Kentucky Lakes

The last time we went by the St. Louis Arch, it was cloudy and cold, the worst possible for taking pictures.  80 degrees and sunny this time.   There are no places to stop in St. Louis, so the view from the River was as close as we got. 

Hoppies Marine Service is the last marina for fuel or dockage for at least 225 miles so almost everyone stops there for a night.  Built on top of several barges and right on the main channel of the Mississippi, Hoppie's has its own charm, but little in the way of amenities.   The cleats, however, are more than adequate. 

After Hoppies, the next recommended anchorage is 110 miles downstream.  The last time we traveled this route, we made this stretch in record time with the aid of a fast current that we attributed to abnormally high water.  It seemed like the current was just as fast this time, even with low water, but we left at first light anyway to make sure we had enough daylight.  Here's the sunrise as we departed.

Ten hours of driving so Steve actually let me take the helm for a spell.  We passed many large tows going in both directions.  Fortunately the River is quite wide here and there's room for all.  In this picture you can see three of them and they are all moving. 

With the water down, wingdams were clearly visible. 

Here's an interesting chevron shaped "wingdam", another attempt to control the waters of the Mississippi, but certainly could take out a prop or outdrive if one were to stray out of the channel during high water when they are can't be seen like this. 

As we neared Mile 0 on the Upper Mississippi, where the Ohio enters it, we approached this long S curve.  If one were to stay on the Miss, this is how most of the Lower Miss looks.  Steve's new electronic toy is an AIS receiver.  Working through the VHF radio, it alerts us to commercial watercraft within VHF radio range.  Each little black triangle seen on the chartplotter represents a towboat.  The Ohio is BUSY.... if you click on the triange, it tells you the name of the boat along with direction and speed.  Quite fun and useful little gadget, actually.  Note also our speed of 12.3 MPH, pretty fast for an 8 mph trawler. 

When we turned into the Ohio, upstream, it was like putting on the breaks and we were barely making 7 mph.  We passed this cargo ship on the Ohio.  300' long, we had never seen a ship like this on the rivers before.   

This is a view of the Olmsted Locks, still under construction on the Ohio.  When complete, they will replace 2 older locks that will be removed.  It's a massive project that can't possibly be shown in one photo, but this one shows the locks (structure on left) and part of the dam (white structure on right). 

After about 50 miles on the Ohio, we turned into the Tennesee River.  We had taken the Cumberland River last time, so yippee, a new waterway.  We went by Paducah, Kentucky, no marinas here, but check out how high up that flood wall is, way up by the trees. 

After a short pleasant cruise with much less current on the Tennesee, we approached the Kentucky Lock.   With a 57 foot lift, this is a very high lock.  This lock carries all the local towboat traffic so cruisers often have to wait hours to lock through, but the lockmaster kindly let four of us pleasure boats lock through in front of this tow. 

After we cleared the lock, we took a turn to starboard and docked at the Kentucky Dam Marina, a huge marina, with good prices, great WiFi, and even cable TV.  It's a very sleepy little place, however, so tomorrow we are moving to Green Turtle Bay Marina for a week stay.  We are meeting our old buddies, Jack and Nan aboard the intrepid Eschaton, their 37' Gibson that took them around the Great Loop.  We've traveled over 900 miles in three weeks, so are ready to slow it down a bit and enjoy the Tennesee River.