Category: Mississippi River

October 21, 2017, Saturday

The Mississippi River begins its winding journey to the Gulf of Mexico at Itasca State Park in Minnesota as a minor 18-foot wide knee-deep river with an average flow rate of 6 cubic feet per second. From Itasca, the Mississippi River flows north to Bemidji, Minnesota where it turns east, and then south near Grand Rapids. A hundred miles downstream from New Orleans it empties into the Gulf of Mexico with an average flow rate of over 600,000 cubic feet per second. According to the US Geological Survey, the length of the river is 2320 miles, we are traveling only 217.9 of those miles. We entered the river at the junction of the Illinois and Upper Mississippi Rivers, mile marker 217.9, and will end the Mississippi portion of our journey at mile marker 0.0 of the Lower Mississippi, at the junction of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, a small portion of the river and our overall journey, but still challenging with its array of barges, fast current, and never-ending mass of debris.

We were up before sunrise and left the Kaskaskia Lock wall at first light.  At Fern’s briefing one of her tips was; “Anchor in a protected area, away from runaway barges, we haven’t had any for several years but you can never be too careful.” As we turned to port leaving the Kaskaskia River to reenter the Mississippi we heard a U.S. Coast Guard announcement that there were several runaway barges reported at mile marker ninety-four. Fortunately, that was downstream of us and if we came across them they would either be floating ahead of us or stuck on the bank. By the end of the day, we saw two on the bank, one on a sand-bar, and three that had settled against another set of barges.

Our normal cursing speed is 6.5-7 knots.

But on the Mississippi, we are running 9.5-11 knots.

Today’s sun shimmered on the water and the sky was a dazzling blue, great for picture taking but very difficult for spotting the multitude of logs floating towards Andiamo.

Just south of Cape Girardeau, MO we crabbed our way into the Castor River Channel Division and anchorage in 20-feet of water. The reviews of this anchorage indicated mosquitoes would be quite abundant so we prepared the evening evasion. However, even with both the temperature and the humidity in the eighties they never arrived, which made us very happy.

We spent the evening decompressing, watching Arizona State devastate Utah 30 to 10,  visiting with friends and family via text and phone, and preparing for tomorrow. Tonight we are at mile marker 48.8 on the Mississippi River and, if all goes well, we will leave the Mississippi River tomorrow and start up the Ohio River.

October 20, 2017  Saturday

Four Looper boats spent Thursday evening at Hoppie’s, the crews on s/v Seaductress and m/v Grayling were up at the crack of dawn preparing for a 110-mile day while the crews on Courageous and Andiamo opted for a less stressful 42 miles, which will mean a 68-mile day on Saturday.

While we were cruising to Hoppies, we heard an announcement that said the Mississippi River would be closed starting October 17 from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm, but the announcement didn’t say for how long and we do not travel on rivers at night. This closure was just 12 miles south of Hoppie’s and at her briefing Fern suggested that someone call the Coast Guard to check on the closure. We tried to call, no answer. On the web, it said the river would be closed but didn’t say for how long or for whom. What to do? We knew that m/v Wandering Star just went through that area so we contacted Pat and she said they had no problem. As far as we could determine it was closed to commercial traffic from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm but not to recreational vessels.  Both s/v Seductress and m/v Grayling called to let us know they had no problem so forward we marched, make that cruised, on down the Mississippi. Turns out, they were stringing a cable across the river and commercial traffic was restricted to nighttime hours.

At the Kaskaskia Lock in Modoc, IL we were allowed to tie to the wall as long as we didn’t leave trash or go up the ladder to the dam. So, for our first “locktails” we joined m/v Courageous crew Terry & Joanne and m/v Blue Haven crew Allen & Lila on Courageous. It was a splendid evening with a beautiful sunset. The highlight of the evening was when Captain Terry sang his newly penned song of finishing the loop. This was especially meaningful to Rick and I since we expect to “Cross our Wake” in less than a week.

October 19, 2017  Thursday

The lockmaster at the Mel Price Dam (mm 200.8-11 feet) likes for all recreational boats leaving Alton Marina to arrange a time to lock though together. This morning there were only two of us, m/v Courageous, crew Terry and Joanne, and Andiamo. We left the marina at 7:00 am and were entering the lock at sunrise, another lock that we were allowed to float through.

Our next lock, Chain of Rocks, was 15.8 miles away. By the beginning of the 1940’s the Mississippi River had been “tamed” by a system of locks and dams from Minneapolis to Alton, but seamen still faced the challenge of navigating a series of rock ledges and shelves that extended from the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers to St. Louis. The solution, the US Army Corps of Engineers designed and built the Chain of Rocks canal to bypass the area.

At the end of the canal is the double chamber Chain of Rocks lock and dam (mm 185 – 7 feet). As Andiamo and Courageous entered the auxiliary chamber m/v Cherokee entered the main chamber. Again we were allowed to float but this will be our last time floating. We have three more locks, two on the Ohio and one on the Cumberland, both will be going up which is usually more turbulent than going down so we will use the bollards to transit those locks.

The Saint Louis Harbor was all it promised to be and more, many tows and barges moving on the river with even more anchored along the side. The current was swift and lots of logs peppered the river. A bit tense but all went well and we were at Hoppies Marine Services and tied to their barges by 12:30. Hoppies is legendary. Started in 1936, Hoppies father lit the kerosene navigational lanterns on this part of the Mississippi River and now Hoppies wife, Fern age 80, gives an evening briefing on the current stages of the river in terms of anchorages, locks, and other factors concerning the navigation of the river. The briefing was very beneficial, we learned about anchorages that are no longer viable, an anchorage that we were not aware of, and wing dams. Wing dams are barriers that extend partway into a river and force water into a fast-moving center channel. This slows the water flow near the river banks and reduces the rate of sediment accumulation in the channel.

Tonight we have a train track 1000 feet from our port side and the Mighty Mississippi on our starboard. Current is strong and wakes from tows/barges promise to keep us rocking all night. The next marina and the next chance to get fuel is in Paducah, KY, 205 miles away. Our decision for tonight is, do we go to the Little River Diversion Channel, 110 miles away, or to Kaskaskia Lock just 41 miles away. With the current Kaskaskia will be a short day but 110 miles on the Mighty Mississippi will be a long day. The portion of our trip from here to Green Turtle Bay promises to be quite interesting. Our friends that left Alton on Monday arrived at Green Turtle Bay tonight. I texted them to see how the trip was I got a two-word response, IT SUCKED!

October 15-18, 2017  Sunday-Wednesday

Alton, just across the Mississippi River from the slave state of Missouri, became an important town for abolitionists and the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was a scattered system of homes, barns, churches, and other structures where people were willing to risk their own lives to hide the runaway slaves. One such station was the Hanson Mansion in Alton. Built by Nathaniel Hanson in 1857 it was designed to serve as a hiding place for slaves pursuing their freedom. Hanson, who was closely involved with the abolitionist movement in Alton, had the foundation of his house dug to a depth of fifteen feet so that rooms and narrow passageways could be carved into the limestone to hide runaway slaves. The ornate cupola on the roof of the mansion was used to signal runaway slaves, two lights meant danger while one light indicated it was safe for them to cross the Mississippi River.

The abolitionist Reverend Elijah P. Lovejoy, an advocate of free speech and the abolition of slavery, was murdered by a pro-slavery mob as he tried to protect his printing press from being destroyed.

The Gentle Giant of Alton was Robert Pershing Wadlow, the tallest person in human recorded history. Robert was eight feet eleven inches tall, had a wingspan of nine feet and wore a size 37 shoe.

The rustic 1904 General Store, hand-carved in Germany’s Black Forest, was part of the German exhibit at the St. Louis 1904 World’s Fair. In 1905 the building was purchased and moved to Alton, to become a photography studio and is now an old fashion candy store & gift shop.

The town is also a known as one of the most haunted small towns in the United States. Want to know more? Read Haunted Alton! by author Troy Taylor.

On Monday Rick serviced the engine while I did laundry, cleaned the boat, and served as ‘gopher’ for Rick. At the end of the day, we joined other loopers and travelers for docktails and tall tales about their adventures. Many of them plan on leaving tomorrow, loopers will continue their Great Loop adventures and the other travelers will make their way to Florida, the Bahamas, and Panama for the winter. Interesting people with great stories.

Tuesday we had a great afternoon at the National Great Rivers Museum.  The museum, located adjacent to the Melvin Price Locks and Dam, is operated by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and tells the story of the Mississippi River via interactive displays, two video presentations, and a tour of the locks. We were lucky, the M/V Kylie Brown out of Houston, TX was locking through with a liquefied gas barge while we were there. When entering and leaving the locks the tow is only going about one knot. The video is 12x the actual speed. The two videos were “Power of the River” which shows the Mississippi River from its source to the mouth exploring the culture that lives along its banks and the “Lewis and Clark: A Confluence of Time and Courage” which tells the story of the Corps of Discovery from an Army and Native American perspective.

Andiamo’s fuel and water tanks are full, the holding tank is empty, and she has been well provisioned and we are ready for an early departure tomorrow.

 

 

 

October 13-14, 2017  Friday & Saturday

Fri: We stopped in Grafton, located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, to pick-up a package from Ranger Tug containing the needed parts for servicing Andiamo’s engine. We were going to service the engine there but decided to go to Alton instead, a short 16 miles away.

We have experienced rain and gray days for a week and were really hoping for blue skies today but it was misty and gray with few great picture taking opportunities. However, even with the gray skies, it was beautiful as we entered the Mississippi River and cruised past eagles, pelicans, tows, Our Lady of the Rivers, and the Piasa mural on our way to Alton.

The Legend of Piasa – In 1673 Jacques Marquette reported that he and fellow French Explorer Louis Jolliet discovered a painting of what was probably two “Water Monsters” on the bluffs of the Mississippi River near present-day Alton. By 1700 those pictographic Creatures were no longer visible. In 1836 the novelist John Russell described an image cut into the bluff of a legendary dragon-like creature with wings. According to Russell, the creature was called Piasa, “The bird that devours men.” That version of the pictograph as well as myths about the Piasa has become prominent in Folklore.

We have been pulling our dinghy behind Andiamo since Florida and decided that we did not want to tow it down the Mississippi River, so we spent the afternoon cleaning the dinghy. We’ll let it dry overnight and finish taking it apart, the key will be trying to store it in a 25-foot boat that is already fully loaded.

Sat: We had breakfast with fellow loopers, went to the last farmers market of the year in Alton, had docktails and dinner with fellow loopers, and went for a long walk. Life is good! In between social activities, we managed to finish the dinghy. While the floorboards, paddles, and seat have been stored throughout Andiamo the dinghy itself is in its storage bag and will ride in the cockpit.