Thursday, July 19

Bill's Boat Sinker Pie - Patti's

World famous 2" pork chop - Patti's

Over sized houseboat - Lake Barkley

Kayaking on Lake Barkley - large tow in backround

HOT - seems to be a reoccurring theme as of late.  We could see a morning breeze on Lake Barkley and decided to launch the kayaks and check things out. 
Boaters here love their houseboats and it appears the bigger the better.  No matter what your vessel of choice, it was a great morning to be on the water,

Dolphin for barge tie-up- Lake Barkley

We paddled out to catch a view of the "infamous" Barkley Lock and the huge dolphins that barges tie to while waiting for a lock opening.  Our timing was perfect as a large tow was just about to exit the lock.  The barges looked big while passing them along the various rivers, today in a kayak they looked gigantic.
A swim in the pool, followed by a massage for Charlie and facial & pedicure for Kathy, was the perfect way to beat the heat of the afternoon
The heart of Grand Rivers, "The Village Between the Lakes", is Patti's 1880's Settlement.  It is "world famous" for their 2" thick pork chops, mile- high meringue pies and flower pot bread.  The place includes six gift shops in a recreated historical log cabin village,  gardens, gazebo, wedding chapel,  streams, miniature golf, remote control cars & a rock wall.  The employees wear period costumes - in other words - your basic tourist trap.  Everyone said that we needed to go .........  so tonight was the night. 

Can't believe I'm really here - Patti's

 

 

Besides, we just had to try for ourselves one of their famous pies - Bill's Boat Sinker.  We don't even want to know the amount of calories consumed and that is after bringing half of the entree back to the boat with us.  The food was actually quite good, despite the atmosphere which was over the top. 

Wednesday, July 18

Green Turtle Bay Marina & CYC

Cocktail hour - CYC

Commonwealth Yacht  Club - Green Turtle Bay

The Land Between the Lakes, or LBI as it is locally known, with Lake Barkley to the east and Kentucky Lake to the west, is the largest inland peninsula in the United States.  Created with the damming of the Tennessee River & the Cumberland River, it was officially designated a National Recreation Area by President Kennedy in 1963.  It is approximately 80 miles long and comprises 170,00 acres of wilderness.
The parkland provides many recreational opportunities ranging from fishing, kayaking, camping, hiking and biking - truly a great playground in the heartland.
Paducah is a community that we passed on the Cumberland River and many times on I-24 while traveling to Nashville (during Kristin's college years) and Florida.  It's the kind of place that you might stop for gas, a quick meal or at a roadside inn - you never actually see the community.

Flood wall - Paducah, Ky.

It happens to be the regional commercial hub for this area and we found ourselves headed there to re-provision the boat, i.e. get some wine.  It actually has quite a nice downtown, notably the riverfront where the flood wall features a series of hand painted murals depicting a variety of river scenes.
Our evening was spent at the Commonwealth Yacht Club, located in the middle of our marina and a reciprocal member of the American Yacht Clubs.  The members were entertaining and very welcoming and our dinner of lobster tempura (in Kentucky?) absolutely delicious - our kind of place.  It is BYOB, just like the Ritz used to be, lockers & all.

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!

Monday, July 16

View of Mississippi from Hoopie's

Main Drag - Kimmswick, MO. (pop 200)

Post Office - Kimmswick, MO.

Anheuser Estate Museum - Kimmswick, MO.

Dockage at Hoopie's Marina

Charlie & Fern - Hoopie's Marina

The Gateway Arch - St Louis

Chain of Rocks Lock - Mississippi

We left our slip at 9:00 am to begin our 60 mile cruise to Kimmswick, MO. & the World Renowned Hoppie's Marina.
For the first several miles leading to St. Louis we were the only boat on the river.  Near Portages des Sioux, MO., we noticed the Our Lady of the Rivers Shrine.  It dominates the shoreline and required closer inspection.  Soon after passing Alton and the Argosy Casino (where we didn't roll the dice), we entered the Mel Price Lock.  With only a 20 minute wait for it to be prepared for our lock-through, it was relatively painless.
We we not so lucky at the Chain of Rocks Lock where we were delayed for over an hour to lock due to the barge traffic.  These Mississippi locks are huge and take awhile to fill & empty.  In the near 100 degree heat it seems like forever.
As we approached St. Louis, The Gateway Arch came into view.  Forty seven years old in 2012, this famous landmark rises high above the Mississippi as a memorial to the western migration of our forefathers.  The barge traffic was quite heavy throughout this highly industrial stretch of the river.
We arrived at Hoopie's fuel dock by 1:30 pm.  We had to top off our fuel tanks as this is the only place to get gas for the next 247 miles.  Since we only get about a mile to the gallon and the White Label holds 310 gallons, it will be a close call.  We were soon greeted by Fern who is a legend in the boating world for sharing her decades long expert knowledge on this part of the Mississippi and other rivers to come.  With note pad in hand, Charlie hung onto her every word - jotting down several helpful pieces of advice and information.  She also shared with us a wealth of information about her town of Kimmswick (pop. 200).  Apparently the whole town shuts down on Mondays, so we will not have the opportunity to take in the great shopping (?) & fine dining - damn!
The historic Anheuser Estate Museum is located on the river next to Hoppie's - it was donated & endowed by the family to the town of Kimmswick.  Other famous neighbors included the founder of 7up & Paul Harvey.  He liked to frequent Hoppie's even though he was not a boater.  Fern used to tell him, "just don't talk and no one will know who you are."  She is quite a character &
 as she puts it - "Hoppie & I have been really lucky to have had such nice neighbors".

Our Lady of the Rivers Shrine

Dockage at Hoppie's is made up of three 100-foot long barges tied to the shore with cables.  There is a nice onshore breeze and we have a great view of the Mississippi, although we do get rocked a little by the passing barges.  This place is the best of "local color".

Sunday, July 15

Dinner with a view - Mississippi River - Duck Club Y.C.

Cooling off - Duck Club Y.C.

Jimmy Lee & Co. at 1860's Saloon

Soulard neighborhood - St. Louis

Main stage - BB's jazz, blues, soups

Lunch at BB's

Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis

Saint Charles, MI.

What is it about mini vans & Charlie?  The Port Charles Marina has a courtesy vehicle that they kindly agreed to lend us for the day - this time it was a "later model" unit - a real beauty (maroon, 80k miles but an AC that works)!
By 10:00 am we were in Historic Saint Charles, MI. - their motto "Come and Relive the Early American Spirit". 
South Main Street with gas lights and brick paved streets is the largest designated Historic District in Missouri, featuring 88 restored buildings dating from 1790 - 1800's.  It served as Missouri's first state capital and notables who have called it home include Daniel Boone & Captions Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.  Today it features many specialty boutiques and eating establishments.
With our slightly outdated GPS, we were off to find Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis.  Although confused in a couple of spots, it got us there - just in time for a brief tour before the Noon Mass.
Called by Pope Paul VI "the outstanding cathedral of the America's", it houses the world's largest collection of mosiac art.  There are 83,000 square feet of mosaic art designed by twenty artists and installed over a period of seventy-five years.  The mosaics were created with over 41,500,000 pieces of tile in more than 8,000 shades of color.  It is magnificent.
We shifted gears and headed for BB's jazz, blues, soups - although we were too early for the Sunday afternoon live music we enjoyed a great BBQ platter and banter with the bartender & cook - we have made it a practice at these establishments to eat at the bar where the locals are more apt to strike up a conversation with us.
Our final stop was to head over to the historic French neighborhood of Soulard, one of the oldest in St. Louis.  The streets are lined with red brick townhomes, many of which house live music clubs and unique restaurants.  We stopped at the 1860's Saloon to take in a set by Jimmy Lee & Co.  In the near 100 degree heat of the afternoon, there was not a better place to cool off than in this dimly lit tavern listening to some St. Louis blues.
A swim at the Duck Club Y.C. was in order after our day of touring - we have thoroughly enjoyed our brief stay at this friendly marina.

Saturday, July 14

Western point of the Loop

Large Tow below lock

Lock # 8 -  Illinois River

Yesterday we went from Ottawa to Havana, sounds like we are on a bigger Loop than we thought!
Today was a pretty uneventful (boring) day on the Illinois River - so the blog gets a new contributor.
How boring was it?  The twin highlights were reaching the westernmost point on the Loop (Valley City, IL.) and making it to the Mississippi River, in that order.

I'm bored

Sand Bar Saturday

We passed through our last lock on the Illinois (#123 so far), as a large barge tow was waiting to enter.  We were able to hear the stats that he gave the lock tender - the barge tow was 105 ft. wide & 1125 ft. long and had a total of 15 cargo carriers - three across and five deep.  It seemed pretty large, but we could be seeing barge tows 4X as big on the Mississippi.
It's hot & it's a weekend thus many more recreational boats are out.  After 123 miles we pulled into
St. Charles, MO................ luckily the marina had a riverside pool where we headed to cool off.
Certain parties are to be dragged off to tour St. Louis tomorrow.  Oh boy!

Friday, July 13

Main Street - Havana, IL

Forced out of the channel by this large barge

Graveyard for River Boats

We are now two days into the stretch of The Great Loop known as" Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico".  After cruising the open waters of the Great Lakes, it is somewhat of a relief to be in the comfort of inland rivers.

Henry's Marina inside an old lock

Mobile, AL. is approximately 1300 miles away from Chicago.  The current is mostly in the direction we are traveling with the exception of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, which flow in a northerly direction.  The biggest navigational issues we face (other than barges) are caused by flooding and that is not likely in this year of the Midwest drought.
The first section of this passage is the Illinois Waterway - Chicago to the Mississippi River (325 miles).  It consists of three parts - Chicago River, the Sanitary & Ship Canal and the DesPlaines/Illinois Rivers.
Beyond metro Chicago the shoreline is mostly undeveloped with a few towns, parks & industry scattered along the way.  We are surprised at how green the landscape remains despite the summer heat & lack of rainfall.  We stopped to fuel at Henry Harbor Marina which is uniquely located inside the remains of an old lock constructed in the 1870s.
We passed several large barges, some of which forced us out of the channel because of their wide beam.   A new experience for us was watching the Asian Carp come flying out of our wake.  The river is so overpopulated by this fish that an electric field has been constructed in the river to keep them out of Lake Michigan.

Barge traffic on the Illinois River

After cruising 120 miles we pulled into the Tall Timbers Marina in Havana, IL. Biking through the town it was immediately apparent that we were back in the Midwest when we passed a tractor pulling a cultivator driving down Main Street.