Great Escape: Sept 23rd - Oct 6th: Mississippi to Tennessee Rivers

At the last post, we had just entered the Mississippi River at Alton, IL. For the last two weeks we have been traveling down the Mississippi, the Ohio, the Cumberland and the Tennessee Rivers. We have had some mornings with the temperatures in the low 40's and we have had a lot of fog. We've been fairly lucky with locking through the big locks on the river as we have missed most of the commercial tow traffic. Our luck ran out yesterday as we waited (along with 6 other boats) for 6 1/2 hours to go through one lock.
While on the Mississippi, the world class facilities we stayed at included Hoppie's Marina in Kimmswick, MO, a lock wall on the Kaskaskia River off the Mississippi and anchoring in Little Diversion Canal which is usually quiet but because of rain was running at a good 2 knots emptying into the main river. It will take too long to describe in the blog, but when we meet again face to face, remind us to tell the story of "the day from hell" on Little Diversion Canal.
We stayed on the Mississippi as far as Cairo IL which is where the Ohio River empties into the Mississippi. From there it was a left hand turn to go up the Ohio for about 60 miles. What a difference it makes running with the current (on the Mississippi) doing about 12 knots when the engines are operating at a speed of 8.5, and than turning into the Ohio and watching the speed over ground drop to about 6 knots. We had some significant rain the day before reaching the Ohio, so the river was running very strong. The only good thing was that the rains had increased the river level enough that the dams were lowered at the two locks we had to go through, so no locking was required.
At Paducah, KY we left the Ohio and joined the Cumberland River for about another 40 miles. A very quite, peaceful river when compared to the Mississippi and Ohio. The Cumberland also offered a nice stop at the Green Turtle Bay Marina in Grand Rivers, KY. Just past Green Turtle we got onto the Tennessee River which we remain on until we reach Chattanooga in about a week.
Most of the pictures in this post will have explanations. Enjoy.

Just North of St. Louis the river splits and this canal
takes you around some dangerous rapids. Not a sign you want to miss

Commercial traffic locks through on the left and we went through
the lock on the right

This is a 91 foot vessel named GO FORTH. They normally
return to Florida via the Erie Canal, but torrential rains
from one of this seasons hurricanes did significant damage to the
canal and it is closed to all traffic until further notice. So GO FORTH
is going down the rivers with the rest of us

A good sized tow heading up the Mississippi

This is the pier area at Hoppie's Marine Services

Hoppie's - GO FORTH is the large boat in the middle

Our friend Pat Apicella enjoying a wonderful dessert
at the Blue Owl resturant a short walk from Hoppie's

Joe and Pat Apicella from GLORY DAYS awaiting the evening information
session with Fern at Hoppie's

We're part of the evening class

The lady on the left is Fern, Hoppie's wife. She is a wealth of
knowledge about conditions on the Mississippi south of their
marina and she holds a nightly information session for boaters.
Attendance is strongly recommended

Happy Hour at the Kaskaskia Lock wall. From left to right,
Rusty and Betty Hughes from THE COOPER, Joe and Pat Apicella on
GLORY DAYS, Steve Westgate from GEMINI,
Teresa and Beth Westgate, Steve's wife

Passing Cape Girardeau, MO. In this picture and the next, note the
flood wall the city has built for protection from the spring floods

Boats at anchor in Little Diversion Canal with the beautiful
weather we experienced

This is the small buoy we have attached to our anchor so we can tell
its locations. Look how the current is almost making it submerge

One of the stranger vessels seen on the river

On the Ohio River we got permission to tie up to this
Federal Mooring cell which are normally used by the tows
when they have to stop. This one was near the Olmstead Lock which is
under construction, so the cells where first come-first served

GLORY DAYS tied to their mooring cell

Taking the Boyz ashore

On the way back to GREAT ESCAPE

The Olmstead Lock under construction

The sign reads, DANGER DAM. The river was high enough that
they lowered the dam and you run right over it

The dinghy engine died, so it was out with the oars

At anchor in the Cumberland towhead, just before the beginning
of the Cumberland River

This is the impressive door on the Barkley Lock
on the Cumberland River

On the wall you can see the "floating bollards".
These actually float with the water level in the lock, so
you just tie a line around it and it holds the boat
steady as the lock floods or drains

A floating bollard up close

A tow tied to mooring cells as they are intended

Barkley Lake, one of the largest in Kentucky, was formed when
the dam was built and the land flooded as part of the Tennessee
Valley Authority (TVA) project. The day we were on it
was a perfect day for sailing

Some fog fingers in a small bay we anchored in one evening

When the lake was flooded, this docking facility went
under water, as did several small towns

The leaves are just starting to turn

Arriving at Cuba Landing marina on the Tennessee River

Cuba Landing in the late afternoon

Cuba landing marina the next morning. Fog has become a common
occurrence along the rivers

This tow has come upon a fog bank in the river and the tows don't
operate in fog because of their size and lack of mobility. When the come to fog, they simply push the first barge up on the bank and wait for the fog to lift

Some of the unique shoreline on the Tennessee

Not sure what happened here, but he is obviously
not going anywhere soon

Tennessee shoreline

Clifton, TN marina

Hopefully this foundation will not suffer any erosion

Two tows passing each other. Not a situation where you
want to get between them

This house has a bit of an erosion problem

On Oct 5th, we arrived at the Pickwick Landing lock at 1:40 in the
afternoon. There were two commercial tows waiting to lock through and
they have priority over recreational vessels. At 6 :15 PM there were
seven boats waiting for the lock