St Louis to Green Turtle Bay, Kentucky

In one of our first blog postings describing our trip and the route we were taking, we referenced the western rivers of The Great Loop as the most challenging of the entire trip. Although we have had many challenges with wind, waves, weather, etc, the next 3 days of our trip down the Mississippi to the Ohio River to the Cumberland River was indeed the most challenging.
We departed Alton Marina early Tuesday, September 15th and met other loopers at the Melvin Price Lock just south of Alton. We now have a flotilla of 9 Looper Boats – “Mayalisa”, “Perfect Remedy”, “Meander”, “Rick ‘n Roll”, “Morningside”, “Sterling Lady”, “Riff Raff”, “Pookie II” – as we travel the ~300 miles to Green Turtle Bay Marina on The Cumberland River. The trip will take 4 days with limited resources (fuel, marinas, etc) along the way.
Having visited the arch over the weekend, we were thrilled to see this familiar structure from the waterway as we passed St. Louis. Unfortunately, there are no marinas or facilities in St. Louis for pleasure boaters to stop so we continued our journey to one of the most interesting “marinas” we will ever visit. Hoppies Marine Service is located at mile 158 on the Mississippi – 40+ miles from Alton Marina. Hoppies is a must stop not only because the next fuel stop is Green Turtle – 242 miles away – but is a great resource of information about the river. Hoppies is actually three very rusty 100 foot barges tied to the cliff with cables. Our “flotilla” arrived around 2:30 and took turns getting gas and tying up for the evening. The picture on the right is Hoppies with "Still Busy" tied to a barge on the inside. The barge we were rafted on had a leak and we heard the bilge pump emptying the barge ever hour or so all night. Hoppies is located at Kimmswick, a small village with very quaint shops, restaurants, and bakeries. We walked into town for shopping and arrived back in time for Hoppie and Fern to brief us on what to expect further down the river. This next picture is a "typical" sight on the Mississippi - barges, trains, industry. The picture to the right is an island on the river.

We decided to leave at first light on Wednesday with the intent of traveling 110 miles to our best anchorage out of the river at Little Diversion Channel – a narrow river that empties into the Mississippi. When we arrived at Diversion channel, we rafted in 2 groups – 5 in one and 4 in the other – some stern to stern. The current was not strong, we all settled for appetizers and drinks aboard and an early night. We are very encouraged by our fuel consumption as we are traveling with the flow behind us and have no doubt we can make the trip to Green Turtle for our next fuel stop.
The flotilla pulled anchor early on Thursday prepared for another long day on the River. Late morning, we turned off the Mississippi into the Ohio River. We have traveled over 200 miles on the Mississippi and will miss the current pushing us along as we now travel 50 miles up the Ohio with the current on our bow. We can feel the difference in GPS and water speed. We arrived at our first Ohio River lock mid afternoon and experienced the most difficult lock we have been in so far after ~150 locks. The lockmaster allowed us to lock through only if we don’t tie to the bollards and float in the middle of the chamber – 9 boats with 15 knot winds “floating” in the middle of the lock for almost 1 hour – a very exhausting experience! Here is a picture from our boat of all the boats "floating" in the lock. However, all passed the “bumper boat” test! When we arrived at our 2nd lock of the day, near Metropolis, Illinois, we were advised by the lockmaster to anchor below the lock for the night and we could all lock through in the morning. There were multiple barges and tows waiting in line to lock through and the lock will operate all night. The flotilla was able to find anchorage out of the channel and we all anchored separately after another long day of travel. We are now less than 50 miles to our weekend destination at Green Turtle Bay just north of Paducah.
Once again, the flotilla was up at first light to line up for our lock through - here is a picture of the flotilla as we waited for the lock at sunrise. When asked if we preferred to tie up to bollards or float in the middle we immediately reached a unanimous decision – all based on the previous days experience. We arrived at Green Turtle Bay Marina around 5 PM after fighting a lot of current on both the Ohio and Cumberland Rivers. In spite of the distance of 240 miles and the strong current after we left the Mississippi, we arrived with ample fuel. While at Green Turtle Bay, along with Betsy, Rick, Ron and Marji, we took advantage of the courtesy car and drove 26 miles back to Paducah to visit the Maritime Museum and the National Quilt Museum. Both were worth the trip. Paducah is trying very hard to be an “artsy” little rivertown and we enjoyed it very much.

The last 3 pictures are 1) Leaving the Mississippi into the Ohio Rivers, 2) Leaving the Ohio River into the Cumberland, and 3) arriving in Green Turtle Bay Marina after a long 3 days on the Rivers.
We now really look forward to traveling the short distance into the Tennessee River after spending the weekend at the marina on the Cumberland. In addition to the 9 boat flotilla, we were joined in Green Turtle over the weekend by 6 more looper boats as everyone is pacing to arrive at Joe Wheeler State Park in Alabama for the looper rendezvous. Our original plan was to continue up the Cumberland River to Nashville but, because we would like to travel home early October, we plan on leaving Monday and taking our time for a 400 mile trip up the Tennessee River to Chattanooga where we will rent a car and drive home for a few days. When we return, we will backtrack 200 miles down the Tennessee River to Joe Wheeler State Park in Alabama for the Looper Rendezvous in late October before traveling down the Tenn-Tom to Mobile.

Ottawa to St Louis - on the Mississippi

After a very enjoyable Labor Day at Heritage Marina near Ottawa, Illinois, we continued our journey down the Illinois River on Tuesday. At this point of the trip, there are not many choices for marinas nor good anchorages and proper planning is essential. Although we considered many anchorages along the way, we traveled over 70 miles because we were able to get a “slip” (tied to the gas dock) at The Illinois Valley Yacht Club for the night and joined fellow loopers “Pookie II”, “Rick and Roll”, and “Meander” for dinner across the railroad tracks at a local bar. The next morning, along with “Meander” we decided to bypass Peoria and continue our journey with the goal of reaching St. Louis for the weekend. The upper Illinois River is the least appealing part of our journey to date – very industrial with many barges – so we are looking forward to the Tennessee River in another few weeks! As stated in earlier posts, due to the Fish Barrier, it costs us $600 to be towed through the barrier created to keep Asian Carp out of Lake Michigan. Not only do Carp eat all vegetation and upset the environment, they also jump out of the water and are actually dangerous to boaters. (We witnessed a boater getting hit on the head by one!) When we arrived at our evening anchorage, we were very surprised to find a carp had landed in the dingy and joined us for a ride. Here is a picture of Jack holding our $600 Carp!

Our scheduled departure of 8 AM was delayed to after 9 due to heavy fog but we were still able to travel another 50+ miles to an anchorage behind Quiver Island at mile 121 (only 121 more miles to the Mississippi River). We joined Ron and Marji for appetizers on “Meander”, had dinner on “Still Busy”, and ran the generator so we could watch “America’s Got Talent” on the TV. Once again, due to heavy fog, our departure on Thursday was delayed until after 9 and but we still traveled to mile 46 (another 70+ mile day) to another anchorage at Buckhorn Island where we rafted with “Meander” for a pot luck dinner and early bedtime.
The lower Illinois River is much more appealing with less industry, fewer commercial barges, and trees and vegetation along the shore. This made for an easier trip on Friday. We arrived at the junction of the Illinois River and Mississippi River (mile 0 of the Illinois and 300 miles – 8 locks - from the Little Calamet River where we departed a week ago) mid-afternoon and were all amazed that we were at this junction of the trip. The “mighty” Mississippi River holds a lot of mystique and we were in awe. We continued for 15 miles to Alton Marina where we had reservations for the weekend. This is one of the nicest marinas we have ever seen – covered slips, new floating docks, swimming pool, hot tubs, and great shower facilities. A great place to stay for a few days and visit St. Louis. The next 3 pictures are our first view of The Mississippi as we departed the Illinois, rock cliffs on the River, and Alton Marina.

On Saturday, we rented a car for the weekend and drove the short distance into St Louis and spent the afternoon at the famous “Gateway to the West Arch” as well as an local art show near downtown. We also met some long time friends, Rick and Nanette Rice, for dinner at one of Jacks favorite restaurants in St Louis. Good food, good wine, great time reminiscing about our many memories together. The first picture is us at the top of the Arch and the next is dinner with the Rick and Nanette. On Sunday, we toured the “Lewis and Clark Museum” and did some much needed reprovisioning as we prepared to leave on Tuesday. Monday is devoted to maintenance day – change oil and filters, washing the boat inside and outside, etc. Once again, we look forward to continuing our trip but have really enjoyed the weekend in Alton and the St Louis area. We are 300 miles or so from Kentucky Lake and will slow down our journey at that point. Our plans are to travel up the Cumberland River for a side trip to Nashville as well as another side trip up the Tennessee River to Knoxville before reaching Mobile in early November.

Little Calumet to Ottawa, Illinois

We flew out of O’Hare on Friday, August 21st, for our return home. Hard to say this was a vacation since we are on a year long vacation but we did look forward to getting off the boat for a few weeks and visiting friends and family, especially our new grandchild. I guess one could say that this trip was a vacation from our vacation? Thanks to Jessica, our house was in perfect shape when we arrived home. On Saturday, we met many of “the crew” at Big Al’s for wings and beer at lunch and spent the remainder of the afternoon on the home dock visiting with friends. We marvelled at he heat and humidity...had not had any all summer !!!On Sunday, we traveled to south Charlotte for dinner at SouthPark Mall to celebrate Pia and Pia’s Mom Aili’s Birthdays. Great to be home for this event! The remainder of the week was spent working around the house, doctor’s appointments, visiting friends, etc, etc.
Jackie and Jackson came to the Lake on Friday for the weekend (the first picture is Jackson in the backyard and the 2nd picture is Jackson and Olivia) Jack's Mom, Sandra, and Ralph joined us on Saturday. Joe, Jen, Olivia, Bella (the dog) and Stella, along with Pia’s family - Mom, Juha, Laura, Nick, Kylie, Anna - visited on Sunday for a Griffin/Lehtela family event. This was our first chance to meet Stella and she is as beautiful as we had imagined. The next picture is Great Grandma Irene with new granddaughter Stella. Stella was born as we crossed Georgian Bay in July and we really looked forward to seeing her. We also look forward to sharing our memories with her of our day in the middle of the Bay when we heard she was finally here and her and Mom were fine. Thanks to Ron, Marji, John and Dottie for making this special day even more special.

Before we flew home on the 21st, we heard a Coast Guard broadcast on the VHF radio concerning a closure on the Illinois River due to an electrical “Carp Safety Zone” that had been established on the River to keep Asian Carp from swimming upstream to Lake Michigan due to the havoc the carp play on the environment. In effect, the Army Corp of Engineers, in order to keep Carp out of Lake Michigan, injects electrical current into the river as a deterrent to Asian Carp seeking cooler water upstream. This “Safety Zone” has been in effect for a few years but has not been as effective as planned so the Corp suddenly decided to increased the volts. Unfortunately, the effect of this increase on fiberglass boats had not been tested so the Coast Guard shut down the waterway until testing could be completed, essentially shutting down the Illinois River south of Chicago to pleasure boaters. We fully expected the situation to be resolved before our return but were surprised to learn that the River was still closed when we flew back on September 1st. However, a compromise was developed. Loopers could be towed through the Carp Safety Zone by a commercial tug at a cost of $600 per boat! Rather than waiting for this ridiculous policy to be changed (or waiting on the US Government agencies to make rational decisions), after gaining “permission” from the USCG, we departed Marine Services Marina on the Little Calumet River on September 4th to meet our tug “Buster White” for out tow beyond the safety zone. We arrived at 10 AM, tied to a coal barge (pictures above of Pia and Jack tied to the coal barger - dirty!) on the river waiting for our tow to arrive, rafted to the tow boat after signing a release that stated we would not sue the tow company if our boat exploded, paid our $600 ransom after disconnecting our battery cables, was towed the .7 mile journey, and were on our way to Joliet in 2 hours. We arrived at the town dock in Joliet (home of the prison that housed Al Capone) mid afternoon and were happy to beyond the fish zone. We joined Ron and Marji on “Meander” for cocktails and appetizers.
On Saturday, we departed Joliet for a 60 mile trip to Ottawa, Illinois for the Labor Day weekend. We joined other Loopers at Heritage Harbor marina, along with local boaters, for a great Labor Day weekend Some of the highlights were: Wii bowling (Pia won $45) and the 2nd annual Ducky Derby duck race along with music and dancing by a local band named The Mavriks. Loopers and local boaters all had a great time.
On Labor Day, we borrowed the courtesy car for a trip to Starved Rock State Park and an afternoon of hiking through the many trails overlooking the Illinois River. Beautiful rock(limestone) formations, and lush vegetation, the waterfalls, unfortunately, this time of year were somewhat dry, still beautiful! We joined 7 other Looper boats on the dock for a pot-luck dinner in the evening , the locals were gone, and we had the marina to ourselves!
We will leave in the AM for our continued trip. We should be in Peoria mid week. We enjoyed our “vacation home” but are happy to be back on the waterway! This final picture is Jack sitting on the bikes as we make our way down river - a leisure bike ride? ( Not much of a workout, but fun just the same !)..The passing boaters were somewhat confused !!!!