Tuesday, July 17

Sunset - in the Barkley Lock

Time out - Barkley Lock

Cumberland River

Cape Girardeau - flood wall on Mississippi

We got an early start to our day with a 5:30 am wake-up call.  There's not much of interest in the next 160 miles of the Mississippi except for more industrial development (mostly cement, coal and aggregate facilities)
Along this stretch you see hundreds of wingdams, stone walls of various lengths along both banks running more or less perpendicular to the river.  Their purpose is to deflect the river current towards the center of the river preventing erosion of river banks and creating a self-flushing action to curtail shoaling of the channel.  According to Fern, Proprietor of the renowned Hoppies Marina, they aren't very effective except for collecting silt.  She has one adversely affecting access to her dock, which might color her opinion on the subject.  Nonetheless, you better believe that the Corps of Engineers and elected officials are getting an earful.
If you wanted to, which we didn't, safe anchorages can be found behind many wingdams on the Mississippi.  As there are no marinas for hundreds of miles south of Hoppies, that is where you would have to spend the night heading for New Orleans.
At Cairo (Pronounced Kay-row), we turned onto the Ohio River to get more of the same.  This is a major repair and staging area for tow companies and not at all scenic.  The Ohio took us upstream 57 miles to the Cumberland River.  On the Ohio, the water seems clearer and less turbulent than on the Mighty Mississippi.  The two locks on the Ohio are old and cranky and will be replaced by one new lock, which has been under construction for at least 7 years.  It was hot and painful locking through.

Mississippi - wingdam

The  33 mile cruise of the Cumberland River offered a very different feel than the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.  After the first mile or so, the river narrowed and became bucolic and serene.  There was an intimacy with the surroundings.  Heavily forested shorelines were home to heron taking flight and cows cooling off in the water.
As we approached the Barkley lock, we thought we had it made.  ONLY ONE more mile to go.  Our long day, 247 miles, the most we had done in one day, would be coming to a close at Green Turtle Bay Marina on Lake Barkley, ONE mile past the lock.  We could see lightening coming from the South and East.  Little did we know that one of the strikes had fried the computer "brains" of the lock.  When we approached the lock at just before 5 pm in a downpour, we were informed that they had "issues".  Four hours and two false starts later, we locked through.  We had covered 246 miles in eleven hours, the LAST mile in 5 hours.  The entrance to Green Turtle is invisible in the dark.  Luckily, the boat that locked through with us was a local, and we were able to follow his lead.  I fear we would have run aground in the middle of Lake Barkley without his guidance.  At 9:45 pm, we staggered into a slip and passed out.  And no, it's not what you think.  This is a dry County!