The last stretch of this Great Loop Trip would be the Illinois River to the Mississippi River to the Ohio to the Cumberland and on to Green Turtle Bay. The last several hundred miles would be covered pretty quickly since there aren't many places to stop once you hit the Mississippi. Even though we were nearing the end of our trip we still had many "firsts" ahead of us.
The first was tying to a barge mooring cell while waiting for a lock on the Illinois River. The river had been in flood stage lately and barge traffic was just starting to move again causing long delays at locks for us pleasure boaters. We got to the Marseilles (Mar-Cells in river lingo) lock and were told it would be awhile and there wasn't really a good place to wait. After floating around a bit and trying to stay out of the way we decided to pull over to a mooring cell and shut down the engines. The other boats must have thought it was a good idea because shortly everyone was tied up for the wait.
We got through after a couple of hours and decided to make it a short day by stopping at a marina just past the lock. This allowed the 8 boats to spread out a bit and made the next several locks less stressful. We covered as much ground as comfortable after that since the convenient stops were pretty spread out. We spent one night at the IVY Club just above Peoria IL. Not much to do in the area but we enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the boat after dinner.
The next day was another first for us as we went
over a dam!! It wasn't as exciting as you may think since it was a wicket dam where they are raised only during low water to keep the river open. Since we were traveling just behind the crest of the flood the wickets were not needed and we passed right over them. You can see the lock to the left in the picture below and the water is about to the top of it.
Later that day we passed a nice little town where we were tempted to stop but we hear that it's still illegal to go there. Maybe next year....
The next first for us was spending the night at a working barge company. The stop in Beardstown, IL was a good days travel from Peoria and the river being up made anchoring not a very comfortable option.
You really need to watch your step on these barges but the manager was a hoot and insisted on showing me around their newest tug boat, even let me spend some time "between the sticks"
If you ever get to Beardstown (and I don't know why you would) be sure to take a walk down Main St. and check out the Sazarac Bar. It doesn't look like much from the outside but the people are friendly and the ice cold draft is $1.50 a mug! I was tempted to get their namesake drink but decided to wait till we get to New Orleans for that.
Our next stop was Grafton, IL. where we spent 2 nights to rest up before starting the trip down the Mississippi. This would be our last marina before Green Turtle Bay almost 300 miles away. Its a nice little river town and the marina had a pool which really helped on a day when the heat index was over 100 degrees!!
We got started down the Mississippi at first light with the hope of covering over 100 miles. At the junction of the Illinois & Mississippi rivers is the shrine to Our Lady of the Rivers, we hoped she would be looking after us.
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| Sunrise on the Mississippi |
We were able to get through the only 2 locks we would see on the Mississippi without too much delay and were passing St. Louis by noon.
After St. Louis the river becomes very rural and there isn't much to see but you can't let your guard down as there is still debris and barge traffic to deal with. Thanks to a very favorable push from the river we were able to cover the ground we hoped for and were tied to a Corps. of Engineers barge just off the river before sunset.
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| Big Debris. |
The next day we were moving early again in the hope of covering even more ground. We made the turn from the Mississippi into the Ohio mid afternoon and were anchored below the new Olmsted Lock just before a strong line of storms hit. We were pleased to see the current in the Ohio wasn't too strong so we were still able to make pretty good time. We went from a speed of 13+ mph to just over 9 when we started up river. In the pic below you can see the line between the muddy Mississippi and the more blue of the Ohio.
We were moving at first light again the next morning hoping to get to GTB before dark. We knew there would be a delay at the dreaded Lock 52 but didn't know how long. We had heard from boats ahead of us that some had to wait overnight before getting through. First "lock" was the newest on the Ohio at the Olmsted dam. The dam is still under construction but the locks are used as a "pass through" to get past the construction. When finished in about 2020 this lock will replace locks 53 & 52 and make passage much easier on this part of the river. We had to follow a "helper boat" through the construction zone and were anchored below lock 52 by 10:00 waiting our turn.
Turns out we were able to get through 52 after only a 4 hour wait and it was beginning to look like we would make it to GTB!! Lock 52 is the oldest on the river and is a pretty decrepit lock...they are just hoping it holds together until Olmsted is finished. It is also a wicket dam but in this case the wickets were up so we had to use the lock.
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| Wicket Tender |
We pushed the boat up to about 2000 rpm's to be able to make the last 40 miles before dark, we usually run at 1500. We made the turn up the Cumberland river and knew it would be close but we pushed on. It was good to see an old friend looking out for us along the way.
We made it into the Barkley Lock just as the sun set and by the time we came out the other side it was pitch black! Good thing we only had a mile to go and we knew the way in!! We were safely tied up just a few slips from where we started the trip at 8:05 PM and commenced a celebration with our old Pier 5 friends until returning to the boat exhausted.
It was 11 months and 3 days from start to end and we covered 5745 miles during that time. It has been a great adventure and we're already looking forward to moving again after taking a break for a month. For any of you following back in Cincinnati we will be in town this Thursday for about a week and extend an open invitation to meet us Saturday at Oktoberfest!! We plan to get there early and spend the day so come on down for some Gemutlichkeit with old friends!!
I'm planning another post before we set out again with more totals and information about the Great Loop and our plans for the next adventure. Until then...Prost!!!!
