Boy, was it a chilly morning. We had to turn on the heat. Weather map says 39 degrees this morning. Anyways we had a quiet day motoring down the river yesterday. We enjoyed the beautiful landscape that surrounds us with Missouri on one side of us and Kentucky on the other side.  We are continually amazed at the number of sandy shorelines on the Illinois River and the Mississippi.  And on the lower Mississippi, the sandy beaches are huge.  So far, the lower Mississippi is much wider and deeper than the upper Mississippi.  So the tows present no issue as we pass them.   We see the same type of anchorages on the inside curves of the river, which provide us with a sandy shore and low currents.

In the center of the river, the typical river current is 3-5 mph.  With this type of current, we can throttle our engine back to about 5.5 mph through the water speed to get a speed over ground of 8-10 mph.  When we do this, our diesel mileage increases to almost 15 miles per gallon.  So our total 50 gallons allows us to travel nearly 750 miles; up from our normal 300 miles.  This is a subtle point no one understands about sail boats traveling these rivers.  And of course, since our fuel tanks are so small, we can easily anchor off of any town with a gas station and dingy in with our two 5 gallon jugs to get another 150 miles of fuel.  So we are rarely concerned about fuel.

Here is a typical picture of us traveling down the river taken just prior to us getting to Hickman.  We love to enjoy the sun and scenery as Otto pilots us down the river!!

Okay a few interesting tidbits of information. The waters that flow from the head of the Missouri to the mouth of the Mississippi is the longest stretch of river in the North America 3877 miles. Did you know that it takes 90 days for a single drop of water to travel down the Mississippi?

Q) Why didn’t the scarecrow eat dinner? Q) Why did the vampire get fired from the blood bank? I will give you time to think about the answers and put them at the end of the blog…

This is the shoreline of the Missouri. Looks like the Army Corp added gravel along the shoreline to shore up the levy and/or stop erosion.

Look how long this tow is. Her name is Angela K. She was pushing 4 wide and 7 long barges. Total 28 barges.  The longest we saw today was 8 barges long by 4 wide.  This would be about 1700 feet long. Do you know how much cargo is moved on the Mississippi? 620 million tons moved on the inland waterways system in 1995, 321 million tons moved on the Mississippi River. The Ohio River tonnage 236 million while the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway saw 119 million ton.

This is a tank barge it is used for transportation of liquid commodities such as chemical, acids, compressed gas, and lets not forget fertilizer, and petroleum. I thought this was a fun fact: One barge can carry up to five times its own weight.

Yesterday, I posted I thought this was Einstein when actually it is apparently Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain. Thanks Matt for reaching out to me.

I was looking at photos the other day when I came across this one of George and Bryce kayaking. George fell into the lake. I think he really wanted to swim.  He probably had a premonition of traveling on the water.

I thought this pretty neat. It shows the winding of the river. Doesn’t it look like a snake?  We are at the blue dot. 

This is the nice sandy Kentucky shoreline.  These sandy beaches are one of the things we love about the river.  We are anchored at Mile Marker 890 just across from the New Madrid.  We are on the inside curve of the river, inside the red buoys. An inside curve of the river is our favorite place to anchor as it is most often a sandy shore with little current. In spite of the current being 3-5 mph in the center of the river, on the inside curves the current drops to 0.5 mph. The water temp is cooling down at 64.9 degrees. Brrrr You really can’t see it too well, but there is a tiny fishing boat with a tent up on the beach. Sure hope they stayed warm last night.

Answer to jokes

Q) Why did the vampire get fired from the blood bank?

A) He was caught drinking on the job….. LOL

Q) Why didn’t the scarecrow eat dinner?

A) He was already stuffed… LOL

We appreciate you following our blog. Thanks

Wow… what a great visit to Hickman. After the morning rain we packed the wagon and grocery bags and headed off on our adventure for the rest of the day.   I cannot believe just in this town alone our very first stop on the lower Mississippi what we would have missed  by not traveling this area. Last night the town people were taken by surprised when we anchored.. Not just kidding. Seriously, The American Queen made her first stop here. It was a view to see one local told us. They really want to bring there town back alive again. Restoring the water front is a great start. I guess one of the crewmembers had to have stiches’ removed.  One of the locals offered to take them to the doctors.

It’s funny to see so many cars drive down to the launch area to check the anchorage area. Bryce went to shore first thing Sunday morning to put out trash in the trash bin. I was irritated with him. He forgot to take his phone with him and a storm was brewing. There was a green pickup truck near the trash cans. I went down below to retrieve the binocular so I could see what was going on. I was gone only seconds… Criminal Minds came into my thoughts. When I looked through the binoculars Bryce and the truck were gone.  The only thing on shore was the jet-ski! I waited and waited…What seem like an eternity. The storm hit; I had to get the hatches closed on deck. It was raining so hard and the wind was howling.  I could hardly see the shoreline and it was close by. Crap, will the wind will blow the jet-ski away? I thought.

  I will go do dishes. That will help take my mind off the disappearance of my husband!!!! A while later I heard the jet-ski.. If looks could kill… Then he came on board with a cheesy smile and bubbly happiness. I wanted to strangle him for making me worry and think that a serial killer might have taken him.   His joy of meeting this wonderful person took the anger out of me. I sat and listened to his story.   He was greeted by Mr. Gerald Harris (Bryce hopes the name is correct).  Gerald took Bryce on a tour of the town.  He showed Bryce where the supermarket, gas station  liquor store were.  It turns out that Gerald owns an engine repair facility and works on all types of gas and diesel engines.  He mentioned that back in the days, power boats used to come up to shore to get their engines repaired.

It turns out that Hickman is pretty much a full service stop for boaters.  They have a great Grocery store, nice big Marathon gas station with diesel, completely stocked liquor store (no booze on Sunday though), water is available at a spigot in the park and two trash barrels near the boat launch.  There are two restaurants in town, but closed on Sunday.

Bryce pulling the wagon for us. Off to collect a few supplies.

Look how big these Levy doors are.  These doors are closed during the spring floods.  Gerald Harris told Bryce that during the highest recorded flood, the water came within 3 feet of the top! I wore my rain suite. Radar showed more rain. 

OM…Gosh.. Look at this levy wall! It is beautiful. It goes for a few miles. In many slots there are hand panted Murals that tell the story of Hickman.  I have taken many pictures and I just have to show you a few. Maybe a bit more…LOL

Stepping through the gate door, I felt like we were stepping into history. This is the County Jail 1914.

Bryce wanted me to stand here so you cold see how big the individual murals are. These alone are worth a visit to Hickman KY.

My hippie is getting his hair cut..LOL

Coca-Cola was big in Hickman.

Gerald Harris’s brother worked for the Army Corp of Engineers on the Tow named “Mississippi”.

I was just asking Bryce if he thought the water freezes.  It seems at some time in the past, it has frozen.

It just looks like an amazing ghost town to me, that is so rich in history.   However, these buildings are home to new businesses.  It seems Hickman is going through a revitalization stage.

This is the Historic Town of Hickman. There are a few business coming back in.. 

I believe this is Einstein. As we started to walk up the street I noticed  this mural.

We followed the wall as much as we could till we had to make a turn to go up the road to the store.  Lots of individual murals to see.

Look.. It appears they still have or are bring back the local hardware store.  Just what we needed, but everything other then the grocery store, gas station and churches are closed on Sunday.

Apparently there was a large project by the Army Corp of Engineers here.  Much of Hickman sits high and dry, far out of the way of Mississippi flood waters.

This is the local Happy Spirit Store… Beer-Wine stop. They even have a drive through. LOL…  Dang forgot to get a picture of the Grocery store.  The Grocery store is 1.4 miles from the launch ramp.  The gas station is 0.2 miles further.  This liquor store is just before the grocery store.  For those interested, take the road up from the launch ramp to local 94.  Turn left on 94 about 1 mile to the 1099 junction.  Right on 1099 at the liquor store, you should see the grocery store.

Our walk back.. notice rain clothing is now off and turning hot.  Our poor little wagon is very full.  We had several offers to take us back; but I wanted the exercise.  Maybe Bryce would have wanted a ride; that wagon was hard to pull. I tried once . A lot of going to the store is up hill, but coming back only one steep hill. I think we have enough groceries.

On our way back I noticed a water-spigot… See on the starboard side.. We were so happy.  We needed to fill our water cans a few times to top off our water tanks.  We asked a few locals if they thought it would be ok to use this water.  They said, “Sure of course”.

This is our view from our anchorage too. What a great place.  This is one of the most protected anchorage we have stopped at in the rivers.

George was waiting patiently for our arrival back.  He chastised us for being gone so long.

I stayed back at the boat putting the groceries away and making dinner while Bryce did a few water runs.  We have two 6 gallon jugs to transport water.

This was the last trip in. Our daylight was slowly disappearing. I had to us a flash on the camera to capture my honey’s smile. 

This is the satellite view of our anchorage.  The blue dot is us. The entrance was 25 feet and all the way in. So lots of water.  We anchored in 16 feet.

As always we appreciate you following us

Our journey of the lower Mississippi started in Cairo on the Ohio River yesterday October 14, 2017. I was and still am a bit nervous of the unknown. However, It was pretty cool to see how the river widens and deepens. Our first night we anchored in a channel just off the Mississippi. I believe it is called Hickman because the town itself  is Hickman. There is no marinas but we can dinghy up to the boat launch and walk into town. That is are plan for the morning. We are about 40 miles from Cairo. It’s extremely windy all night and today 22 mph coming from the S turning NW. We also have rain in the forecast. But no glume & doom on this boat allowed!  Some friends of ours suggested this area through Active Captain.  Thanks Bill & Laura.. Did you know that 40 percent of the North America’s waterfowl and 60 percent of all birds species in the U.S. migrate along the Lower Mississippi River? Fun fact 

Here we are heading South on the Mississippi River for our first time. It really does widen up nicely.

More dry docks to work on tows.

This is a view of how wide the river is. Also did you know the Mississippi is the nation’s largest river and is the third longest in the world. It flows nearly 2,400 miles from Lake Itasca in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. This river also drains 33 states and two Canadian provinces.

There are numerous boat launch ramps along the banks of the river.  Typically, we see Local fishermen launch here.  I really don’t know if they are local but….LOL

So far the view here is just as beautiful as doing the Tenn-Tom.

 

What is the standard sizes of a barge you might ask? The standard is 195 feet long x 35 feet wide. Now they have updated barges that are 290 x 50 feet long. The newer barges double the carrying  load. That is just crazy big! They also draft 9 feet.

This tow is pushing 28 barges.

We saw this huge cross on the hill. It overlooks the river.

So far, I haven’t seen any difference in the tows or barges on the lower Mississippi compared to the upper.  But the river is considerably wider and deeper.

We heard a voice thanking on the VHF to someone on shore. Saying the passengers and crew enjoy their visit at Hickman.  It seems the American Queen docked at the ferry and they shuttled the passengers to Discovery Park of America near Union City TN.

This is a view of the cannel going into Hickman.  This is a great stop to anchor and get Groceries.  A large grocery store is 1.4 miles away down 94, then turn right at 1099.  Its not listed on google maps!

More grain I think. This barge is loaded.

As it was written in Active Captain we anchored just passed the Coastguard Station

Today we will explore Port Hickman. We are anchored Right across from here.

Thanks foe following us.

Day Two

Q) What do skeletons say before eating? Give up yet?..A) Bone Appetite! Anyways, LOL..I thought I would start the morning out with a cute joke. What? you want another one…Okay maybe later. After Bryce was done working for the day, we had to get ready to go South on the Mississippi. We googled gas stations in the Mound City area and found one within walking distance from shore. There was a boat launch ramp so Bryce could tie the jet-ski up. We figured we might as well top off our Diesel tank. Bryce called the gas station first to make sure that they sold diesel. We are excited. That means our plans to go South on the Mississippi was a go. The only thing we are lacking on is freshwater. We can cut down our usages. By the time we were done for the day it was already to late to head out so we decided to stay anchored one more night.

We are anchored about 4 miles down stream from the ongoing construction of the Olmstead Lock and dam.  Looking through the binoculars, we can see a number of tows waiting to get through the Olmstead.  Apparently, they have the lock doors open and traffic is required to navigate through the quite high current in the lock chamber to get up stream to Lock 53.  We could see the huge plumes of smoke coming from the tows engines as they strained to push their barges through the rushing water.  The lock master mentioned we would need quite a bit of power to get through.  If we couldn’t make it through the lock chamber, we would be routed through an opening in the wicket dam.  But the depth was only 7 feet.  In 2015 when we came through this area, we were routed through the wicket dam. 

You can just make out the Olmstead Lock/dam behind the river boat in this photo.

This is the google map for the Cut Mart Gas Station.  The small boat launch ramp is cut off near the right edge of the picture.

Bryce took the jet-ski to Mound City to get fuel.

In Bryces words: “I took the jet-ski to the launch ramp and proceeded to tie to a huge tree trunk washed up near shore.  A southern gentleman of many experienced years on river tows warned that a tow wake could easily wash the tree and jet-ski away and suggested that I tied to something a bit more secure on shore.  I followed his advice and struck up a conversation with him.  He lives across the river in Kentucky.  He was landing his fishing boat at the launch ramp and headed home for the day.  He graciously offered to take to the gas station, then bring me back.  How could I possible resist an offer like that.  We talked about the river on the way to the gas station and back.  He was mentioning that the river had risen 12 feet in the last week due to the rain.  Apparently tows were having some difficulty in the low water.  He asked me if we were the sailboat anchored on ‘The Bar’.  I said yes, he said that water over the sand bar was only about 3 feet just a week ago!  Even though the upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers were not extremely low, the Ohio River was very low.  He provided me with additional advice and places of interest on the lower Mississippi.  He dropped me off, I gave him a cruising card and we said our good byes.  As I was deeply engrossed in conversation,  I am embarrassed to say I forgot his name.  Jane would have written his name and snapped his photo.  Guess that’s why she does the blog.”

This is Bryce coming back.  Bryce dumped the 10 gallons of diesel in the tank filling it up.  He then took the cans back to refill them.

In Bryces words: “I took the jet-ski back and tied to the same large block of concrete. Another southern gentleman was landing his fishing boat and asked where I was headed.  This time I got his name: “Jim Young”.  Once again, I struck up a conversation with him and he showed me this huge catfish he had caught.  Jim is from across the bridge in Missouri.  He was mentioning he prefers to fish the Ohio as it is a bit cleaner water.  Once again, southern hospitality graciously provided me with a ride to the gas station.  We discussed the rivers and he offered me advice on local places of interest down stream. These are the type of people I just love to meet.”

Okay, this shows our Priority’s beer and diesel..LOL  (Patch) the name of the jet-ski is so awesome in the current. A lot better than our dinghy.  Here Bryce is moving the jet-ski onto the lift.

With lock 52 down, there wasn’t much movement on the water today. We did see three twos and barges go up the river early morning.  These guys are staging between Lock 52 and Lock 53 in anticipation of Lock 52 opening.

Not sure where this monster came from, but she was the only boat to come down stream.   Perhaps she was trapped between the locks.  She is The American Queen Riverboat.  I read that it is the biggest river steamboat ever built. This vessel was built in 1995 it has 6 decks. She has about 200 state rooms. She is powered by Steam engine and diesel electric.  Bryce noticed the huge smoke stacks were on hydraulic cylinders and pivots so they could be rotated down to go under low bridges!!  For some really interesting info go to:  www.americanqueensteamboatcompany.com

George had to step out on the deck and inspect the anchor for himself. LOL

Q) What is a vampire’s pet peeve?

A) A tourniquet!

Thanks for following us.

After leaving Angelo Island, We realized that had we walked a bit futher we would have found a nice park area to explore on the point. Oh…well next time. We pulled up anchor and within seconds it seemed like we were in the Ohio River. There was a Huge tow blocking the river. Bryce called him on the VHF and we stopped till he made his turn. Then he asked us to pass him on the Starboard side.  Believe it or not he was speeding up must faster than us so we just let that big guy have the right away.  They are building a new lock on the Ohio River Olmstead is replacing lock 53 & 52; completion is 2020. We watched a show on channel 56 they expect it to really open in 2019. Lock 53- 52 are always an issue. Lock 52 is closed for at least 36 hours due to heavy rain perhaps longer.   The Army Corp of Engineers was not going to commit to a repair date.  We hear commercial traffic and cruisers are piled up on each side of the lock.

As usual, we anchored in the river.  Actually our anchorage was very nice.  We are about 4 miles downstream of the new Olmstead lock/dam.  River current is 1 mph, depth is 14 feet. We are over 500 feet from the red buoy.  Remember I said it feels like the Mississippi has a magical spell over us? 

Not ones to sit around for long, we made a decision after Bryce spoke with the lock master to turn around and do the lower Mississippi rather than the Tennessee-Tom.  We will have to back track about 15 miles.  I text some friends who live in New Orleans and they are excited that we are coming that way. Perhaps they can show us around New Orleans. See you in a month or so Laura and Bill.  The lower Mississippi will be a new adventure for us.

Ann Elise, was the tow blocking the river. I was thinking we should just go  forward and stay on the Mississippi and Bryce thought the same thing we we didn’t communicate until later that evening. 

Or view of the Ohio River after we turned from the Mississippi.

This is the view of the park. We were anchored just on the other side of this bridge.

Another train bridge over the river.

Extra …Extra Read all About it…Boatniks is making a come back

October of 1989 Bryce and I were on our way to Cedar Point in Ohio on our 245 Sea Ray. When we decided to pull into Metropark and see if we could find someone to go with us. We didn’t know that there was a boat show going on. We decided to take a stroll though the show and walked out buying this new 3288  Motor Yacht Bayliner.

We have been looking for a different boat for a while now to use during hurricane season while Beauty is on the hard. Every time, I stand in the kitchen doing dishes or making dinner I look at Boatniks through my window. I couldn’t wait to sell her to get a bigger boat. Wait I thought she is paid for. Why go into another boat payment ?  It wasn’t until this trip down the river we started talking about getting a boat with a shallow draft to explore the nooks and crannies of the river system.  It was like magic we both knew we already had the perfect boat. We just needed to look in our own back yard. She is a beautiful boat. Maybe that’s why we haven’t put her up for sale.

 

Her draft is only 27 inches and the props are in prop pockets protected additionally by a keel. What a great depth for the ICW and all the rivers on our journey. We will be able to go anywhere with that depth. We plan to completely redo her and use her as a riverboat and an ICW boat. I will blog our steps of redoing her so you all can see. We expect to start next spring after we arrive home.

One thing is for sure, she will keep her name Boatniks. We named her Boatniks because that was Bryce’s nickname for me at that time. But it came from the movie. Maybe I should buy the movie. LOL

In 2010 we got into sailing..We loved it and still do. We are going to leave Beauty in Florida for our Bahamas boat and long distance traveling. We just love her new jet-ski lift that Bryce built. Yes, that is Boatniks under the white cover.  Now we will have both our girls in the water.  Until Bryce fully retires Boatniks will stay in the Great Lakes. We are planning the winter on Beauty and the summer on Boatniks. I should say until it’s to cold to be on the lake.

I think this is a good plan…  until we change our mind

Thank for following us

Yesterday we traveled 24 miles.  It was overcast and chilly.  Today is the same.  High of 68.  It wouldn’t be bad if the sun would shine.  We anchored one mile before we make our turn into the Ohio River. Today is my last post on the Mississippi until the next time we travel down the Mississippi.  LOL.. There will be another sequel..

We are anchored off the southern point of Angelo Island; Mile marker 1 in Ohio. We still have one mile to go before we are out of the Mississippi River and into the Ohio River. The depth is 18 feet and the current Is 0.5 mph water temp is 72.5

We both need to come to shore and relax. It was great to stretch our legs.  So we dropped the jet-ski in and headed to the “Beach”.  LOL.. As usual: Bryce is in a swim suit; I am in a sweater.  I think he is trying to be optimistic about the weather.

 

This is Angelo Island a great view from the boat. It did get rocking & rolling during the night a few time due to tows.

Bryce just loves his new Hydraulic jet-ski lift. 

It is totally unbelievable how relaxed George is on this trip. I really think he missed traveling when we ended our last time around. 

These Canoers are traveling  the Mississippi. There are times you will see many Kayakers too cruising the rivers. There are a lot of sandy beaches for them to put up their tents.

After hearing of the passing of our dear friend and Brother-n-law Bill Phillips. I really didn’t put much effort into my camera  yesterday. There better be a dancing room up in heaven because Bill could dance. I remember watching Bill and Sheila on the dance floor; they were amazing.  We will sorely miss our Friend and Brother-n-law. Thanks for lighting up our lives.

This is Bill as a “Duck Tape” at one of our Halloween Parties.  He was always great fun to be with.

Our current position at www.Trackmytour.com/35L17 

Thanks following us

What a crazy night! We had a thunderstorms and windstorms. Our anchorage was great the anchor held with out any issues.  According to the news and our Wind Alert app, we had winds from 39-70 mph. Bryce was checking our position on a regular basis. What a great guy.  Around 11:00 p.m. Things slowed down a bit and we went to sleep.  Watching the news on TV during the storm, homes around us had roofs blown off and trees down.

However, yesterday was another beautiful day on the Mississippi River. It was indeed a day of tows passing by. Every day we pull up anchor and move on down the river we fall in love all over again. We think the Mississippi has a magical spell over us.

The Christopher Myskoski.

Christopher was pushing 4 rows by 7 barges long. That comes out to 28 barges.  So one barge equals about 70 Semi trucks. This means this 28 barge comes out to 1,960 Semi trucks… Here is another fun fact: One loaded covered hopper barge carries 58,333 bushels of wheat, enough to make about 2.5 million loaves of bread. I love bread

This guy is getting loaded with some type of grain.

This beach area was at least 2 miles long.  We love the beaches on the Mississippi.

It is so wild to see these huge tows and barges make a turn on a curve.  This is our anchorage.  Well out of the way of tows in 11 feet of water and 1.2 mph current.

I wanted to show you how a wave builds behind a tow.  Even after a 1/2 mile, the rollers are still there!!  Interestingly enough, the major waves travel behind the tow rather than angular like a typical power boat.  The angular waves subside shortly after the tow passes. So our anchorage in the river is not affected much by the tows.  And we most always anchor on inside corners where tows often slow down.  But the back waves often go for a mile.

These guys are building what appears to be another groyne.

Here is a photo of the sandy beach we anchored next to. These trees did not protect us much from the really high winds last night.

After we are safely anchored or in a marina somewhere, I click on to Trackmytour and log our position.  I add a photo of where we are and put in info like last night: Tonight we anchored at what is called Brown’s Bar at Mile Marker 25. We anchored in 11.5 feet of water. The current is 1.2 mph and the water temp is 74.4. We anchored next to a sandy beach. Bryce will also write a review and post it on Active Captain for other boaters to see.

Thanks for following us

OH My Gosh…My heart, I mean My heart was beating so fast for a moment; I was unsteady with my balance.  Bryce was up on deck pulling up the anchor and I’m at the helm until Bryce has the anchor secure. I motored between the green buoys.  Bryce came back to the cockpit gave me my kiss that he always does at this point. I decided it was time for a beverage so I went down to the galley. When all of a sudden it felt as if Bryce lost control of the boat. I dropped what I was doing and headed back up the steps. Beauty suddenly swerved and heeled at least 5 or so degrees.

I asked what happened. Bryce had the auto pilot on and she went over another darn whirlpool.    I picked up my camera and I had to get a picture. I think I was in that fight-flight mode.

There were several of these one right after another. We watched the tows come through and the create a standing wave. It is awesome to see.

With beverage in hand we recuperated. Funny story; when we ended our last adventure I packed away Bryce’s electrical charger cord for his shaver. So he cannot use his shaver. I handed him one of my pink manual shavers. With a huge apology. I think our fist trip to Walmart calls for a new shaver.  This is a typical warm day going up the river for us.  Our German/French crew member Otto Pillote is driving.

Bryce said Jane look they’re riding 4 wheelers on the beach.  Looks like there is a campground next to it.   At times like this, I miss our quads.  We sold most of our toys when we ventured into traveling on Beauty.

The huge rock is an island.  But there is a 5 mph current around it.  So needs the jet-ski to get to.

This is a huge dredging barge for the Army Corp of Engineers.  Looks like a hotel to me.  It sucks the water/sand from the bottom of the river and sends the mixture to shore through a large floating pipeline.

Look at the long floating pipeline. I wonder how much pressure of water it takes to move the sand?

You can see some sand in the water being blown to the shoreline.  There is a guy in the little shack at the end of the floating pipe who controls where the sand/water mixture goes.  Thank you Army Core of Engineers for making our sandy beaches.

The river was so peaceful today. It was like motoring though glass.

Looks Like they are creating more beaches…

I think the Coast Guard found a new storage area for the buoys.

We came around the bend of the river and could see Cape Girardeau, MO

Just before we passed under the bridge along the shoreline we noticed a barge you can tie upon to to go into to town.  There were two reproduction square riggers there.

We are anchored directly across the river from this dry dock

After we anchored for the night, it started to rain.  We looked behind us to see the water drain off the road above the bridge. The streams look like little waterfalls.  You have to look closely.  We once again found the perfect anchorage. We are anchored in 22 feet of water and get this; we are in an eddy with no current.  The MM is 55.1 tonight our menu for the night:  Bryce grilled chicken for me and we had left over green bean casserole and pork-n-beans.

We are slowly moving down the Mississippi:  http://trackmytour.com/35L17

I wanted to add our oldest granddaughter was on the Home Coming Court.  Hannah we are very proud of you.  Hope you enjoyed your evening sweetie. You sure are Beautiful. Thanks for sending us your photos

After the rain and dinner we went up to watch the sunset and have our evening beverage. I could hear the sound of this gyro-coper; but I was to late to get a picture. Bryce told me how close it was to us. At sunset they came back around and we snapped a pic.

The sunset was in the clouds to night. Some light did come though.

Thanks for following us

What a good morning we woke up to. The winds were howling and already gusting to 20 mph. Nothing was wrong where we anchored; we just knew it was going to get heavier by looking at wind alert. Bryce pulled up anchor and I drove us back into the channel. This is going to sound weird but sometimes a change in the weather makes it a little more exciting.  I did get nervous when the boat started to heel a bit because our mast is tied to the boat. This type of wind and the power boats that pass us with huge wakes proves we did a get job on our mast supports.

The name of this tow is Sheryl..We took this picture to show all the Sheryls out that there is a tow named after you. LOL For My sister-in-law Sheryl

It was a bit rough at times for being on the river with heavy current and the wind on our bow.  Winds appeared to be gusting to about 50. It slowed us down a tad but not to bad.

We passed by Hoppie’s Marine on the right descending bank of the river. This place is extremely popular with boaters.  It is at MM158.5 and is the last place to fuel up for 228 miles.

We were haled on the VHF by Rusty Zoler saying he would like to pass us on the (two bell).  That means Starboard side. It is always so cool when we pass by tows. They always wave.

It is not to often that a tow & barge show they are hooked on a ball.

We noticed several barges loaded with stones that look like they were starting to sink.

With the heavy winds we drove though Sand storms.  The sand on the shores were whipped up in a frenzy.

Sometimes the sand storms were like driving though fog.

Later that afternoon the winds slowed down.  We found a great anchorage just south of mile marker 117 across from Kaskaskia River Junction. In between the green buoy and a beautiful sandy beach.

Okay, I wasn’t going to add this photo but I did. I had just woken up and it was such a pretty morning we had to set outside with our morning beverage.

We are really loving having a jet-ski as a dinghy.

This is a close-up of the nice sandy beach.

This is the Kaskaskia dam. They say you can get a peaceful night sleep here at the dam.   You can tie up to the wall above or below the dam.  Just remember to call the dam master.

You can see the wall to dock on between the lock and the dam.

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MM83 anchorage

Next day, we pulled up anchor and headed south again. I must say I love moving on the weekends.  Our day is a bit longer because sometimes we leave earlier.  On the other hand, we find perfect place to anchor and we stop. Today was overcast; but we are still in the high 80’s. I added these blogs together because I am a day behind. We didn’t take to many photos this trip. Most of these pictures we are anchored and enjoying our view.

This is a horse shoe groyne.  It is shaped like a…??

This tow was pushing 6 barges long and 4 barges wide= 24 barges.

Here ia another tow. Her name is Kathy Golding. She was pushing a small load. I just like to see color.

This is my happy Bryce.  Another reason we like the Mississippi Route to the ocean.  It is most often warm.

Look we saw a double tow. We are thinking that the one on the starboard side might be heading to a dry dock for repair.

Not to many bubbles coming out of the starboard one.

We are sitting on the starboard side just enjoying the scenery. 

Tonight we anchored in 8-10 feet of water. The current is about 1.5 mph. This is another beautiful sandy beach area inside the green buoy. We are at mm 83

https://trackmytour.com/35L17   This is our latest location. 

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OH My Gosh…What a beautiful morning.  We woke up at 1 a.m not able to sleep. Partially because we fell asleep by 7 p.m LOL  But it gave us time to get ready to leave Alton. Bryce called the Mel Price Lock the night before. We asked when we should arrive at the lock. We were told to arrive at 7:00 a.m.  I think we were both ready to head out of Alton. It always feels good to go into port after 8 days to refurbish our supplies.  I have to laugh because normally after 24hrs and we are fully loaded I am ready to go back on the hook.  It is sometimes very trying on the hook but it keeps us young and on our toes.  Like if the winds shift 180 degrees in the middle of the night to 40 miles per hour and pouring rain, anchor dragging. We must be ready for it. I can’t count the times we have woken up in the middle of the night to a  major storm not predicted by the weather person. But with that said it is awesome to anchor out. The following blog is a long one. It’s all in a day of motoring the Mississippi.

Good morning.. It’s 6:30 a.m. and we just pulled out of Alton Marina.

 

The first lock: Mel Price was only 1.5 miles away. We barely had time to drink our coffee.

After they started lowering us down, I had to cover my ears.  The floating bollards screeched. The sound was worse than someone scraping their nails on a chalk board!! It was horrible bad!

The Mel Price Lock has two chambers .  One is 1200 feet long for the big tows.  The other is 600 feet for us and small tows.  We locked down in the 600 foot lock at the same time a down bound tow locked down in the 1200 foot lock

Look at this huge wall coming out.  This is looking back at the small lock we came out of.

Now, our little chamber is on the far right. The middle is a dam and left of the dam is the 1200 foot lock. Then there is another dam on the left side of that lock. This is crazy big!  You don’t want to mistake the middle dam for a lock!!

This tow with it’s barges is waiting to enter the lock going Northbound.

This area; which is shortly after we got out of the lock, is a dry dock where they work on these tows. It is pretty cool looking. I wouldn’t mind taking a tour of one. And I’m sure Bryce would too.

We are starting to see the groynes again. Not the personal thing..LOL These groynes are built to help control erosion and sediment.  They also help control the river flow.

The color of this tow blue just captured my camera.

I think this once was a casino. I didn’t see a parking lot so maybe the barge company uses it for an office.

Here is a picture of a tow in a floating dry dock.  Notice the huge propellers.  Also, notice these tows have rudders in front of the prop and another set of rudders aft of the prop.  It allows these tows to have as much steering control going in reverse as in going forward.

Here is the entrance to a floating dry dock.

This is a quite interesting picture in that it shows the floating dry dock is raising a tow out of the water.  Notice the water pouring out of ballast chambers.

Here is another floating dry dock showing the supports inside.

Here is a barge unloading fuel.

These little whoop-ee-do makes our boat feel like it could spin circles.  I always imagine it might take us down to another dimension.

If you don’t follow the sign you will go to another dimension.  If you turn right instead of left there is a huge ( monster) dam that can pull you over.  Just up from this point in the Mississippi River is where the Missouri River junction is.

This is the Chain of Rocks Canal. It is very pretty. Each bank is lined with rocks. I am sure that is how it gets its name.

 

Maintenance crew adding rocks making sure it stands up to its name!!

The rocks come off heavily loaded barges.

The tow Al moves these barges around.  I wonder if this is Al?? As we passed by he came out and waved to us.

Every once and a while we see a log.

The Chain of Rocks Lock has twin locks.  A 1200 footer and a 600 footer.  As we came up to the small lock, we could not tell if the doors were open.  The light was flashing red so Bryce floated us around for a few seconds. When all of a sudden the lock master told us to enter.  He also said there would be a tow joining us for a lift down too. The 600 footer has this unique lock door that raises up by huge chains rather than doors on hinges.

We locked through with this tow.  Her name is Holly P. The captain didn’t even need to tie off.  He just pushed against the lock wall to hold him in place.

This floating bollard was so high, Bryce had to come forward to put our loop over it.

The doors opened and we are ready to go out. We waited for the Holly P. to leave. As the doors opened it looked like she was going to get hit. LOL I am sure they have done this so much that they like to show off in front of the pleasure boats.

Here is a view of the twin locks.  We just came out of the left lock.  A tow and a bunch of barges is coming out of the large lock.

The name on the building still shows Union Electric. I guess an old power company. I think they should level it.

The sky line of St Louis..

The first sign of St. Louis is the arch behind a few bridges. I surely think they could redo their water front area to dress it up some.

We could hear the train blow its horn as it traveled through the sky line.

Here is the people mover right travelling under the roadway.

The St. Louis Arch

As we motored through the river, I thought we had tows and barges coming at us. Only to find out they just store them right there in the river. On our first time around I don’t think they were anchored like this. I guess I will have to look at my last blog.

The current of the river is very strong here.  You can see the wake this tow is creating coming from the South. He is really pushing his engines.

Look at his bow plowing though.

I just can’t remember any tow making this type of wake. LOL

I busted my gut laughing when I saw this statue. I am not sure what it represents but It sure did make me laugh.   Look at the bikini laden legs jumping into the pool!

This is one reason we like the Mississippi.  We are zipping along at our normal 6 1/2 miles an hour through the water.  But the 4 mph current boosts our speed to 10.3 mph.

After we anchored for the night, we sat upon the bow having coffee and watched the tows go by.

Not only did tows go by but we also watched a lot of timber too.

This is a unique tow we saw.  It looks a bit futuristic eh??

Here is our nightly locater. LOL This shows our anchorage or our whereabouts.  https//trackmytour.com/35L17 

We anchored out again after two nights in Alton. We anchored in the Mississippi River just South of St. Louis at mile marker 164.  The depth was 12 feet and the current was 2.2 mile an hour.

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