250 Miles...No Fuel Stops...No Marinas, Can We Make It.?

Saturday, September 29 - Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Night two on the Mississippi was spent anchoring out at Rockwood Island, m 102 LDB. We anchored with Limelight, Catmandu, Wreckless joined us later. It was a relaxing evening. We picked up Anita and Don in our dinghy and went aboard Catmandu. Nice Cat! When Wreckless pulled in, the party moved to their boat. We joined Linda and Harold and their FOL's, Joan and Doug. They are all from Toronto.

Wreckless arrives

Joan, Chris and Anita

Harold, Bill, Linda, Joan, Chris, Anita

Anita, Doug and Don
Red sky at night, sailors delight!

Bad Moon Rising!


It's an early night for us as it gets dark sooner in the central time zone. To save on fuel we limited use of the generator, so we might as well go to bed. Tomorrow will be an early start, 7 a.m. and a long day.

Sunday
All but Wreckless set out at the before the crack of dawn. Our next planned destination is Angelo's Towhead mm 1.3, LDB. That is a 100 mile day (at 8 mph)! As it turned out the current was swift, moving us along. Once we nearly reached 12 mph and 2 mpg!

Following our tracks back out.

Tower Rock is a limestone formation that Native
Americans once thought had evil spirits

Bluff on MO side in Trail of Tears State Park

We made better time than expected. No locks and only 3 hwy. bridges in this 100 mile span. Wreckless passed us on plane and was waiting to direct us into Angleo's Towhead. (Harold 'complaned' last night than is leg would take him 4.5 hours to complete. He received no sympathy from the rest of us.) Catmandu ventured further but Limelight and Irish Attitude anchored out on the fringes. Fern had warned us of submerged logs so we played it safe. We put out a bow and stern anchor but the stern drifted slightly in the night - no harm, no foul. Mike and I were exhausted after a long day on the river. Fresh air can wear you out!

 

Monday

At Cario, IL (kay-row) the Mississippi and Ohio converge. The Ohio starts at mile marker 981.5. If this was a movie, I am sure the background music would have prepared me for the next scene. There were so many tows in this area that tow captain on the Ohio monitor a different VHF channels to lessen the confusion. There was not time to politely call the tow captain's and ask them what side we should pass on. It was like scooting between semis as you cross a major highway! Once out of harms way we noticed something else. As expected we were heading upriver on the Ohio and the current was not at our back. The big surprise was how strong the current was. No longer were we enjoying the 9-11 mph we experienced going down the Mississippi. Instead we were moving at about 4.5 mph! The current was between 3 and 4 mph. Good-bye gas mileage. Miles are descending here and so the red buoys are on our right.... red, right, returning. We have followed 500 miles of rivers since Chicago and the left descending bank has been on our left. Once we turned upstream on the Ohio the LDB is on our right as we are ascending now. The day was dreary, the commercial traffic was busy, plus we had 3 locks to look forward too. (Are you picking up on my mood here!)

 

Water rushes by the buoy

Sandbars are created in the middle of the river from dredging deposits



The swift current carves into the sandbars

The first lock at 964.7 was Olmstead Lock. This lock has been under construction for the last 10 years so we passed quickly through it. Once this lock is open it will eliminate the need for the next 2 locks upriver, cleverly named Lock 53 and 52, mile marker 962.5 and 939.0 respectively. Lock 53 had it's picket dam down and so it posed little delay also. It was, however the reason for the speed of the current we were experiencing. As it turns out we did not go as far as planned. Saving the 3rd lock for the next day. The second night was spent in front of a riverboat casino with Limelight. Catmandu was behind us and spent the night at another anchorage. It took us awhile to anchor in a secure spot, out of the way of possible break away barges. Another warning from Fern that I took seriously. We were so close to shore we considered ordering a pizza. The delivery person could pull the car to the end of the boat ramp and Mike could retrieve it in the dinghy. A railroad bridge near us had a steady stream of trains moving first one way then the other. Long trains with 5 engines but only moving 5 mph so it did not disturb our sleep. At least we had a nightlight!

 

The casino was so close but we would not leave our boat to venture inside.



Tuesday 

Day 3 of our quest. We burned a small amount of extra fuel anchoring and using the generator but we should be okay, right? Mike and I did not favor anchoring out one more night so that meant we needed to make it to Green Turtle Bay Marina today. As we continued up the Ohio, the weather had not improved. Our wait at Lock & Dam 52 was less than 30 minutes. Not bad considering the commercial traffic. The Army Corps of Engineers was working on the dam. Their boat looked like it was about to slide over the edge. This lock would lift us less than 10 ft.

 

Up river to the town of Metropolis. Yes, that is correct.... where Clark Kent aka Superman lived and worked as an adult. It shares the name but is not the size I recall reflected in the comic book and movie version. Never the less, Superman is suppose to be on their water tower. Just another town on the Ohio without a dock so I guess we will never know. Paducah was the next town at mm 935 LDB. They do have a day dock but we opted to visit here at our next lay over, using the courtesy car.

 

We were approaching a junction where an important choice needed to be made. Do we cut off on the Tennessee River, shorter by 20 miles with a lock that favors commercial traffic and could leave us waiting 3 hours (with reports of up to 10 hours) to lock through to Kentucky Lake OR travel farther up the Ohio to the more scenic Cumberland River and into Lake Barkley. The Cumberland River won out! No sense in burning fuel while waiting on a lock. Keeping our fingers crossed we left the Ohio at mm 923 and entered the Cumberland. This river is much narrower and picturesque with high tree lined bank and we only encountered one tow!

 

Cumberland River

Off the bow of the Irish Attitude

The trip was a quite one as both Mike and I hoped the fuel calculations would be accurate. The Garmin had thrown us curve ball, resetting the fuel meter along this crucial part, leaving us uncertain of the actual fuel burned. Making life all the more interesting. The Great Blue Heron (Janie) that had popped in through out out trip seemed to be following us more closely. A guardian of sorts. At mm 30.6 on the Cumberland we had reached Lake Barkley Lock and Dam. Our destination was just on the other side at mm 31.7. Two herons were waiting for us at the lock. (Bud, is that you with Janie??) Luckily we were able to enter the lock in less than 15 min. Lake Barkley L&D is impressive to say the least. We lifted 57 ft. in 12 min. without a lot of turbulence. We passed through and just a mile later we made it to Green Turtle Bay Resort Marina. When we filled up we had 58 gallons remaining. It may sound like plenty but it was as close as we care to come. Whew! We were glad to end this chapter of Irish Attitude's Adventures.