Mississippi, farewell !!!

Wow, what a week it was!  After traveling 218 miles down the Mississippi between the Illinois and Ohio Rivers, we are soooo glad to have that experience behind us.  Our first stop on the mighty, but shallow, river was at Alton, Illinois, where we found one of the nicest marinas we have seen on this entire trip.  From there it was about 45 miles (and two locks) to Hoppie's - the last chance to purchase fuel on the Mississippi leg.  Hoppie's is probably the one place on the Great Loop where all loopers stop.  It consists of several barges tied to shore and has been in operation for over 50 yrs.  Fern and Hoppie Hopkins took over the business from Hoppie's father and Fern is acknowledged as an expert on the river and usually advises Loopers on where to stop before reaching the Ohio.  When we asked for her advice, her reply was that with the water so shallow, she didn't have any idea what we were going to do.  "You can do it, but it won't be easy."  Well, that wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear.  About 40 miles below Hoppie's was Kaskaskia Lock, on the Kaskaskia River about 1/2 mile off the Mississippi, where boats are allowed to tie up overnight to the lock wall.  We had called the lock twice before we headed there and were told once that the water was shallow and then the next time we were told that they were dredging and that we wouldn't have a problem.  When we arrived (with nowhere else to go that night), the lockmaster said he wasn't sure there was room for us to get around the dredge.  After a few minutes we were provided with directions for navigating around the dredge equipment.  So we had a safe  place for the night. 

Our plan for the next day was to leave at first light, ride the 3  kt current down the Mississippi (118 mi) and then up the Ohio for 15 miles (against a 1 kt) current to what we hoped would be a viable place to stop.  After almost 13 hrs we arrived at our anticipated anchorage, only to discover that the channel had been relocated from the other side of the river and now went right through the anchorage.  Fortunately we did have one backup plan - on the other side of the river were four federal mooring cells where pleasure craft are allowed to tie off.  We tied the bow off and thought the current would keep us off the cell, but we ended up having to put out a stern anchor to hold us off.  Once we realized we had a safe and comfortable place for the night, we collapsed. 

Our trip up the Ohio was much more pleasant - the river was wide and deep for the most part and we were able to use the auto-pilot for extended periods of time.  Just before turning off on the Cumberland River, we found a great anchorage just behind Cumberland  Towhead Island - it was a beautiful spot with very little current.  There were lots of tows going by on the river, but we were protected from their wake.

Yesterday was an easy day and made even more pleasant knowing that we would end up at Green Turtle Bay Marina on Barkley Lake in Kentucky - a Looper's paradise after a challenging few days.  So here we are after motoring up the beautiful Cumberland River and being lifted 57 feet in the Barkley Lock.  We will be here for a week, relaxing, reprovisioning, doing some boat chores, and preparing for the next leg of our journey  - from here to the Gulf ICW.

Mississippi River bluffs near Alton, Il.

Our Lady of the Rivers shrine

Calypso at Alton Marina

Gateway Arch - St. Louis, MO.

Mark and "River Guru" Fern at Hoppie's

One of many huge tows on the Mississippi

This is how a 3 kt. current looks

Safely tied to a federal mooring cell on the Ohio for the night

Cruising up the peaceful Cumberland River

Doing my happy dance following our arrival at Green Turtle Bay!

Resting on the river

After a couple of long days motoring down the Illinois River, we decided to take a day off at Grafton Harbor Marina in Grafton, Illinois.  We are less than 1/2 mile from the Mississippi and can see it from our slip here.  To back track just a minute, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the IVY Club in Peoria Heights.  Mark was there for five days while I flew to Atlanta to visit Mother.  Bob and Mary Pratt, friends from Punta Gorda, maintain a residence in Peoria and took good care of us during our stay.  Bob is retired from Caterpillar, which has a major presence in Peoria.  He was also commodore of the IVY Club a few years ago when the second story dining room was flooded when the ice started breaking up and flowing down the river.  On Friday the Pratts took us on a tour of the area, which included some breath-taking scenery.  We stopped for "happy hour" milk-shakes at Steak 'n Shake right on the banks of the river in East Peoria.  According to Bob and Mary, there used to be a dock there and they went there by boat many times.  We had dinner with them at the IVY Club, where we met many of their friends and were warmly received.  Many thanks also to the Pratts for providing transportation for me to and from the airport. 

We left the IVY Club early Wednesday morning, transited our one lock for the day without delay and tied up for the night at Logsdon Tug Service in Beardstown, Ill.  This is a small tug outfit that allows pleasure craft to tie up to a barge overnight.  There are no services there, but we were glad to be there after a long day on the water.  Beardstown, itself, was quite small, but there was an Elks Lodge where we had a couple of drinks before dinner. The Cafe from Yesterday offered an AYCE pork chop special for $8.99 which we could not resist.  Two pork chops, cole slaw, applesauce, green beans, real mashed potatoes w/ gravy and biscuits!

Another early morning departure on Thursday with many miles to go before we slept.  Our destination was Mel's Illinois Riverdock Restaurant, which offers overnight dockage.  We were under a severe storm warning when we docked, but never got any lightning.  The wind did pick up after we were safely docked and we got about five drops of rain later in the evening.  Dinner at Mel's was another interesting experience. 

Yesterday, we were able to sleep in as it was only about 20 miles to Grafton.  We enjoyed exploring the town yesterday, which is full of gift and antique shops and wineries.  We'll probably check out the wineries this afternoon.

The plan is to start down the Mississippi tomorrow with Alton as our destination - another short day.  We're doing a lot of research right now to figure out where we can stop on our 200 mile stretch down the Mississippi.  Most of the recommended anchorages (which are few and far between to begin with) are too shallow for our 3.5 ft draft.  For our last 160 miles down the Mississippi there are no services, so it should be interesting.  Hopefully,  by this time next week, we'll be enjoying a respite at Green Turtle Bay on Barkley Lake.

Starved Rock State Park (Illinois River)

Sunrise on the Illinois River

Steak 'n Shake in East Peoria

Docked for the night at Logsdon Tug Service

Confluence of Illinois and Mississippi Rivers



High water mark at 38.2 ft in Grafton in 1993



Traveling on the river

Well, we haven't made much progress in the past week.  Calypso and Captain Mark are at the Illinois Valley Yacht Club in Peoria, IL and I am at my mother's in Atlanta, GA for a short visit.  I return today and we will be continuing our voyage downstream.  We left Chicago bright and early one week ago yesterday after eating at two of Mark's favorite restaurants  - Mike Ditka's and Gibsons.  First we motored through beautiful downtown Chicago, and then into the dirty and smelly Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.  The first few hours were relatively non-eventful and then we encountered numerous tugs and barges, often having to dodge between parked barges, waiting for a tug to pass.  We ended the day by going through our first big commercial lock on the Illinois Waterway at Lockport and motored a few miles further to tie up overnight at the free town dock in Joliet.  We were up and ready for an early departure Tuesday AM when we discovered that the next lock (2 mi. away) was closed for repairs all day until 6 pm.  Since a 6 pm departure would not leave us with enough daylight to make the next safe harbor, we were forced to spend another night in Joliet.  Not wanting to risk missing the lock again, we were there before six the next morning, but had to wait over an hour for them to clear the commercial traffic. With two more locks to pass through that day, we were only able to travel about 45 miles in 7 hrs.  We stopped at a very nice marina, but quickly discovered that the water depth is probably somewhat less that what they tell you it will be.  We did not actually touch going in, but did see some pretty skinny water.

The next day we only had one lock to get through, but that took us about two hours to accomplish.  So far the tows we have seen usually consist of anywhere from 3 to 12 barges.  The larger ones cannot be locked through in their entirety, so have to broken into 2 "trains" - this can take hrs.  We were lucky at Starved Rock that they "dumped" us along with another "PC"(pleasure craft) between the first and second cuts of the tow - otherwise we might have been there for at least 3 hrs.  For a control freak like me, this is all very difficult to deal with.  Finally, we had the lock behind us and pushed on to the IVY Club - 70+ miles and one lock in 10 hrs.

The next week or two will probably be our most challenging to date as the water is indeed shallow.  Many of the marinas are so silted in that even with a 3.5 ft draft, we can't get in.  I am hoping that we can find anchorages that are deep enough, but out of the current and out of the way of the tows.  Mark is the eternal optimist and my glass is always half-empty, so reality probably lies somewhere in-between. 

The Wrigley Building

Where in the world is Calypso?

Recognize the skyline?  Where is Calypso?  You guessed it - Calypso and crew are chillin' in Chicago.  Well, I wish I could tell you we are chillin', but with temps in the 90's and wicked humidity, we are definitely not chillin'.  As we are trying to squeeze in all the sights in just a few days, we are definitely not relaxing either.  Our bikes have been essential here for getting around, but a big obstacle has been that Lollapalooza is taking place in Grant Park this weekend, so many of the routes through the park from the lakefront (where we are) to downtown are blocked off.  It's not easy finding alternate routes when you don't even really know where the normal ones are.  However, we have managed to visit the Art Institute, the Field Museum, the Miracle Mile and Navy Pier.  Today we are going to the Willis (aka Sears) Tower and tonight we're going to a White Sox game.

We arrived here on Wednesday and it was amazing how far out we could see the Chicago skyline - probably 30 miles away.  We were staring at those buildings for hours before our arrival.  We are planning to leave on Monday to start our trek down the river system to the Gulf of Mexico. We start out on the Illinois River and then travel on a stretch of the Mississippi.  The water levels are of concern, but we don't know yet just how bad it will be.  It would be nice to see the water levels rise a little, but I don't want to be traveling the rivers when they are flooding either.  Nature is what it is and as hard we try we just can't control it!

We will be stopping for a few days to visit friends in Peoria and for me to fly to Atlanta for a short visit with my mother.  This will give Mark a chance to catch up on boat chores without me looking over his shoulder and giving him unwanted advice.

Art Institute of Chicago

A T-Rex named Sue at the Field Museum

Relaxing after lunch at the Columbia Yacht Club

Chicago Harbor Light (as seen from Navy Pier)