DAY 10-NO MILES TRAVELED!!!!

9/26 Slept in. Pancakes and sausage. Heaven...... Happy birthday to Nancy's dad, Tom, and to our daughter-in-law Emily. Hope you're both having a wonderful day.Walked up in the parking lot where a couple was selling fruits and vegetables. Bought a few things, including their "cure all" salve. He’s a certified herbologist. He was an older gentleman and told us how his mother had been a Cherokee Indian and his father was a farmer and a farmocologist, before they spelled it with “phar”. Found out that the fruit on the persimmon tree is what is used for catfish bait. It contains alum and you drop the persimmon fruit in the water and it will permeate the water with the alum and this attracts catfish. Go figure. But once frost comes, these same fruits are harvested and eaten by the people as the frost make the fruit like butterscotch pudding on the inside and is said to be delicious. After breakfast, Brad signed out one of the courtesy vans. Van #4. And we were on our way to Paducah. After taking on supplies we headed back to Green Turtle Bay. 12 miles short of there, van #4 broke down. Thank goodness for cell phones. The resort sent someone to rescue us, but in the meantime, we made the best of things.









Here is Billy Brad, the mechanic who stopped to help us. Any similarity to Brad's backside is purely coincidental. Teri and I decided to break into the provisions while we waited for help. Ross just shook his head over the whole deal.

DAY 9-MILES TRAVELED 96

9/25 Pulled up anchor and headed our last 7 miles on the Mississippi. At Cairo (pronounced kay-row by the locals) we made a left and headed up the Ohio. The current was running against us about 4 miles an hour average. Now it is red on the right as far as the markers. The river is about 15 feet higher than normal so lots of debris in it. As close as we watched, there was something with our name on it and wham, we hit it. Crap. We instantly felt a vibration. We’ll have the boat pulled and put our spare props on. Listening to the radio we hear constant chatter from the barge traffic. They call the Ohio River the O H. Two of the locks on the Ohio were underwater so we just drove over them. It was creepy. We made the decision to travel up the Cumberland which is 25 miles longer than going up the Tennessee River into Kentucky Lake and crossing to Barkley Lake. Which is where the Green Turtle Bay Resort is. And our destination. The Tennessee is shorter but has much more barge traffic and you can be stuck at the lock for up to 8 hours. The Cumberland is very deep. About 40 feet deep, but very narrow. It’s maybe 150 yards across most of the way. We finally arrived at Green Turtle Bay and several days of rest. Ross made arrangements to have the boat pulled. This will happen on Monday morning. Ate up at the buffet here at the resort. One thing I can say about Kentucky is these people know gravy!!!! Mmm, mmm, mmm.

DAY 8-TODAY WE TRAVELED 145 MILES; NOT YESTERDAY

Okay, who put me in charge of blogging??? I'm a galley slave. What the heck do I know about blogging? I'm getting mileage goofed up now. Heck, I don't even know what day of the week it is. So my correction is Day 7 we only went 95 miles. This morning we woke early to the sound of rain. We left at first light. Steady rain all morning. The current is running about 3mph. Passed very turbulent waters at MM 131 and MM 84. There are large submerged wing dams on sharp curves which are built to prevent erosion. This causes severe turbulence and whirlpools. Increasing our speed a bit gave us more control. We radioed ahead to make certain there was not any tow traffic that would be coming through the area at the same time. Dreary and rainy. Makes it difficult to see. At MM 84 there were 2 ft waves caused by the swirling water over the submerged wing dams. Looked very odd and was creepy. It was 40’ deep in these areas. A couple of times we got caught in whirlpools making the boat act pretty squirrely. It was a long day. We went 145.5 miles. We are anchored just above the Highway 52 bridge seven miles above the Ohio River. Fern told us it was a good place to anchor. There are two sailboats anchored back in here too. It was a safe, perfect place to anchor and spend the night. Thank you Fern. We figured where ever we spent the night, we would be each pulling a 2 hour watch through the night to make sure we anchor held and there wasn’t any barge traffic near. It turned out to be quite the opposite. We were able to tune in the satellite tv so Teri could watch the season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy! She was a happy camper.

DAY 7-ADDENDUM

My blog site cuts me off when I talk too much or try to put in too many photos. I think Ross wishes he had that feature. (just kidding) Anyway, we also passed St. Louis Missouri today. There isn't a place to stop to explore, unfortunately. But the arch is right on the river front so we got a great view of it.

DAY 7-MILES TRAVELED 145.5

First lock was the Mel Price lock. It’s brand new and looks it. Makes one realize how old and crumbling most locks are. Floating bollards. The upstream gate rose up out of the water to about 3 feet above water line rather than big gates that close. Looked very strange. Passed the mouth of the Missouri River. Entered the Chain of Rocks canal above St. Louis. It is a manmade canal to bypass the Mississippi, which is shallow with rapids at this point. Barge traffic continues to increase. The barges here are 5 wide and 6 deep. Yikes!! We feel pretty puny when we meet one. Saw our first Asian Carp. The noise from the engines causes them to leap out of the water. They aren’t very large ones. They are shiny and silver. Evidently very thin-skinned and bleed very easily. If they land on your boat, it’s a mess. We arrived at Hoppies Marina. We were met by Fern, who was wearing a tee shirt that said “All stressed out and no one to choke”. We liked her immediately. Everyone stops at Hoppies as it’s the last fuel for 256 miles. It’s the most stressful stretch of the Loop. The marina is a long barge and we were tied on the channel side. Strong current but we were tied up well. Huge cleats as it is an old work barge. The Marina is basically just a gas dock; decorated mostly with stuff they’ve pulled out of the river as it’s floated by. There is an old beat up couch and chairs with a large low table in one area. This is where Fern Hoppie gives her daily brief. She’s a woman in her 70’s with a great sense of humor and is “the authority” on the river. She knows where to go and not go, depending on the time of the year and the weather. Forget Capt. Bob, listen to Fern. After the briefing the Loopers gathered around the table for drinks and hors d’oeuvres. There was a woman on the dock taking photos. She is a photographer for the New York Times and doing a piece for the paper. She took some photos of our boat and also at Fern’s briefing. I think she said the article was to run October 18. We’ll have look for it on the Internet. Walked in to Kimmswick, Missouri. It’s a picturesque, historic town with old buildings made into craft shops, bakeries and such. Ate supper at the Gasthaus. It was a restored house turned in to a German restaurant. Walked home in the dark. Watched the weather channel and found out there has been heavy rain and flooding in the direction we are headed. We will have a strong current heading up the Ohio. Left Fern with a jar of my homemade hot pepper jelly. Still have a few tomatoes along from the garden. Gave one to a fellow Looper we met here and he was thrilled. Hey, what’s better than a homegrown tomato??

DAY 6-MILES TRAVELED 79.4

Our day began with Ross and Brad dropping the dinghy and with the boat hook, feeling along the bottom to find our best route out of the harbor. We moved heavy items out of the aft cabin to the front, pulled the dinghy rather than having it hang and Brad and I stood on the bow pulpit with cases of pop and water trying to use the weight to bring the stern up. We made it out of the marina without incident. Ran the engines up and all sounds ok. No vibration or weird noises. Dodged a bullet on that one. Only two locks today. Passed the mouth of the Illinois river. We have now entered never before traveled waters for us. The tow traffic really picked up. Lots of southern drawls on the radio. We stopped at the Alton marina just short of lock 26. Beautiful marina. Went to a place called Fast Eddies for dinner. CHEAP food. I mean, really cheap! Peel and eat shrimp was .29 cents apiece. Teri and I split a ½ pound hamburger for .99 cents. It was a rocking place. We ate in the outdoor area. We all chowed down for the grand total price of 12 bucks. There was a lighted sign which told the number of the orders coming up. By the time we left, it was close to 900 for the day. And the food was great. Mostly meats grilled on a stick, fries and hot dogs or brats. We enjoyed the view of the Alton Highway bridge when we returned to the boat. It was lit up and very picturesque in the dark night.


Dinner at Fast Eddies












A car ferry transporting vehicles accross the river.

DAY 5-MILES TRAVELED 84.6

Left early just as it was getting light out. The first lock was just below Keokuk and very big. It was cool and creepy at the same time. It was our first lock with a floating bollard system instead of ropes you'd hold on to. Our day took us past Hannibal Missouri, home of Mark Twain. We wondered which of the many small islands we saw was the one Huck Finn lived on. A short day of travel and we stopped at the Two Rivers Marina at Rockport, Illinois. It was a very shallow entrance to the marnina. We hit bottom and possibly a rock as there was a not so good sound along with it. Obviously not a maintained harbor.





Very early morning. Entering Lock 19 and tying to the floating bollard.







The floating bollard is on a wheel that runs vertical along the lock wall and lowers as the water drops. Taking us along with it. No need to hang on the lines.




Before and after at Lock 19. The lock is 1200 feet long and the drop is 38 feet. It drops at a rate of 3 feet per minute and 1.2 million gallons a foot.

DAY 4-MILES TRAVELED 119.3

Very quiet on the river, other than barge traffic and duck hunters. We see many duck hunting blinds out in the river. They are large and built on some type of platform and then covered with grass and reeds. There is some type of river ivy growing along the shore and completely covering vegetation in some areas. It looks like topiary of odd forms. We spent the night at the Keokuk Yacht Club in Keokuk, Iowa. The bartender at the yacht club loaned us his car so we made a trip to WalMart for a few things and ate at a recommended restaurant called The Hawk Eye. I thought about wearing my Minnesota Gophers t-shirt but was afraid they might spit in our food!! (just kidding)


The river ivy covering vegetation
along the shore.











Teri at the helm checking the radar screen as she
meets a towboat