Em and Ginger trying to catch a breeze
Sunrise near Cairo, IL
Typical tow pushing a barge on the Mississippi with hitchhiking birds
Thurs Oct 4th
We left Kimmswick, MO at 8:45 am not entirely sure of our destination. We just needed to get as far as we could down the Mississippi. The weather turned really warm for October even this far south (high 80s). Two boats that were ahead of us stopped for the night at the Kaskaskia Lock. We kept going and anchored at Rockwood Island just off the channel. Not great but there was a beach to take doggy to shore. The current was amazing to us; at anchor you felt like you were still moving as the water was flowing past our boat at about 4 mph. It's good to have a reliable outboard on your dinghy or you'll be a long way down river in a hurry trying to get to shore! We put out a second bow anchor just to feel more secure.
Fri Oct 5th
Left our anchorage about 9am. Passed by Cape Girardeau and went under the new suspension bridge. It was a fairly uneventful day with no locks. It was really hot and muggy where we anchored in Little Diversion Channel about 3 miles south of Cape Girardeau. We were really close to the shore which we thought was great for the dog but the mosquitoes were nasty so we had to eat dinner down below where it was 86 degrees! We had three little fans to use but we don't have a generator so no A.C. for us. We all tried to make the best of it but I wasn't a real happy camper!
Sat Oct 6th
Left the anchorage about 9am. There's supposed to be record high temperatures again today - oh joy! We could only go about four hours when we had to anchor for the night because there wouldn't be any suitable place to stop further on. We anchored at Boston Bar near the I-57 Bridge just north of Cairo, IL. The current wasn't as noticeable here. We saw what I thought were dog tracks when we took Ginger to shore but heard some coyotes on shore after dark so I guess they weren't dog tracks. It was only 82 in the boat tonight and not as buggy in the cockpit so things are looking up. David and Aasta are being real troopers about all of this - I'm the whiny one!
Sun Oct 7th
We set our alarms for 6am and left at 7am as we have to make about 60 miles today. Near Cairo is where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers merge. Now we're on the Ohio and going against the current; luckily the current isn't nearly as strong as on the Mississippi. There was a lot of barge activity around Cairo. Paul is usually the one to contact them on the VHF radio - I think we may actually be understanding their lingo a little better! Two locks to go through today - now we're locking up river. The first was the #53 Lock near Olmstead, then the #52 Lock 23 miles further on. They are both very old and not well maintained; they are to be replaced by the new Olmstead Lock in about 2013. The locktender had us "float" in the lock which is very tricky in a sailboat with no bow thrusters like the big guys (you did good, Paul!) We went past Metropolis, IL where Superman is from but didn't get to see his likeness on their water tower from the river - darn. We got to Paducah, KY about 5:30 pm and tied up at their little dock overnight. We watched the Packers lose to "da Bears" while sweltering again. Both heads (toilets) are about to the max now; no facilities here it's just a tie-up dock but we were able to go up to a coffee shop/bakery/deli in the morning and use their facilities so we felt closer to civilization. This should be our last night of roughing it - yay!
Mon Oct 8th
Left Paducah at 8:40am for Green Turtle Creek Marina in Grand Rivers, KY (I called it the Promised Land). We got onto the Cumberland River just past Paducah. It's much narrower and very scenic. We saw egrets, heron, turtles and deer along the way. One more lock to go through - the huge new Barkley Lock where we went up 57 ft. We used a bollard there to tie up which works much better than floating! We were all happy to get to Green Turtle Marina and take a real shower even though the facilities weren't quite what we expected. There.... I'm mostly caught up!!
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