Mississippi River to Ohio River

We left Alton.....I loved Alton.  That's just it...every little town you visit is so different.  You think...I love it here and then you move on and you love it there...where ever you go.  The next part of our journey takes us down the Mississippi River for 200 miles where there are no provisions.  No fuel, which is no problem we have a good range, no food but we stocked up in Alton so all is good.  Off we go down the Mississippi with no provisions until Green Turtle Bay in Grand Rivers, Kentucky.  Since this is a river there is no waiting for wind but you do have to stay alert because there is lots of debris. The current is very fuel friendly.  We picked up almost 3 knots and gave our diesels a rest.

We travelled through the city of St Louis Missouri where the current really picked up.  It was tough to stay focused on the water and make sure we didn't hit any debris when there was so much to see around us.

 Our destination first night was a place called Hoppies.  There are no provisions, just fuel,(the 200 mile thing actually starts here) basically a steel barge to tie to.  This has been owned for years by a family and we actually wondered how they ever got the permits to pump gas and diesel from a steel barge.

 Fern the owner came down to the docks at about 5pm to give us a little lesson on what we should expect while travelling the Mississippi.  She loves boaters and loves Loopers. We all sat....feet from the gas pumps as Fern smoked her cigarette and gave us advice on how to be safe as we travelled the Mississippi River....mmmm??

We all took notes on where to anchor and where not to anchor as there are not many places to tie for the next 200 miles.  Fern had some great advice and it was well worth the stop just to meet this very interesting lady.   

 While we were at Hoppies a new Looper friend we met from "First Snow" invited us on board his boat....oh what a boat.  It was over 50ft in length and absolutely gorgeous.  You could eat off the engine room floor. 

We sat comfortably...all 8 of us in their salon for drinks and appetizers.

....and then I  asked the captain if I could go for a walk and take pictures.  What a beautiful boat!

When this boat pulled in to Hoppies Steve jumped up to help them in as the current is very strong here.  There were a few staff on the barges to help as well.  When they came in the first mate (wife) handed off the breast line, which is the centre line.  The staff said no we want your bow line first.  The first mate replied....the captain wants the breast line....the crew replied...no, the bow line otherwise this current will pull your bow out and we can't hold you.  The first mate stuck her head in the cabin door and asked her husband if that was ok.  He said yes.  She then handed the bow line to the crew and told them she just had to ask her Captain first.  Steve looked at the dock crew and said "I've got some training to do".  Oh dear...ever heard the saying can't teach an old dog new tricks.  Well call me an old dog.  This gorgeous boat parked right behind us so I took a picture from our stern to give an idea of the size of this boat.  I also took one as we exited Hoppies.  The owners actually told us that this is not really a good boat to do this trip because the draft is too large.  The Trent Severn Waterway would not let them pass so they had to skip that part and travel up through the great lakes.

The next day we were up and headed for a lock where we could tie for the night.  It was a good day of travel.  We arrived early afternoon.  You are tied to a concrete wall so not great for Dexter although he did run up and down the concrete for some exercise.

The next day we anchored at the Diversion River.  It is called the Diversion River because it takes the overflow of water when there is heavy rain fall from nearby towns. We anchored there with 3 other boats and they all came to our boat for drinks as soon as we were settled.  It was an early night as we all wanted to get an early start because we were headed for a few locks where timing could be challenging.  We have heard the wait times are anywhere from immediate to 36 hours.  We were all up and ready to go at 6:30.  One of the boats that was with us didn't come out immediately but that wasn't unusual for them so we didn't worry.....until they didn't answer their phone or answer the radio or answer texts. Finally we heard from them and they had so much debris on their anchor it took them 2 hours to take everything off.  Another boat, that wasn't travelling with us, but anchored in the same place actually cut his anchor lose and lost it because there was so much debris he couldn't get it all off.

We are now off the Mississippi.  As soon as we hit the Ohio River you could see the change in colour of the water.

We headed for our first of 3 locks.  We called ahead, as advised but really, it didn't matter.  When you get to the lock it is what it is.  When you phone to ask all they say is we will get you through as soon as possible, radio us on channel 14 when you get close.  Just as we approached the lock, at 12pm, we heard an announcement on our vhf radio that the lock would be close until 1800 hours....ugh??...we got out of bed at 5:30am this morning for this...oh well it is what it is, nothing we can do but wait.  We were with 3 other boats.  Our Canadian friends, John and Lee from Loukethia, Mike and Gail from Time Out and Robert and Corrine from Aerial.  Steve stopped to chat with John and Lee after taking Dexter to shore.

We are central time now so an hour behind home and it gets dark here at about 7:30 now.  We told the lock master we weren't sure we wanted to go through at 6pm because we weren't sure of anchorages on the other side and weren't all that keen about travelling in the dark.  He told us that if we didn't take this window we would lose priority and he would put commercial traffic ahead of us the next day.  He also told us we were not really anchored in a safe place for overnight due to the commercial traffic.  We really had no choice but to go when ever he said go. 

Knowing that we would be late getting settled I decided I would make dinner.  Something that we could just pop in the microwave when we were settled and be done.  I thought tuna casserole but it was way too hot to cook in the boat and although the water looked much better than the Mississippi....still didn't want to swim in it. Sooo I asked Steve to break out the Coleman stove.  Tuna casserole/dinner was done!!

I also cleaned out my fridge of some veggies that needed to be eaten so they went in there as well. 

The lock that we were waiting on was under construction so we had to have an escort through once they were ready for us. 

 We were locked through at 5:30 but still had one more lock to go and then 10 miles to our anchorage.  We arrived at about 8pm in the dark.  Dinner was ready...wine was cold.  Ate and went to bed.

 Early morning again next day as we have two more locks to go through until we reach civilization tomorrow.  Green Turtle Bay!! 

Looking at our America's Great Loop Map.  The pink marker at the top is where we started in Bobcaygeon, Ontario.  The pink marker at the bottom is where we are today.....not tomorrow....somewhere on the Ohio River.....on a boat..."One Bay at a Time."

Missisippi and Ohio Rivers to Green Turtle Bay

Arrived at Green Turtle Bay in Great Rivers, Kentucky.  More than 200 miles of no provisions so everything is running a little low.  Beautiful marina.  As soon as we were settled our neighbour, who is a regular here, told us he had something to show us.  He took us to a spot in the marina where the turtles feed...hence the name Green Turtle Bay.

                                        They don't allow any fishing for obvious reasons.

After all of the turtle excitement we settled in and inquired about reprovisioning.  Where is the closest grocery store?  Well turns out there is one just a mile away, perfect!!!...we can walk or cycle!  Then...."but you can't get alcohol there...this is a dry County"  What?...where are we again?!?!  There is a restaurant on site at the Marina.  You can't get a drink there but you can byob.  Didn't know places like this still existed in 2015.  We talked to some locals and there is a strong Baptist presence here that just won't allow alcohol, however, you never passed a person on the dock with out a drink in their hand.  There is a courtesy car here that we can use to reprovision and there is a wet county about 15 miles from here....whew!

We planned on staying here 3 nights.  We thought we would have arrived here at about 4pm on the first day but there was a commercial tow at the lock just before the Marina.  When we arrived at the lock the tow was waiting to go in so we were held up for over 2 hours.  By the time we arrived at the Marina it was after 6pm so we settled in, threw some chicken on the bbq and went to bed.  Our Canadian friends, John and Lee were here.  The other friends we were travelling with, Mike and Gail from Time Out, and Robert and Corrine from Aerial stopped early that day, at 11:30am.  They will be here tomorrow along with Al and Kaye from Knot Home and 2 other Loopers we haven't met yet. 

We spent the next day cleaning the boat and then our friends came and asked us to join them for dinner.  We went up to the restaurant on site at the Marina.  There were 12 of us.  John and Lee thought they would go up to the small town to Patti's...a must stop restaurant.  They ended up at the Marina restaurant after being introduced to Kentucky whiskey by their boater neighbour. 

The next day our friends Mike and Gail, and Robert and Corrine decided to use the courtesy car provided by the Marina for the price of gas only.  They invited us to join them as they knew we could not drive.  When we left our home we removed all but theft and fire insurance on our vehicles.  Since we did not have insurance coverage we were not all that comfortable getting in the drivers seat of any vehicle except a boat.  The 6 of us piled in the van and off we went to Walmart to fully provision.....or partially provision.  We went to Walmart on a Sunday.  Filled our cart and went to the checkout.  When Steve put the beer on check out counter he was told "sorry, I can't sell you alcohol today, it's Sunday".   Ooooooooh so close but yet so far.  Oh well. 

Back to the Marina where our friends had decided we had to go to Patti's for dinner as it is a must stop.  They are famous for their 2 inch thick pork chops.  There were 14 of us for dinner.  The restaurant will provide a shuttle van to pick you up and take you back to your boat, no charge.  We asked how far it was and were told a mile.  Lee, John, Gail, Mike, Corrine, Robert and Steve and I decided if we were going to eat a 2 inch pork chop we had better walk there. 

It was such a nice walk.  The day had started to cool and just as we came to the corner we saw 3 very tame deer.  They didn't even flinch as I approached to take a picture.

We were enjoying the walk so much that we actually walked a little past the restaurant before we realized we were there.

Dinner was excellent, very reasonably priced and the portions were huge.  I had catfish and Steve had the famous pork chop.  I should have taken a picture before he started to eat but this will show you how thick it was.  You would think a pork chop cut this thick would be dry and tough but you could have cut it with a fork and it was cooked to perfection.

Dinner was done with enough left over for dinner tomorrow night.  It was 9pm and it was dark so we decided to take the shuttle back to the boat.  Tomorrow we leave our friends.  We will likely see our Canadian friends, Lee and John again but Mike and Gail and Corrine and Robert are turning off to Nashville before heading further South.  That is about a 300 mile side trip so we may not see them again but they will still be looping so there is always a chance we will.  We hope to meet them before we hit Mobile Alabama.

Kaye and Al crossed their wake here in Green Turtle Bay.  That means they have crossed the water where they started the loop.  They will be turning off and heading toward home in New Orleans.  I will be sad to see them go.  We learned lots from them and even when we weren't travelling with them Kaye was keeping us up to date on their whereabouts and inquiring on ours by text.  Or sometimes we just chatted by text as we travelled. 

We plan on spending some time at anchor playing on the Kentucky Lake for the next week or two.  Dexter will love to swim and having us all to himself.  We are also looking forward to some quiet time and home cooked meals on the barbeque.  

Now that we are off the Rivers we plan on slowing down and not travelling so many miles in one day.  We look forward to what new adventure lies ahead and new friends we haven't met yet as we live "One Bay at a Time." 

Green Turtle Bay to Commodore Yacht Club

We had planned on leaving Green Turtle Bay and heading South because we are booked to go to a Loopers rendezvous on Oct 4 to the 7th....or so we thought.  We had planned on anchoring in the lakes on the way to the rendezvous as we were told it would only take about a week to get there.  We got talking to some other Loopers and they told us they thought we had our dates wrong on the rendezvous...it's more like Oct 14-17.  Soooo what are we going to do with a month....we're going to Nashville.  Checked out the Grand Ole Opry for the time we thought we would be there and bought tickets for Blake Shelton, Scotty McCreary, Gaitlin Brothers....and possibly Rascal Flats.  We're off to Nashville!

 We pulled out of the Marina and said see you later...not good bye to our friends. 

We know we will catch up with Time Out and Aerial again as they are also taking a detour to Nashville.  Really hoping we will catch up with Knot Home, Al and Kaye Stirling.  Al snapped a shot of Kaye and I at dinner the other night. Steve calls her Lucy...love this woman, she has told us so much that we are about to experience.  Kaye and Al are from New Orleans.  They have experienced the horrific storms of Katrina and come back to live life to it's fullest.

There are no egos here.  The water doesn't care how much money you have....the water treats every one the same and Loopers tend to do the same.   We are not even half way on this journey but have already met some friends that we hope to know long after this journey is complete.

Stayed at anchor the last couple of nights.  The first night we stayed just 5 miles from Green Turtle Bay so it was a very short day.  Steve tried to catch us a fish dinner but no luck.

The next day we did a 30 mile day...which takes about 4 1/2 hours.  We cruised past Kentucky's only prison.  This is where they keep the worst of the worst they say. 

There are many barges on the lakes and rivers but we can see them with our navigation equipment and we can tell how far away they are and how fast they are going.  The barges usually travel much slower than we do.  Well we noticed one approaching going 11 knots.....we were travelling 7 knots.  It wasn't that far behind so we knew it would pass.  As it approached we could see it wasn't a barge but a cruise ship. "Queen of Mississippi".  This doesn't look like a narrow part of the river but it shallows outside the channel so we pulled off and let her pass. 

Stayed at another beautiful anchorage.  When we are at anchor we find it much easier to use the kayak to Dexter to shore, rather than the dinghy.  I'm not as good at it as Steve is and Dexter tends to fall off when I take him.  So, the other day while we were in Green Turtle Bay and went to Walmart we picked up some non skid material.  Steve attached some to the front of the kayak which makes Dexter's ride much more secure.  I can't remember....were we this good to our kids?  When the water allows..... Dexter would much rather swim and we would much rather see him exercised.

After a good day on the boat...one tired Jack.

Time sure flies on the boat and by the time we sat down to eat dinner we ate by a beautiful sunset.  Doesn't get much better than this.

Day is done....gone the sun...until tomorrow.

Left that anchorage and stayed at another about another 30 miles.  Easy travelling days.  We passed Fort Donelson and anchored about 2 miles past there so after we were settled we dropped the dinghy and went back to explore.

The next night we were at the town dock in Clarksville Tenn.  Isn't there a song about a train station....last train to Clarksville?...Monkeys?  All I know is I've been singing it all day!  We watched people fish and wake board as we sat on the back of our boat.  Everyone is so friendly.  We had 2 teenage boys come to the boat and ask Steve how much it cost.  Steve's reply.."well she's an old girl, not as much as she was worth in 1984".  The one kid said "well I give you props Sir". 

We got up and had a quick breakfast.  Just as we were finishing up I looked down and noticed I had been sharing my space with a little green frog.  This frog did not want to leave us.  After Steve put him on the dock we noticed him again on the side of our boat....so we put him on the dock...then as we left we noticed him on our fender. 

Off to our next anchorage.  We are taking our time getting to Nashville as our reservations are from Sept 20 - 22nd.  Grand Ole Opry on Sept 22nd.

This is big hunting and fishing country....somewhat like the Mississippi, they take their duck blinds very seriously.  This one even has a car port, or I mean boat port. 

We are getting closer the City of Nashville so we are starting to see more houses along side the river.  We noticed this one with a unique boat lift.  We figured you would actually have to board the boat on the lift and ride it down.

We arrived at our stop for the night.  There were a few houses at the entrance to the anchorage.  I found this one quite interesting.  Notice the lawn chair on the roof...guess that's  where they do their sun tannin. 

Once again a really nice anchorage with bluffs that reminded me of one of our favourite anchorages in Killarney.  We were up early to the sound of gun fire, yes it's hunting season.  We ate breakfast and pulled anchor on to Commodore Yacht Club.

What a great Marina this is!!!  $25 a night, free laundry and a huge piece of grass for Dexter to run off leash.  They also have what the call the party room.  It is huge tent with picnic tables.  2 kegs of beer on tap that you can help yourself to, on the honour system..... $1. for a red solo cup. 

The people are so friendly.  Two of the boater friends we left in Green Turtle Bay showed up here today.  We were talking with one of the boaters here and he pointed out a boat the Alan Jackson used to own.  All of you country music fans will know who he is.  Alan Jackson sold his boat but named it Lady J for his wife.  I think the boat went with the wife.  It is a beautiful boat and is actually aluminum not fibre glass or wood. 

Tomorrow is Nashville...."One Bay at a Time"