Saturday the crew showed up to finish the exterior waxing and Pam & I took the marina courtesy car to the grocery store to re-supply. Doesn't cruising sound exciting?
Sunday afternoon my daughter Angela and her husband Doug arrived for a short visit. They had planned on visiting while we were in Mackinaw City but life got in the way. Somehow St. Charles, Mo. isn't quite as exciting as Mackinaw.
Of course Pam had enough food ready to feed a barge crew for days. All very good I might add! Ange & Doug spent the night and most of Monday visiting with us before they had to head home. It was great seeing them and it marked the second time any of our children have visited since we've been Looping.
We had Ange take the photo below before they left.
We finished off Monday by taking on water and doing laundry in anticipation of leaving on Tuesday morning.
9/20/11 Tuesday We awoke to every boaters nightmare. FOG! So thick that I couldn't see the other end of the marina. We waited, and waited, and finally it looked like it was lifting. We untied the lines and headed out of the harbor. Once into the slough separating the marina from the main channel the fog came back in. With no point of reference to go by visually other than our instruments we opted to drop the anchor before we could get ourselves in trouble.
Finally the fog lifted enough to continue. Our destination Kaskaskia Lock at mm 117 if we can get through the next 2 locks without delay. During this time Pam had been in contact with Coconuts and somehow persuaded me to stop in Alton for the night since we had such a jerky start to the day. (It didn't take much effort on her part). Upon our arrival we were treated to a great lunch on Coconuts. I bypassed a nap after lunch and got right to work by making and installing a new gasket for the seawater pump on the generator.
That evening a bunch of us went to Mac's for dinner. Nothing fancy. Just good food and plenty of it for a modest price. Every loopers dream!
9/21/11 Wednesday A quick call to Mel Price Lock and we were on our way at 7am. We idled down to the lock and by 7:35 we were exiting the lock headed for the Jct. of the Missouri and then the Chain of Rocks Canal which by-passes the rapids in the main stream of the river.
The river becomes very commercial from Alton to the south side of St. Louis with repair yards. Grain terminals. Oil and gas terminals and barges everywhere.
We passed through Lock 27 and slid down through St. Louis picking up 4 mph from the current once we re-entered the main channel.
This trip through St. Louis didn't seem as hectic as previous trips. The water was lower thus not as much debris to dodge and the commercial traffic didn't seem as heavy. It wasn't long and we were passing Hoppie's, the last fuel stop before the Kentucky Lakes area. Fern and Hoppie make their money this time of year. Nearly every looper makes the stop at Hoppie's for Fuel and Fern's river report of what to expect ahead.
We continued on past Hoppie's to mm 117.5 and turned into the Kaskaskia River to stay tied off of the floating lock wall at the Kaskaskia Lock. By the end of the day there were 8 boats spending the night. Two of the boats we had met earlier on the Loop. Nauti Nell back in Manistee, Mi. and Sweat Pea in Trenton, Ont.
9/22/11 Thursday With available stops being limited along the river below St. Louis today would be a short day of around 70 miles to The Little River Diversion Canal just below Cape Girardeau, Mo. We were the last to leave the lock wall at 8:15. Before we got back in the channel we received a frantic call from Coconuts who had come to a dead stop. While sandy was bringing in the fenders and lines an Asian Carp jumped over their side to greet her! Once Bru escorted it back to the river and cleaned up the mess we were underway.
The trip down river was relaxing as we enjoyed the scenery and the banter on the VHF between the boats in front of us.
The entrance to the Diversion Canal will test your boat handling skills. The current from the river is moving swiftly past the small opening to the canal and as you turn you're carried past it. As you climb your way back to it you must juggle your speed and be vigilant to the effect the current is having on the boat as it pushes you toward shore. One wrong move and you've got trouble. Once inside you're rewarded with a quiet stream and a remote setting. By the time evening rolled around there were 12 boats anchored here.
9/23/11 Friday A big day ahead of us with a planned departure of 6:30am. Mother Nature had other ideas. Fog! So thick that you couldn't see the channel. Finally at 10:20am it lifted and we all departed the canal.
As we travelled past Thebes, IL. we watched as a salvage crew worked a raising a sunken barge that had collide with the bridge.
The river gets quite curvy in places as it nears the Ohio causing the current to swirl in the tight bends which tosses the boat around like driftwood. Not a place to meet a towboat. We survived and entered the Ohio River at 2pm. Immediately our speed dropped from 13.5 mph to 8.5 mph since we were now travelling upstream. We travelled through Cairo, IL. which is a huge staging area for barges from the Ohio and the Upper and Lower Mississippi Rivers.
We ended the day anchored off channel at mm 953.3. Not where we had hoped to be but a good spot none the less.
9/24/11 Saturday Anchor up at 7am and on to Lock 52 below Paducah. 52 is one of the busiest locks on the Ohio and so it is today with tows pushed into the shore for miles below the lock awaiting their turn. We motored up to the lock and gave a call. We were in line after 2 north bound tows and a south bound paddle wheeler. The lockmaster told us to head toward the red buoys and anchor until he called us. We arrived at 8:45am and we were through the lock at 11am. Not bad for 52.
We slid past Paducah and turned up the Cumberland River at 12:49pm.
At 4pm we approached the Barkley Lock and by 4:30 we had been lifted 53' and were exiting the chamber into Barkley Lake.
We travelled a couple more miles and anchored in Nickel Bay for the next couple of nights.
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