, we make a left turn and cross under the bridge at Cairo, IL.  Once we make the turn, our GPS speed drops from about 12.0-7.5mph.  Bummer!

All the activity in the distance is the building of the new Olmsted lock which will replace both lock and dam numbers 52 and 53.  And what we find the next day at these two locks, it's long overdue.

We tied to one of two mooring cells.  Murial June was tied to the other.  It took us a couple of tries along with dropping a stern anchor to get positioned so we were comfortable.









Today we traveled 134 miles in 12.5 hours.  I believe this was our longest travel day yet other than the Gulf crossing.  What a day!