Oct 1-3, 2017 3 Rivers: Mississippi to the Ohio to the Cumberland.
October 1: Apropos to see a magnificent Paddlewheeler on the Mississippi. From last night’s crazy current anchorage we swiftly covered 30 miles on the Mississippi where we then turned north on the Ohio. At this junction, the Mississippi is essentially a commercial canal for 954 miles with little to no services for pleasure boats. Thus, Loopers take an alternative route through several rivers. We needed to brush up on our inner USA geography! This picture was taken at the confluence of the Ohio and the Mississippi. (But we’re looking at the state of Illinois in the middle!)Basically the final portion of the Upper Mississippi was a “W.” When we turned north on the Ohio, not only were we hit with a strong current against us, but a quagmire of tows and barges. Each green triangle represents a tow, and for every tow there were 1 to 20+barges. The Cairo, Illinois Bridge. I liked the line up of the empty box cars going over the bridge. A Dr. Seuss critter topiary. Heading into the Olmstead Lock and Dam, currently a pass through until construction is complete (2020). This lock will replace the next two locks which are quite decrepit and slow. Boys and their toys.The walls, if you will, of Lock 53. We were instructed to just float and not tie up. Yay, not sure what we would have tied up on. Lock master had a Shriner’s clown car for getting from one end of the lock to the other. We really lucked out. This group of sailboats waited for hours before being let in. Turn around time is about 3 hours (to let in a tow, fill the lock, let that tow out, let another tow in going the opposite way and then emptying the lock). Lock masters are obligated to let pleasure boats pass through every three turn arounds. We’ve had some friends have to wait 7+ hours and/or overnight. But as we approached this lock the lock master actually called us and told us to hurry up so he could lock us through with the sailboaters. It took an hour and five minutes to raise the water 14 feet. Not complaining, at least we got through! Note the tow with barges immediately behind the gate. Seeing lots of bird life along the way. Lucked out again, waited about 20 minutes at Lock 52. The Lock Master called us and said to come on in, he didn’t have a tow waiting! This is the second time we’ve seen the Miss Kathy several days ago in the Mississippi. Busy lady!But he did have one waiting on the other side so he lifted us up fairly quickly to accommodate the next tow. Had the lock to ourselves!Got out just ahead of sunset, only 5 miles to go to the Paducah Town Dock for the night. Good thing, we prefer not to travel the rivers at night. Even though we made reservations, there was no room for us! A panic moment, now where? And night approaching fast!Fortunately, Loopers being Loopers they came to our rescue, they bunched up a bit and made room for us at the gas dock, with a few inches to spare. (I took this shot in the morning after 2 boats had already left). Steep stairwell – they are well prepared for the rising and falling of the Ohio River. Oct. 2: Just north of Paducah, Kentucky, is the mouth of the Tennessee River. We headed north for 12 more miles and then turned into the Cumberland River. Very few homes along this section of the Cumberland.A bit of industry.But mainly miles of scenic shoreline.Heading in to the gigantic Barkley Lock. There was one other boat – a small fishing boat to the right that is barely visible. This modern lock lifted us up 57 feet in 15 minutes!Lots of debris, deadheads and bird life to look out for as we enter Barkley Lake.We couldn’t get into the favorite Looper marina (Green Turtle Bay) but this marina, the Buzzards Rock Marina and “Resort” had plenty of room. This trimaran, per owner Jason, sailed around the world and survived a hurricane. Now Jason has purchased it, is fixing it up and also wants to sail her around the world. Good luck with that! The local boaters prefer the covered slips, and judging by all the satellite dishes, looks like they like TV too. The multicolored posts reminded me of the decor at Nippers Bar in Guana Cay, Bahamas. Sign on the side door said Open, but sadly they were not. Dinner on the boat it is. We were the only transient boat in the marina!This scene reminded me of a page out of Highlights Magazine – How many buzzards can you find?Even the dead end sign had vultures on it!October 3: We digressed from the usual loop and headed east on the Cumberland so as to travel to Nashville about 170 miles away. We went by the Kentucky State Prison, known locally as the Castle on the Cumberland. Getting to the root of the problem…Shades of Florida, pelicans on a sand bar.The only tow we had to deal with today. So to recap, the usual Loop goes from the Upper Mississippi to the Ohio, to the Tennessee River, through Kentucky Lake to the left. We went to the Cumberland and into Barkley Lake and will continue on the Cumberland to Nashville. We will have to retrace our steps to Kentucky Lake to then head further south on the Loop. Barkley Lake has lots of nooks and crannies for anchoring – although some are pretty shallow now. This was the case for this anchorage called Dry Creek. I actually got on the paddle board to sound out this channel. There was one spot that was 6.5 feet, otherwise we had 10+ feet in the channel. Took a nice paddle around the small lake. Noticed these rocks under the trees that had interesting swirls of erosion marks. Our front and back yards for the evening. The sunset was not too spectacular, but the moon rise was great!
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