September 30 Through October 3 (Click on the images to see and scroll them in full size)
We left Grafton and had a short trip to Alton marina where everyone topped off fuel, pumped out our black water tanks and topped off our water supplies for the long haul to Paduchah, TN. We would be anchored out or tied to a wall with no services for the next 3 nights.
Early on Saturday, we left Alton for another long run through the chain of rocks, one place you do NOT want to miss, because if you don't stay river left, and take the canal, you end up in rapids. Patriot is a stout ship, but I think running rapids is outside of her designed purpose. Our concern in this canal was that we not encounter any upcoming barges and that we not get slowed by down bound barges because since it is so narrow, passing is not a good option.
Next after the lock and chain of rocks was passing the Missouri Arch. About 17 months ago, my son and I passed through St. Louis and stood beneath the arch, looking out on the river. Today we passed the arch ON the river. It really does represent a gateway for us. As we passed, lots of pictures were taken of our "buddy boats" in our little fleet. Encore, Cavu, Grand Plan and Patriot.
That night we stayed on the lock wall just below the Kaskaskia lock and dam. We tied up with several other looper boats and had a quiet night. We left early the next morning headed toward Diversion canal, our anchorage for the night.
The run down to Diversion canal, was only 40 miles and was pretty uneventful. Anchoring there was not quite so uneventful. There was a group of 5 other loopers already in the canal and we had been told it would only hold 5 - 7 boats. Not getting in was not really an option so we were hoping that the loopers already there had been thoughtful and anchored further up the canal so we could get in. Thankfully, they did and we snuck in and anchored for the night. This was my first experience with a stern anchor to keep us from swinging around since the canal was pretty narrow. One other boat sent over a dinghy to help us deploy our stern anchor. Once again, loopers helping loopers.
We left EARLY Monday morning headed for our next stop, Boston Bar, which was our first planned stop, however the Mississippi current was really helping us along and we passed the bar around 11:00 am. This allowed us to be more aggressive with our destination, we decided try to get onto the Ohio river which would be running a current of 2.5 knots against us. We knew that this would make for a really long day on Tuesday if we did not make progress today.
We anchored around 2 PM after requesting permission from the Olmsted lock master. Chris and I took the Zodiac out to stretch our legs and help several other boats set their stern anchors so they did not swing into shallow water overnight. The anchorage had plenty of room for our boats, but had us rolling all night long as the wake from barges rolled straight into the anchorage.
Tomorrow on to Paducah. As interesting as it has been, I will not be sorry to see the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio river behind us. It has been a lot of work and a bit scary at times, but I have really enjoyed our traveling companions onboard Cavu, Grand Plan and Encore. The river would have been much more challenging without the extra sets of eyes and heads that definitely helped us navigate the rivers safely. I also can't stress enough how critical the briefing that we got at from Jeremy at Heritage Marina was to our ability to navigate this stretch of river safely. As we moved down the river, Jeremy was awesome, answering questions we would text him for updated anchorages and current conditions on the rivers. I cannot thank him enough for his dedication to keeping Loopers safe on the rivers.
Comments