The Muddy Mississippi - Blue Ohio - Kentucky Lake

October 23

The Muddy Mississippi

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder ... hmmmm ... let's try a different cliche .... Good looking from afar, but far from good looking!  Yep, that works.  The Mississippi from afar:

Up close, not so much.  It is muddy.  The river banks are devoid of life, either natural or man made.  The services for pleasure craft are non existent. And the traffic consists of massive barges that have full command over the river and require all others to yield.  However, painting the picture this way could not be more wrong.

The correct metaphor is "beauty is only skin deep".  Whereas the Mississippi is clearly not the belle of the ball, she is the true bread winner of the world.  Macro economist viewing competitive advantages by country and geographical region credit the Mississippi for providing the USA with unparalleled advantage when moving product in scale at rates unimaginable elsewhere.  According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the Mississippi River carried more than 500 million tons of  imports, exports, and domestic freight in 2019. We got to see that in action and it is impressive.

A single barge can carry 1500 tons of dry cargo and 2500 tons of liquid cargo.  We saw these barges tied three across and five long being pushed by a single tug.  Extrapolating that math, some of these barges we passed were between 45 and 75 million pounds!

The wake put out by these tugs was shocking and would last for ~1/2 mile behind them.  It could make a 4+ foot wave directly behind the craft (especially for those going up stream).  The Shorebilly being full displacement required a very active captain on the wheel for current would be hitting you from 3 or 4 directions at once.  Insane.

St Louis

If the Statue of Liberty is the gateway to the new world, then the St. Louis Arch is certainly the gateway to the West.  And whereas a picture in front of the Statue is far more cool, taking a picture of this iconic arch from your boat certainly doesn't suck.

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Hoppies

The Mississippi offers very little in the way of side channels, coves, protected harbors or other that would easily enable pleasure craft services.  We literally would go 35+ miles and not see a thing.  As a result, inventive entrepreneurs devised ways to service and profit from the pleasure craft traffic.  None of those are more revered and known than Hoppies Marina in Kimmswick Mo.  

Hoppies is nothing more than some old river barges secured to the side of the river providing mooring to small craft.  They sell fuel and have power.  It works.  Hoppies originally was 6+ barges.  Due to past year floods, they are now only two.  The best description I have for it is "Rustic". 

    

With zero expectations, we walked from rustic Hoppies to the town of Kimmswick.  WOW, what a cool town.  The night before we arrived, they had literally closed the town and sold ticket only, woman only, access for "Witches Night Out".  They had 5000 witches in a town of just 108 citizens.  The night we were there the town winery expanded outdoors in full concert.

Hopefully you watched far enough through to see my smiling admiral!

Given the barren nature of the Mississippi and an extremely strong desire NOT to anchor over night in it, we decided to "Jump it" with a 205 mile day (unimaginable by 80+% of looper boats).  We went from Hoppies Mo. to Paducah Ky.  

After about 165 miles we transitioned from the Mississippi to the Ohio rivers.  SHOCKING.  There was literally a line on the water demarcating the muddy Mississippi from the blue Ohio.  

It was like stepping into the another world.  Strangely, the Ohio had even more barges than the Mississippi but somehow it was more fresh, clean and welcoming.  Strange but really nice.

We received many questions and statements of concern over the water levels on the river.  It was definitely low.  In places where the river should have been 2+ miles wide it was maybe 100 yards.  It was never a concern for us, but it was visible.

Paducah Ky

You ever heard of it???  Neither had we.  Expectations were zero.  A public dock to tie to and that was it.  Were we wrong.  Many had told us a "must see" was the National Quilt Museum.   Yawn....zzzzzz.   Was I wrong.  WOW.  These were true works of art.  Whereas machines were used in making many of these, none were computer guided.

To protect Paducah from the occasional floods, Paducah had huge walls erected.  In the spirit of a town working hard to remain vital, they had used the walls as a palette to paint the town's history.  Beautiful and cool all in one.

The Wall

The Art

Getting from Paducah to Kentucky lake was a short 40 mile day.  However, due to the Barkley Lock being slow. it took most of the day to arrive at Green Turtle Bay (GTB).  GTB is a resort marina known for its comforts post Illinois/Mississippi boater trauma. 

Green Turtle Bay Resort and Marina

Loopers at GTB

With the demand of loopers heading south, slips were limited to 5 day stays max.  We stayed the full 5 because it allowed my sister (Cath) and her Husband (Ron) to join us on their cross country trek.

I am very happy to say that the two hooligans (the two standard poodles, not Cath and Ron) were extremely well behaved and a delight.  Cath and Ron on the other hand ... well, I will just leave that alone.  Seriously,  thanks for the visit Cath and Ron.  Family is a wonderful thing. 

Kentucky Lake

Leaving GTB had us head south on Kentucky Lake.  Yet another place we knew nothing about.  Yet another place in America that is STUNNING.  WOW.  Beautiful waters.  So pretty in fact that we slowed the boat, put the seats on the bow and with the remote in hand drove from the front.

What a great country (plus Canada) we get to live in.  Everyday is a treat.  It was way too pretty to jump into another marina so we "went on the hook" (read anchor) for the evening.   We are the farthest boat.

So a quick funny story.  When we anchor, I have to take Yudee ashore to do his business.  I always go in the daylight to scope out a spot I can take him right before bedtime.  This time, in getting off the boat Yudee went into a full point for several minutes.  He never strayed far and quickly did what he had to do and came back to the boat.  That night, I heard many (at least multiple) wolves howling.

But that is not the funny story.  That night when I went to take him ashore, he was on edge (presumably from smelling the wolves earlier).  We were half way to shore when a dang Asian Carp jumped right in front of us and almost landed in the dinghy.  Scared the crap (not carp) out of both of us.  When I finally got him to shore, it took the longest time for him to settle down enough to get his business done so we could go back to the boat.  I laughed my butt off.

After that we ended up at Pebble Isle Marina near the defunct town of Johnsonville.  This town was a Civil War logistics hub for the Union and was submerged by Kentucky Lake in 1945 when the river was dammed.  In addition to a great park and walking trails, they provide for loopers homemade sticky buns every morning.

That's all for now.  Stay safe and with love,

Terri and Aubrey