Tug Calypso's Great Loop Adventure: 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.