Day on the Cruise: 153
From: Anchored on The Mississippi River
To: Anchored on The Ohio River
Statute Miles: 99.3 SM
Time: 9.5 Hrs
Cumulative Miles: 3,905.7 SM
On Board: Susan, Chuck, Maggie, Trooper, Peanut
Tonight we are are anchored in the Ohio River near Mile 965. We are 16 miles from the Mississippi River just upriver from the new Olmstead Lock construction site, and we still don't have internet.
We got Maggie to shore this morning around dawn, then back to the boat for our start up. It rained during the night and was spitting rain this morning. By the time we pulled anchor at 7:00 it was raining pretty good.
This was our first night ever "on the hook" as they say. It went OK. Thankfully there was no wind. We were tucked in behind the wing dams so there was no current. The "L" shape of the wing dam configuration kept the current out of our private harbor. We felt a few barges go by in the night, but the leg of the dam that runs parallel to the channel kept most of the wake out of our anchorage. I had set my anchor alarm and it went off once during the night. I got up and shined a flashlight on the other boats, the wing dam,and the shore,and didn't detect that we had moved into a dangerous area,so I went back to sleep. We did not run the generator last night because I don't think it is cooling properly. We ran it at dinner time to cook and charge the batteries, then turned it off. We ran it for 45 minutes this morning before we left to make coffee and charge the batteries, then shut it down.
Anchoring has about three serious issues. One is getting your anchor to hold when you let it down. The second is not dragging your anchor when you are asleep. The third raising your anchor and not having it get stuck on the bottom. I am very thankful that all three situations were handled satisfactorily on this first ever anchoring expedition for us.
I led the way today because I have the AIS. We again traveled with Always Five O'Clock, Entree' and Reunion. We passed Cape Girardeau, MO at 9:45 and reached the Ohio River at 2:05 after 79.3 miles. The current was fast today giving us a push of about 3-3.5 mph. Good for fuel economy......that is until we got to the Ohio at Cairo, IL.
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| Flood Wall Mural at Cape Girardeau, MO |
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| Whirlpools in the River Today |
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| Last Bridge on the Upper Mississippi River |
When I turned up the Ohio, I was pushing to make 7 mph. I powered up and maintained 7 to 7-1/2 mph. My fuel economy went to less than a mile per gallon. Awful! We were aiming for some mooring cells at Ohio MM 766. Our plan was to tie up to these for the night.
The confluence of the Mississippi and the Ohio is very wide. We could see this junction before we passed under the last bridge on the "upper" Mississippi. Below the confluence, it is the "lower" Mississippi. As we approached this last bridge, we got a good look at Angelo's towhead at mile 1.5 of the Mississippi. It looked like could have anchored in or around it OK.
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| Angelo's Towhead at Mile 1.5 |
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| Looking at the Ohio River |
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| Looking downriver at the "lower" Mississippi |
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| Looking up the Ohio as we turn out of the Mississippi |
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| Looking back up the Mississippi from which we have just exited. |
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| Looking up the Ohio River as we leave the Mississippi |
We cruised through Cairo, and this must be the Barge and Towboat capital of the world! More than St. Louis! They were on both sides of the River and in the middle of the River! I loved viewing the huge towboats. Ingram Barge Lines had a big representation here. So did Marquette Transportation, another large barge company.
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| Barges Tied Off in the Middle of the Ohio River at Cairo, IL |
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| Shoreline at Cairo, IL |
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| Tows being assembled at Cairo, IL |
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| Barges in the River at Cairo |
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| Barges in the River at Cairo |
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| Looking upriver at Cairo |
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| Big Tow against the Bank at Cairo, IL |
We got through Cairo and headed upriver. We passed several grain elevators that were loading grain onto barges. This far South, it looks like the harvest has begun.
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| Loading Grain into Barges Near Cairo, IL |
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| Loading Grain at an Elevator Near Cairo, IL |
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| This barge is not sunken. Grain is being loaded into the barge. A tug moves it ahead and behind to fill evenly. |
We arrived at the aforementioned mooring cells at 4:15. The cells were very high and had mooring bits on the River side of them. There were four of them located at a boat ramp just downriver from the construction site of the new Olmstead Lock and Dam. We thought that we could tie up to the cells on the back side but there were no mooring bits on the back. Two tows warned us not to moor here because big barges come in at night and use these mooring cells.
We tried to anchor downstream from the mooring cells. We could not get good holding. I then decided to go upriver past the new dam construction and near Lock and Dam 53. I found a place with good holding just above the new dam construction and about a mile below Lock and Dam 53. We are in the strong current flowing over the dam, but out of the channel. The current is too strong to take Maggie to shore. The shoreline is very muddy also. Maggie has to persevere for the night.
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| Our Anchorage just Upstream of the New Olmstead Lock and Dam still Under Construction |
Dinner was on board. Tomorrow we will go through two "bottleneck" Locks and hopefully get to Paducah, KY. Delays at these two Locks have been extreme over the past couple of weeks. At Lock 52, there are over 40 tows waiting to lock through. We are just four "recreational vessels" as the Corps of Engineers calls us with the lowest priority. Who knows what the morrow holds. We will be grinding tomorrow and hoping we get treated right at 53 and 52. This is not fun!
Thanks for Reading!
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