Bargain City

(Tuesday Sept 25 - Dist: 33.9 mi; Avg Speed: 7.6 mph;  TTT: 4:45 hrs)

Paris Landing State Park, a nice Marina, floating docks, good facilities, and superb rates.  $28.70 per night; electric, cable and water included.  On top of that we ate dinner at the Lodge, an all-you-can-eat buffet for $8.25.  The senior (Linda) even got a 10% discount on her meal.  The food was not gourmet but good: fried chicken, chicken and dumplings, roast chicken, chicken tenders and chicken livers.  You guessed it, it was chicken night and it hit the spot.

On Wednesday the four of us Tony, Shirley, Linda and I, golfed at the State Park golf course.  Hills, woods, birds and deer were par for the day.  It was very scenic and enjoyable.  $25 / person; cart and pick up included.  A six pack to go in an iced cooler was $13.  What a great day.  We plan on staying awhile to enjoy the surroundings.

The Quiet Life

(Sat. Sept 22 - Dist: 9.3 mi; Avg Speed: 7.2 mph; TTT: 1:15 hrs)

Your right not very far but after a great week of fine dining, swimming and playing tourist we decided to spend some time at the beautiful anchorages on Kentucky Lake. 

Pisgah Bay was a great choice; quite large with nice camping areas along a small part of the shoreline.  A beautiful, quiet spot very near the Rock Quarry.  I was expecting a little more of a party atmosphere since it was a weekend but I guess even here with the air temp at 85 and the water at 78, summer is over.  We did some exploring in the dinghy, some swimming and a fine BBQ on Q’s End with our friends on Headquarters.  The girls even let the guys win a few games of euchre; thank you girls.

Just a couple more shots of the decorated walls at the Rock Quarry and a serene morning view of our neighbours.

(Monday Sept 24 - Dist: 6.9 mi; TTT: 1:15 hrs)

After two pleasant relaxing days in Pasgah Bay we moved a little further down Kentucky Lake on the "Land Between the Lakes" State Park and wildlife areas.  This place, Duncan Bay, actually is a restricted refuge between Nov. 1 and March 15.  We were able to see a Bald eagle capture a fish and many Golden eagles flying around.  Herons and egrets were numerous.  A very nice quiet spot and a most beautiful evening BBQ'g on Q's End.

The beautiful evening turned into a windy morning about 3 AM and made it difficult to sleep with the waves slapping against the hull and the anchor rode making noise as we "sailed" in the wind.  It got worse when we tried to retrieve our anchor: we ended up pulling up one of those lounge chairs with the plastic ribs instead of the cheap nylon.  It was heavy and the windlass wouldn't handle it so the captain to the rescue.

Next stop Paris Landing State Park, TN for another mini vacation.

All the Way to Green Turtle Bay

(Saturday Sept 15 - Dist: 74 mi; Avg Speed: 7.5 mph;

        Locks: 3; LWT: 0 hrs; TTT: 11:45)

Locks #53 and 52 on the Ohio River are the worst, by far, of all the locks on the Great Loop.  Fortunately both will be replaced by the Olmstead Locks and Dam, that is if it ever gets completed.  I could not notice any progress from two years ago.

By the time I woke up the early birds had already arranged to lock through at 7:30 AM.  It was ugly.  The three largest boats were rafted together at the only flat section in the lock while the two shorter boats had to "back down" on a bow line.  Headquarters and Q's End were the lucky ones.  Toucan held both of us off the old rusty lock wall.  There were jagged bits and holes so fenders were not very effective.  With the help of Tony and Shirley we were thankful that there was little or no damage. 

After the two Ohio River locks and an incident of poor, discourteous, seamanship (fortunately no one was injured) by another Looper we had a very pleasant ride up the Cumberland River. 

For whatever reason there are numerous quarries along the river; huge, huge quarries.  The shoreline was interesting and does show the rock layers.  Here is a small cave or break in the wall.

Soon we arrived at the Barkley Lock and Dam.  At 57 feet this is one of the higher lifts thus far and one of the higher ones (#3 I think behind Wilson and Carillon) in North America.  We have done them all and even did the Carillon on the Ottawa River in our previous boat, the 18 footer.

Tony and Shirley on Headquarters

All five of us arrived at the Marina / Resort just after 6 PM and were greeted by some fellow Loopers, the Hawg Pit crowd from Grafton, who informed us that the van was picking us in 45 minutes to go to Patti's restaurant the institution in Grand Rivers... and a good time was had by all after a very long day.

Since there is only one day left of our week stay here as I write this, I figure I might as well fill you in on our mini vacation.  Green Turtle Bay has two pools, one an indoor pool with saunas and exercise room, a restaurant, a yacht club with good food and courtesy vans and golf carts to get around.

We took advantage of the van to go into the beautiful town of Paduach.  I just have to show more photos of the levee wall even if you remember them from 2 years ago.  Another meal of fine dining, we have done 5 so far, and some provisioning; mostly wine.

One day we managed to go golfing at a very fine course called Mineral Mound, a Kentucky State course.  On another, we went to the State Park on "The Land Between the Lakes".  Here we saw a herd of American Bison and some Elk in a conservation area.  The rest of the time was spent updating the blog and attending activities in or near the pool.  The indoor pool was a great spot for Happy Hours.

Do not be surprised if my next updates are a number of days away.  We are going to do some anchoring on Kentucky Lake.  It probably will be a good thing to ??? de-compress?? no, dry out?? maybe.  Anyway here are some more photos.

Kaskaskia Lock and Dam and Lock #53

(Thursday Sept 13 - Dist: 42.2 mi; Avg Speed: 11.0 mph;
        Locks: 0; TTT: 3:55 hrs)

Notice how the speed has gone up almost 2 mph.  That is the current of the Mississippi greater than the current of the Illinois river.  The trip was uneventful until we got to the lock.  There on the outside of the lock wall where others have docked, was three barges from the US Corps of Engineers.  The lock master said that there was room in front and some room in behind the barges closer to the dam.  The two big boats took the easy access and Linda and I went around to the back.  It was a good quiet spot, so quiet that no one helped us dock.

Headquarters and Toucan tried the first wall but found that it was too shallow there so they came over to our spot.  There was only room for one other boat on the wall so Toucan rafted to Headquarters for the night.

Sorry we have no photos from the lock wall; an oversight.

The next morning was rather interesting as we needed an early start for the long journey.  The wind had come up enough to make it difficult to get out of our hole behind the barges.  We eventually managed and headed for the Ohio River over 100 miles away.


(Friday Sept 14 - Dist: 136.6 mi; Avg Speed: 11.5 mph;
        Locks: 0; TTT: 11:35 hrs)

One of the highlights in our long day of travel was passing an old Mississippi river boat.  It has 350 staterooms and is plying the river like in the old days.

I still cannot believe how low the water level is on the river.  Here are a few shots that those who travelled with us in 2010, will not recognize.

Cape Girardeau is another town along the river that has built a flood wall.  Seems impossible that the water could rise that high.

Well we managed to reach Lock #53 before dark and got comfortably anchored for the evening.  A nice quiet BBQ on Q's End and we were all ready for bed.

The Mighty Mississippi ????

(Wednesday Sept 12 - Dist: 60.7 mi; Avg Speed: 8.0 mph;
        Locks: 2; LWT: 2 Hrs; TTT: 8:30 hrs)

T’was a fine day for travelling. The first little bit of the Mississippi River has cliffs on one side and the flats, a flood plain, on the other. Everything was fine until we arrived at Lock # 27, Chain of Rocks Lock. The main chamber was unserviceable because someone hit something and may have damaged a valve and there was a tow stuck trying to get into the auxiliary chamber. They must have raised the water level a bit in our pool because he finally got in after about an hour… then he was hard aground trying to get out of the lock. There was even another tug there and they took about another hour to free him. There was no raising the pool on the down side because there are no more dams on the Mississippi River; free sailing right to New Orleans.
 

After the 2 hour delay we carried on and soon went by St. Louis. Other than the Arch we could not see much. There is a concrete wall along the river to keep high water out of the city and we were very low. In fact Fern at Hoppies says the river is about 14 feet below normal for this time of year.  The water level has even dropped a further foot each of the last 2 days. I do not understand why the city of St. Louis does not have any marinas whatsoever. True there is a ton of barge traffic and commercial docks but one would think that you could fit in at least one marina. Oh well, we dodged all of the tows and the barges which were anchored in the river and made it to Hoppies by 4 PM.

The Mississippi River is a totally different river than 2 years previous. There are very few places where the water is turbulent and swirling and one can see all of the wing dams. Docking at Hoppies was a non event this time.All Linda and I could remember about our first visit here was the three attempts that The Old Grouch needed to dock at the barges.

This year it wasn’t exciting at all; actually fairly normal. Then I looked around. The wing dam just below Hoppies was a non issue the first time because I drove over it when we docked in 2010. The water was right up to the edge of the river bank so you can see how dramatic the difference is in just the 2 years.

With the low water levels we have been forced to move on because another 6 boats are expected to arrive today and they need our spots on the barge. Fortunately, the next stop, our only choice, is just 42 miles away so we wereable to go in and visit the pretty town of Kimmswick and eat lunch at the famous Blue Owl restaurant.

Off to Kaskaskia Lock and Dam.

Grafton IL

(Wednesday Sept 5 - Dist: 87.9 mi; Avg Speed: 9.7 mph;
        Locks: 1; LWT: 0 mins; TTT: 9:15 hrs)

It did not take us long to grab a cooler and head for the pool; refreshing after the long, wet, cold then hot day. While relaxing on Headquarters a soon to be Looper joined us to find out how the Loop was going. Evidently, he is starting the Loop in early October.

Our new friend John from Kansas City, on the boat Satisfaction, suggested while he was here with his car that he take us up the hill to the Aeries Winery. Wow. Not only were the views spectacular but the personal pizzas were very good; all made from scratch. Then after being dropped off we decided to check out the music and hilarity at Castaways Bar right behind the marina. The people are so friendly down here that we had a few drinks with this couple who turned out to be the owners of the winery and other properties in the area including a new Zip Line. Well we got along so well that they invited us to go “Rangering” after dark the next night. Yeah we had no idea either.

 

Following a trip to the Walmart Supercenter and some more fun at the pool we called our new friends and he picked us up in a Polaris Ranger ATV (All Terrain Vehicle). Up the hill we went and after another fine dinner at the winery we set off; off road that is. The Zip Line staff were determining if it was feasible and desirable to do after dark zip lining. Well it did look impressive with the lights on the helmets and people whizzing through the trees. We followed them down, all nine sections worth and then back to the winery for more supplies. My cooler held up but the owners are in a league by themselves and thus the restocking. With fresh supplies we headed out again into some rougher terrain and after going through a dried creek bed to avoid a locked gate we arrived at their condo. A quick tour, a fresh refill and down we went to town for a couple of nightcaps at one of the local establishments; one that I hadn’t been to yet although I must admit details are fuzzy from this point on. Wow, what a night.

The promised storm arrived while we were in the pool on Friday so we moved under cover and never missed a beat. We agreed that a Barbie and a more sedate evening was in order after are first two nights. Saturday was festival day; actually “Rockin’ on the River” day… Parties and live bands all over town.

We managed to take in 3 or 4 of them including a wine and food festival. Despite our best efforts we were well short of some of the other party goers. “C” Dock apparently did not quiet down until just before dawn. I had no trouble passin../// sleeping.

The best band however was at the biker bar the next afternoon, Sunday. Us and Headquarters decided to go to for an early lunch to the Wild Goose and ran into a fairly crusty barmaid. We think it was all show but I am not certain. It was then on the way back at the Hawg Pit, the biker bar, that we heard the band.

The place was packed with all of the neatest bikes and couples imaginable. We planned to stay for one beer but only left before the last set at 5 PM so that we could meet up with The Last Resort who we originally met in the Bahamas and periodically up the east coast.

We had planned to try the ribs right from the first day so we gathered up a bunch of Loopers, 12 in all, and went back to the Hawg Pit for a very good dinner of ribs. We were sitting on picnic tables, no tablecloths and a plastic fork but oh were the ribs so good. We decided to take it easy Monday and Tuesday in preparation for the trip down the Mississippi. I injured my knee somewhere over the previous few days so my mobility was limited: to the pool, to the Happy Hour and then to dinner.

Notice who is sitting on the one bike.

Grafton was a great stop and we had a great week but reality sets in on Wednesday.