15-31 August 2005
Quiver Island, IL to Nashville, TN
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| Date | Location | Log and Pictures | |||||
| 8/16 | As of today we've traveled over 3,000 miles, averaging about 25 miles per day. 41 days of our trip have been at anchor, 25 at free docks, and 56 in marinas. Still having a great time and now watching the weather closely as we head south into an unpredictable hurricane season. | ||||||
| 8/16 | Bar Island | Quiet night at anchorage until we heard 5 short blasts on a whistle at 7 this morning. A local area tug was moving barges and gave us the danger signal just to alert us that barges were moving in the area. After talking to him we relaxed and took the dinghy into a nearby town, Havana. His signal was just to give us an alert. Had breakfast on the sidewalk outside a local diner and were offered rides back to the dinghy dock by very friendly people. We needed our exercise so we declined. We were underway by 10 am, after walking thru the town's waterfront park, for our next anchorage, Bar Island. We passed several barge and tugs along the way. After we anchored we took a tour around the area by dinghy and were shocked when a 8 pound fish literally jumped into the dinghy. We've seen fish jumping in the area but were amazed this fish decided to jump just as we passed by. Not being a fisherman I have no idea what kind of fish it was so we threw it back. | |||||
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| 8/17 | Fisher Island | Took the dinghy into Beardstown this morning from our anchorage, a three mile run at 20 mph. The town has a grounded barge for a town dock and a beautiful park. Last evening was warm with little breeze. To keep cool I sat on the back deck and sat fascinated as a 1,000 foot 12 barge and tug combination came up the waterway at night. They run 24 hours a day and after the sun goes down they have two very high powered lights they use to see their way; I'm sure in addition to radar. A dark night looks like a hazy morning with the brilliance of their lights. I respect their ability to move those barges at all, but at night it is more than amazing. We're now anchored near Fisher Island in 6 feet of water. Water levels are down so we're being very careful pulling off the waterway and luckily found this spot. Hopefully we'll have the same beautiful sunset as we did last night. Rolling hills are taking over the scenery. | |||||
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| 8/18 | Island # 526 | This morning we struggled for an hour retrieving the bow and stern anchor as a storm was approaching, but made it underway by 8 am without incident. We stopped for lunch at Harden, IL., mooring at a local restaurant's dock. After lunch we steamed our final day on the Illinois River. It widened and started to meander, looking a lot like what we expect on the Mississippi. Tonight we anchored at an island with an indistinctive name, #526. The stop is important for us as it marks the junction of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. After anchoring, we took the dinghy into Grafton, IL and found stores using Indian Hours. We'd never heard this before but it is a long way of saying we're open when we want. | |||||
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| 8/19 | Hoppies, MO | We started our trip on the Mississippi today enjoying the wide river, high cliffs and the huge waterfront area of St Louis. The Mississippi through St Louis is like a freeway with tugs and tows. We dodged and danced around them most of the way through the town. We were disappointed that there is no place for pleasure boats to stop and see the town. We continued 25 miles south to Hoppies' Marina, with waterfront slips made from barges. Today is very hot and we're happy to be staying tomorrow to do some maintenance and enjoy the boat's air conditioning. | |||||
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A real geography lesson as we travel the Mississippi |
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| 8/20 | Hoppies Marina | Great work day cleaning the boat, changing the generator's oil and replacing inoperative bilge blowers. We celebrated with dinner at The Old House. A great steak. Now we're back and getting ready for tomorrow and the second day steaming the Mississippi. | |||||
| 8/21 | Kaskasia Lock | No pictures today. We started the trip from Hoppies at 9 am with the Mississippi current running at 3 knots. Our standard engine RPM for the trip gives us 8.5 to 9 mph, but on the Mississippi we are making 12 mph. The river meanders left and right as it heads south and we meander even more staying away from the floating tree trunks that are 15 to 20 feet long. The tows and barges are now larger. We're seeing tows 6 barges wide by 5 or 6 barges long, making 30 to 36 barges being pushed by a 200 foot long pusher boat. We stay out of their way! There are few places to stop on the river. Tonight we are tied up to a lock wall on the Kaskasia River, just off the Mississippi. Three sail boats, who were also at Hoppies, joined us later in the day. One is being single handed by a 35 year old male on his way to New Orleans to start culinary school. The others are crewed by couples on their way south. | |||||
| 8/22 | Little Diversion Creek | Underway for our next stop, Little Diversion Channel anchorage, we see more of the meandering river and many more barges. Barny and I take turns at the helm and while I am off I enjoy a good book. Mid afternoon we pulled into Diversion Channel and soon had company, the three sailboats that we've traveled with over the last two days. Tomorrow we finish the last 45 miles of the Mississippi and start up the Ohio. | |||||
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| 8/23 | Olmstead Lock | Long day making 70 miles. We finished the Mississippi and are 20 miles up the Ohio. Hoping to move past Lock 53 to mooring buoys we find 8 tug and tow combinations above the lock. We ask and gain permission to anchor just south of the Olmstead Lock, a new lock the Corp is building on the Ohio. The Olmstead lock is not in operation yet but provides us a place to anchor just south of Lock 53. Lock 53 is stopping lock operations and lowering its dam so boats can go over the dam, not needing the lock. This will take over 2 hours so we're happy to be anchored south of the lock and dam. We'll travel over the lock tomorrow and head for the second lock on the Ohio, Nr 52. These locks and dams are actually weir dams that can be lowered when the river is high enough to allow boats to pass. When the water is too low the dam walls are raised and the locks are used to pass boats thru the area. This is the first time we'll pass over a lock. | |||||
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At right you see the front of a 36 barge group, 6 barges wide and 6 barges long. Notice the long thin poles at the front of two of the barges. These hold fathometers on the front of the hookup so the barge/tow Captain knows the depth of the water. |
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| 8/24 | Cumberland Island Towhead |
Up at a reasonable hour from Olmstead Lock we're underway at 8 am after a
dinghy ride ashore to take Durango for a walk. We pass thru Lock
52 near Paducah and Metropolis (home of Superman) on the Ohio. We are starting to
see homes on the shoreline again, replacing all of the industrial facilities
we've seen for most of the last two weeks. We are anchored at Cumberland
Island Towhead tonight and start our trip on the Cumberland River tomorrow.
We have finished the portion of our trip through Lake Michigan to Chicago, down the Illinois, and part of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers totaling 1016 miles. It took us 108 hours underway and we averaged 48 miles per day and 9.4 miles per hour. Nineteen nights were anchored or at free docks and 10 nights were in marinas. I've heard this mid west area called the heartland of American. I can understand the term now. This is a working area. Tow boats and barges moving America's goods. There are almost no pleasure boat activities on these waters compared to the east coast. |
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| 8/25 | Barkley Canal Recreation Area | Beautiful trip up the Cumberland to Barkley Lock that raised us 57 feet, our highest lift on the trip, to Barkley Lake. The scenery included sandy beaches, rock quarries, and rocky ledges along the shore. Once thru the lock we passed large house boats made for fun on the lake. We're anchored in a recreation area near Green Turtle Bay Marina. | |||||
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| 8/26 | Green Turtle Bay Marina | We moved just 1 mile today to a large marina to change oil and filters in the main engines, a day long effort. The marina has all the facilities a boater needs. Service wasn't great but boaters will stop because of the facilities. We'll be leaving tomorrow for Nashville where Ginger, Barny's wife, and our cousin Brenda will join us for a few days. |
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| 8/27 | Donaldson Creek, Barkley Lake | Underway after fueling. Ugh! Fuel is now over $2.60 per gallon, sixty cents more than our planning budget. It is good that the Cumberland is so beautiful and takes our mind off the high fuel prices. The first picture below shows what is called "The Castle on the Cumberland." It was built in 1888 and is now the only maximum security prison in Kentucky. 160 inmates have died in its electric chair. The other pictures provide different views of the Cumberland including the middle picture of our anchorage area in Donaldson Creek. The River is picturesque and we are now seeing more pleasure craft on the waterway. We didn't pass a barge today. | |||||
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| 8/28 | Dover Island, TN | Easy morning and a beautiful run further up the Cumberland toward Nashville. We passed Dover and anchored in a like named island near the area. This area is steeped in history. Just near here General Grant of the Union Army accepted the only unconditional surrender of a large army in the Civil War. Of course we are watching the weather channel and as every one is, we're concerned for those on the Gulf Coast as Katrina approaches. The weather will probably effect us in the middle of the week and we are planning to tie securely to a dock by mid day tomorrow near Clarksville. | |||||
| 8/29 | Clarksville Boat Club, Clarksville, TN | Katrina is heading north so we were underway early to secure the boat at a pier up river. We'll wait here until the remains of the hurricane passes Tennessee. A rainy travel day but pretty. The Cumberland River is second only to the Hudson for peaceful and beautiful traveling. We tied up to Clarksville Boat Club, a private facility that offers transit space. Especially friendly, the club member who helped us on arrival loaned us his truck for a shopping trip. The boat club has been in existence since 1940 and each slip has a special outfitting to personalize the slip. We were at a long dock on the river watching the tugs go by. | |||||
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| 8/30 | Riverview Restaurant and Marina | Last evening the remnants of Katrina passed overhead, 35 mph winds and heavy rain. By morning we just had heavy rain so we got underway after doing some chores and headed further up the Cumberland River. We're tied up at the 150 foot long dock of a local restaurant on the river tonight, listening to the rain and hoping for sunshine tomorrow. | |||||
| 8/31 | Nashville, TN | We're in the land of country music and sweet tea. An easy 5 hour transit up the Cumberland to Nashville today and we'll stay here for three days. A short walk into town, we're at the bottom of the main street, proved we'll probably have a good time. Ginger, Junie, and Brenda will show up soon to enjoy it with us. Junie and Brenda are cousins and of course, Ginger, is Barny's wife. | |||||
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