Rivers South

 Rivers South

The trip through Chicago was awesome, but the locks on the Illinois River system were a repeat of the Wait, Wait theme! At almost every lock we had to wait from 1 to 4 hours while the commercial traffic which takes priority was passed through.  We got to love the up bound biggest tows since if the load had to be divided up, we got to ride the empty lock down between loads.  This was an interesting process to watch while the lock pulled out the first half of the barges then left a “hole” for the Recreational Vessels to squeeze through to enter the lock and head down.  All in the fun of river travel.

sometimes we shared the lock with tiny boats

Lock duty requires a life vest, gloves & knife

Don't even ask about the Asian Carp - yuk!

Crew enjoyed Joliet October Fest

Barge traffic at night through Joliet Bridge

We popped out of the Illinois onto the Mighty MS thinking to stop at Alton Marina, but the Corps of Engineers had lowered the pool behind the lock and dam expecting a flood from further north.  The result was low water in the marina and we were advised to not attempt a stop there.  So, we detoured to Grafton another nice marina where we spent a couple nights - regularly visiting their New Orleans themed restaurant - amazingly good eats in this tiny town. Used the courtesy car to resupply, too.

Our run on the Mississippi included two stops - one at the venerable Hoppies "marina" - a couple barges tied to trees on the river that they adjust as the river rises and falls.  To say it is basic is an understatement.  Sadly, the long time owner and operator, Fern, was recovering from knee replacement surgery so we had the evening "talk" on river status from her daughter.  This outpost is the only place to tie off actually on the river below the last lock and our turn onto the Ohio

.  Rustic as it is, the experience is memorable.  We also ran into the town of Kimmswick where the Blue Owl restaurant sells Levee Apple Pie - a treat worth the walk.

Evening meeting at Hoppies

Hoppies docks

Our second stop was an overnight in the anchorage called Little Diversion - it is a quiet side cut free from the awesome current on the big river.  We tucked in there with several others making a very early morning exit to run for Paducah KY on the Ohio River.  Our speed on the Mississippi approach 13 to 14 mph but abruptly dropped when we made the turn up the Ohio, however, we were tied up on the city dock before dark.  These docks are new and replace the free dock that we stayed at on our previous trip down the river.  They are not free, but a modest price for the benefit of power and a secure berth for the night.

passing tow captain took this because he admired out boat
(or was very bored???)

he had a HIGH perspective

birds fishing in lock walls as water rises

can you guess what these yellow blocks are for?

they get dropped if someone falls between a boat and lock wall :(

Our run on the Ohio was also different since the long awaited Olmsted lock which replaces the old locks 52 and 53 has been christened.  As luck would have it, we did not even have to lock through at all, with the waters running high we were escorted through since the wickets were down. This helped off set the slower pace we were making on the upstream run.

new docks at Paducah

opps - forgot to stop tracking so here is our walk in town

Next we headed a little further upstream to the turn onto the Cumberland River and Barkley lock.  This was a slow day but luckily not a long wait at the lock and we were through and went on into Kentucky Lake.  We did several long days on the way south making a stop at Pebble Isle Marina for fuel.  We should have picked up Steve's new glasses - a warranty replacement pair for the ones that broke.  However, the glasses were forgotten in our rush to resupply and enjoy the delights of the onsite restaurant. (The glasses have still not caught up with us but we are hoping they will finally be in our hands before we leave Provo in the Turks and Caicos. Mail can be a major bummer.)

With a few anchorages along the way we cleared the Pickwick Lock and turned onto the last leg of the rivers - the Tom Bigbee and Black Warrior.  Lots of locks controlled our progress, but with few exceptions we met courteous lock keepers.  These guys are running major commercial locks and must find the recreational cruisers a stinging nuisance.  On occasion they have to turn around a massive lock for one little boat who waits impatiently to proceed.  The commercial traffic does have priority and it was helpful for us to keep an eye on the app that lists vessels using the locks behind and ahead of us to time arrival. Thank goodness for technology - along with the AIS feature and this new app, we were able to travel with fewer delays than further north on the Illinois River.

Engine room check - via video camera

A nice stop in Columbus Marina gave us a break to resupply and revisit this cute town where Paul and Amanda were stationed on our first trip down the river.  The marina has excellent service which includes loaner cars - a necessity since the marina is a fair ways out of town.

Must stop shop in Columbus

Warmer than average weather had us pull into the marina at Demopolis to enjoy some AC for a night before pushing on south.  Watching the development of Hurricane Michael we decided to run on to Mobile where we were scheduled to be hauled out for routine work.  If the hurricane decided to head west, we would have just hauled out sooner. On our way to Mobile, we made a lunch stop at the famous Bobby's Fish Camp dock.  Bobby's is another rustic but authentic place which we enjoyed on our first trip. 

This second stop was purely an accident caused by a delay at the lock.  We managed to get lunch while we waited for the lock and pushed off again with a couple boats to continue on south arriving in Dog River a few days before Michael's devastating visit.

why it takes a long time to travel the Tenn-Tom Waterway

Teddy is doing fine and a big help with navigation