We pushed off of Hoppies at 7:10 headed down river. Our “flotilla” of Moondance, R&R, Corkscrew, Roxanne, Diablo, Hotei and Quo Vadimus churned our way through the mud and the floating wood.

It was a long day in time (8.5 hours) and a long distance (96 nautical miles) trip. The current helped push us along at a pretty quick pace of 11.5 – 12.5 knots (about 14 regular miles). Much faster it would be harder to dodge the stuff.

We passed four “up bound” tows. Two of them were fully loaded and they were really working hard to battle the current. Out the back there was a 4′ wave of water. It was very hard to get through. One of the boats is a smaller houseboat, they needed to be careful they didn’t get swamped.

The two that we passed “down bound” were nice enough to slow some so we could scoot by.

It was a tough day, it was paying attention and driving around the debris. Susan and I traded driving, even though we were pretty pleased to get to the anchorage.

The “flotillia” anchored in Little Diversion River. The river is the drainage system for storm water runoff for Cape Giradeau,MO. It normally is a good place to stay, and for us it works for tonight. It would not have worked a few days ago since it would have been spewing trash from the town down river.

Moondance went in first to scope out the space. Lots of deep water because of the river being high, but not a lot of current. They anchored and R&R moved into place next to them. We went next and anchored a little farther up river, closer to the rail bridge. Roxanne came up and tied along side of us after deploying their anchor. The others soon followed and we were anchored. The crews of Roxanne, Moondance, R&R helped get lines tied to the shore to keep us from swinging in the wind.

They also grabbed a large log that was heading downriver towards us and were able to shove it into the mud along the bank. It was a good thing they had caught it, if it had gotten hooked into our anchor chains, we would still be there.

It is great to have other people around, traveling in the “flotilla” has made everyone feel safer and more secure. This is one of the few times we’ve rafted up on the trip (last was in Canada) and I know that I was happy to have the crew of Roxanne next to us watching for issues. (Plus they are really nice people, lots of fun to talk to!)

For dinner we had Susan’s Noodle Casserole, she calls “Train Wreck”. It’s one of our favorite meals and it was nice to have a filling hot meal after such a long day. The 96 miles is our longest single day ride to date.

We were both exhausted and were in bed about 9PM.

Goal in the morning is to get up past lock 52 on the Ohio River so we can do the Cumberland in full daylight.

We left Alton early in the morning on Wednesday, our second day on the mighty Mississippi. At Alton Marina we had met the crew from Corkscrew they also wanted to leave first thing. So we talked about 7AM and were on the water at 7:30. The first lock was only a mile from the marina and we got right in. This was the second lock on our trip (the other was on the Erie) where we didn’t tie up, we just floated in the middle. There was a ton of trash outside the down gate in a swirling mess, so it took time for both boats to pick our way through it.

From that lock to the next is a no wake zone, so it was slow going through the industrial areas. Seeing all the barges and company docks really drives home how busy the river is and how much commerce is still done by water. The next lock was empty and we were quickly into it. Inside we found that two of the floating pins were missing so that made tying up to the wall a small issue. Eventually both boats found working pins and were ready for the 20′ drop. .

The Missouri river enters into the Mississippi just below the second lock. We were able to feel the current pick up and push us along the river. Our average speed on the river was about 10 knts, but we use only about 3.5 gallons for an amazing 11 MPG. We should get that again when we leave for the next 158 miles. So my calculated fuel burn of 140 gallons will be far less. As we turn up the Ohio we will be battling a 3 knot curren, so it wull be higher. I still feel comfortable about being able to do the entire leg on 400 gallons.

We got to Hoppies Marina in Kimmswick about 2 PM. All of the Loopers stop here, it’s the last fuel, food, etc for the next 250 miles. The marina is five long flat top barges that are tied end to end. We get smacked around some by the barge traffic that comes up and down the river. Hoppies is important to the Looper world, if they close then Loopers will need to go from Alton Marina to Grand River KY marina. Depending on your speed 4-7 days without a marina does not make it fun.

Since it was early in the day we walked to the “Blue Owl Restaurant and Bakery” with the crew of Corkscrew. The “Blue Owl” has been shown a number of times on the Food Channel, it’s a popular place for people to come. They are known for their baked goods. They are only open for a late breakfast and lunch until 3PM. After a great lunch (and why yes, we did have strawberry-rubarb and Snickers pie!) we headed to sightsee. We walked around the town of Kimmswick to look at all the little shops and stuff.

At 4:30 there is a daily briefing on what the river is doing and how to navigate it. Fern has lived on the river and she gives a great briefing on what we can expect. You can read the entire Fern Briefing here.

There was a small Docktails with the crews from Toba, Midas Touch,Corkscrew and Quo Vadimus and of course Fern. Corkscrew brought some salted snacks that had Wasabi on them, I have not breathed this well in years …

For dinner Susan reheated the ribs we had purchased in St. Louis at “Pappy’s Smokehouse”. They wonderful, there is enough for another meal. When they wrapped them, the used foil and plastic wraps so the juices were still in the meat.

Starting Thursday night it rained off and on, we got about ½ inch over night. It was clear in the morning, with the storms to the north of us. Our friends on Toba took advantage of storms moving NE and headed down the river. I’ll need to find out later if that worked out well for them at the anchorage that night, since there was another band of storms heading toward Cario, IL

About noon a Riverboat landed and disgorged 150 people. They were part of a package to ride the boat then eat at the “Blue Owl”, shop in Kimmswick and then take a bus home. The companion trip was to take a bus here, eat, shop and then take the boat home. If you want to do this trip, pick “down on the boat” since that takes 2 hours. Up on the boat in the current takes 3-4 hours.

The rains continued on and off all day long. It’s a concern since they got lots of rain in the north (in Grafton, about 7”) so the water levels are rapidly rising and will rise across the next few days as the water moves down the river.

Side note: I’ve never really cared much for hydrology, the study of water on the planet. Before the trip I was pretty much limited to tides and watching water pushed by storms. I’m now on the government sites watching the rise and fall of water levels, current flows, rain fall and what it’s doing to the water levels, etc. I can now follow the lumps of water as they head down stream and what their effects will be on my plans. For example, we plan to anchor out in a river that will have a 5′ rise in a 24 hour period. That means I need to remember that I’ll move up at least 2′ while I’m anchored and need to compensate for it.

Once the riverboat left we walked into town to get a mid-afternoon pie snack. There was pie left, but the 300 person lunch crowd had left their mark. Susan had pecan pie while I had cheesecake. On the way back we mailed postcards, getting back to the dock moments before it started raining again.

The briefing at 4:30 was brief, since it was all repeat boaters. The big concern of rising high water and trash had us decide to stick to our plan to stay over one more night.

On Friday Susan and I slept in some, since sleeping through the barge traffic had been fitful. About mid-morning we got a taxi/van and with the crew of Corkscrew did some shopping. The nearest town was about 6 miles away, all in all we went to four different places. The taxi bill was only $30 ($2 a mile) , pretty decent for all the running around we did.

We napped in the afternoon. Just before the 4:30 briefing, the Roxanne arrived from Alton. Two more boats are scheduled for later.

Around 6:30 PM we had potluck dinner with the crews of Diablo, Hotei, Roxanne, Midas Touch, Corkscrew and us on the Quo Vadimus. It was good conversation and we broke up about Looper midnight for bed.

Sleeping was rough, lots more tows were on the water moving up and downstream. The downstream tows pretty much go with the flow, but the upstream ones really struggle to make headway. For that reason the wakes behind them are very very large. Not looking forward to passing these guys in the next few days.

Below is the note that I took during the briefing at Hoppie’s Daily Boater Meeting. It’s run by Fern, she goes through a long list of items of importance to boaters going the next 250 miles. It’s a Looper tradition to attend the meetings. Fern is a very nice person, she’s been on the river all of her life and offers up some interesting comments.

Hoppie’s Daily Briefing – 4:40 PM CST

Admiral from the “Toba”, Fern , Admiral from the“Corkscrew”, Susan, Captain of the “Corkscrew”, Foster

When leaving in the morning – look below swim platform for large debris. Remove if needed. Start engines and tap into reverse to blow debris forward of the propellers out of the way. Wait a minute for debris to move and do it again.

To leave Hoppie’s dock – keeping a midship line, remove all other lines. Right Rudder, release midship, apply forward to port only. Bow will swing into the river. Drive directly across the river into the channel THEN move downriver.

When in the channel STAY in the channel. There are wing dams and dikes, sometimes they are below the surface and you can’t see them. STAY in the channel.

Tow operators want use VHF13, the navigation channel, on their radios. They do not use mile markers as a location, they use the info in the yellow boxes on the charts. (For example on chart 132, coming up river Hoppie’s is between Foster Light and Foster Upper light, Glen Park Light is down river 2 miles) Use that information when you contact them.

A diving buoy is one that comes up to the surface and then dives below the surface. This is caused by debris on the anchor line. At some point the debris will clear and the buoy will come shooting to the surface. Stay away. Note it’s location, since it may not surface again for awhile and steer around / away from it.

Critical turn list (these are the three most dangerous turns on the next section, but look at all the turns and take appropriate action) For each of these call on VHF13 to tows below (using the yellow box info) to see if anyone is down there.
– Chart 136/135 Mile 132-130 Crook Light, mile below is Establishment Bar Light. Run the RED buoy line
– Chart 144 Mile 85-83 Fountain Bluff, mile below is Wittenburg. Run the RED buoy line
– Chart 156 Mile 5-2 Birds Point / Greenfield Bend. Run the GREEN buoy line

Tows sometimes come apart. When they do the barges are silent, dark and don’t stay in the channel. When anchoring out, get out of the river or put something big and solid between you and the barge.

At night at anchor leave radios on VHF 16. If other Loopers need your attention / need your help, they will use VHF 16 to call.

Anchorages

Chart 138 Mile 118 – Kaskaskia Lock – (41 statute miles 36 nautical miles from Hoppies) Call Lock master on VHF14 for permission. Tie up on the wall on the South (Dam side), or anchor into the area below the dam. There are cleats. Do not tie to the fence. Call the Lock Master to get permission to leave the boat to walk your puppy. This is a popular place to tie up, and it’s because the Lockmaster allows it. Don’t mess it up for other boaters.

Chart 145 Mile 78-74 – Emergency anchorage behind the dike. It’s the third one coming down river. Go down and come back up into it. (My chart does not show it as a “L” shape. Fern verified it’s an L shape now. )

Chart 149 Mile 48.8 – Little Diversion Channel – (111 statute miles, 96 nautical miles from Hoppie’s) Good anchorage, but do not use in case of a flash flood. (Rain is predicted for tonight and Thursday, look at the weather reports). Room for a number of boats, depth is good. – When leaving this anchorage, call in both directions. It’s a long sweeping curve with turbulence. Stay in the channel.

Chart 156 Mile 3-2 – Angelo Towhead – ( 45 statute miles, 42 nautical miles from Little Diversion Channel) Do not stay here, trash and debris comes down the inside slough and will smack into your boat. Instead use the next place

Ohio River Chart 4 Mile 966 – Right Descending Bank (65 statute miles, 55 nautical miles from Little Diversion, 112 nautical miles from Kaskaskia Wall) – Remember we are going upstream, so the RED markers are on the RIGHT. The RDB is on the left side going up. Olmstead Public Access, Anchor in the little cove off of the ramp.

Ohio River Chart 14 Mile 923 – Left Descending Bank ( 108 statute miles, 91 Nautical miles from Little Diversion) – Go up into the chute and anchor. Come back out the same way to continue up the Ohio river. Do not cut the corner, go down around the marker. This anchorage will shield you from the tow wakes.

Locks

No locks from Hoppie’s to the Ohio River. Two working locks on the Ohio. The Olmstead Lock is not open yet /still. Both have wickets and it’s possible the wickets are down and we can sail over them. Call ahead on VHF13 to ask. Note that the anchorage at Mile 966 ( The Olmstead Public Access) is before the two locks, it is a good place to make a decision on how far to go.

(Crew of Midas Touch arrive at 5:00 PM)

Lock 52 at mile 939 is having repairs done on the chambers, it may be slow going through it.

For a variety of reason Fern does not recommend going through the Kentucky Lock. She recommends taking the longer but will end up being a much faster route farther up the Ohio and then down the Cumberland. She recommends doing the Cumberland route in daylight. It’s narrow and twisty.

Once we clear the Barkley lock, Green Turtle Bay Marina is about two miles away. Stay in the channel, do not cut the corner. It’s shallow and rocky.

In case of trouble call Gordon, Tow Boat US (270-994-9177 and 270-362-1043) for help. He comes from Green Turtle, so it may take some time for him go get to you, but he WILL get there. Check that you have full Tow Boat US coverage.

River is presently dropping 1.5 feet per day. (Wed / Thursday rain may change the rate). When anchoring, make sure you factor in the 1.5 foot drop to make sure you can get back out.

/end 5:20 PM

After meeting discussion:

From Olmstead to Green Turtle is 75 statute miles 65 Nautical miles
From Anchorage at Mile 923 to Green Turtle is 32 statute Miles, 29 nautical miles

It sounds like the best plan is to do:
Hoppies to Little Diversion – 96 nautical miles, about a 10.5 hour day (depending on barges)
Little Diversion to Olmstead – 55 nautical miles, about a 6.5 hour day
Olmstead to Start of Cumberland – 43 nautical miles, two locks 5 hours plus locks
Cumberland River to Green Turtle – 29 nautical miles, about 3.5 hours

Olmstead to Green Turtle – 65 nautical miles, but has two locks, could be long day. Choice if both wickets are down. Cuts a day off the trip.