Rivers and More Rivers - Midway to Demopolis

Joy @ Sea rafted to Decisions at Anchorage

Each portion of the trip has had its own unique twist. Since we left Chicago, we have been more involved with others who are also doing this big adventure. Sometimes we go with four or five other boats down the river. Yesterday we were with one other boat (Decisions) who clipped along at the same speed as us. Then we got to one of the preferred anchorages as the day ended. As it turned out, the basin was quite small, making the swinging room uncomfortably close to each other. So we decided to "raft" our boats together with both anchors set. To top things off, Bob, Judi, and Steve invited us over for a steak dinner. Very nice!

After a nights rest, we awoke to find ice on the deck!

Here is a beach on the Tenn Tom all decked out with Alabama's version of Cabanas

Demopolis Yacht Basin's Restaurant. The burgers were really good!

White cliffs on the Tenn-Tom Waterway.

Civil War Battleground at Shiloh, then on to the Tenn - Tom

In April of 1862, over a two day period, there were about 23,000 casualties during the Civil War battle at Shiloh. We took a tour of the battlefield grounds here in western Tennessee. In this picture, taken on the battlefield grounds, Marlene is talking to one of the locals about his family, many of whom were buried in this Shiloh Methodist Church cemetery in the background.

Having gone through about 100 locks now, we are finally getting the hang of it. This is the first one on the Tenn-Tom Waterway. It is a really big one which "drops" us 85 feet to the next level.

End of the cruising day, arriving at Midway Marina, Fulton, Mississippi. Here the Admiral poses for me to take her picture with the placid waters and unique background of trees. We enjoyed a catfish dinner tonight with another couple we met (Pete and Linda from St Louis) who also cruised with us today from the Shiloh area to here.

Clifton, Tn to Pickwick Landing

The rivers have actually been upstream every since we left the Mississippi. First the Ohio, then the Cumberland and lastly, 200 miles of the Tennessee. It will be good to finally be going downstream again as we are now at the top of the Ten-Tom Waterway. This will lead us 450 miles to Mobile, Alabama and back to the Gulf of Mexico.

Tonight we are anchored out in a small cove near Pickwick Landing.(above picture) We dinghied over to the Landing facilities and found a 4 star hotel complete with a full service buffet. ($6.95) The hotel and conference center is owned by the state of Tennessee. They know how to do things first class here.

Paris Landing to Pebble Isle to Clifton, TN

Here I am with looper friends Gary and Bob as I finished cleaning the dinghy to put back on the stern of the boat and continue down the Tennessee River.

One of the great things about this trip is our ability to find a weekly time to join with other believers in praise, worship and to hear a message from the Word of God. With few exceptions, we have been able to do that. This weekend was a real bonus as we happened on a Feast of Tabernacles conference sponsored by a group of Messianic congregations. They were meeting here for a week-long conference within a half mile of the marina in Paris Landing, TN.

I don't want to take away from those who are inspired by their devotional times, but absolutely nothing can compare to the affirmation and inspiration that comes from being in the fellowship of other believers who are joining in worship to our God! Here we are all singing the familiar song Our God is an Awesome God. I learned a lot about the Messianic movement over the weekend and plan to learn more. As the Admiral said, "we are going to be in Heaven with these people someday," maybe soon!

Please don't use the Mississippi River as your view of how a river is supposed to look. The Tennessee River is so clean and picturesque, it would rival the Hudson, which is still my favorite river so far.

Paris Landing, Tennessee

The last few days have been a time to do some of the things that don't get done in the regular course of our travel days -- like cleaning the dinghy, washing and waxing the boat, minor maintenance and the like. We were docked at Green Turtle Bay for 3 days and are now at a state run marina called Paris Landing. It is a Class A marina at some of the lowest rates we've paid - $30 a night.

A String of Anchorages

Once the anchor is set, there is nothing like sitting back on the deck and enjoying the sunset. The anchorages here have been much easier than those in the coastal areas or great lakes. But maybe it's because we are getting better at it than in the early months.

Getting to know other Loopers has been one of the bonuses of this adventure. While in Chicago, we connected with Bob and Peggy Olsen from Minnesota who began their journey in Lake Superior on their pristine conditioned Grand Banks 32 named Baby Grand. Here is a shot I took of their boat as we plied the fast current of the Mississippi River.

In all there were four to six of us Loopers who stayed together for most of the entire journey down the rivers to this point. I think it has worked well as we had frequent captains meetings to plan our next day cruises and keep aware of some of the tricky areas.

Today, we arrived at Green Turtle Bay Marina in Kentucky, probably one of the most popular stops on the entire 6,000 miles loop. Nearby is a famous restaurant named Patties Settlement. The Admiral had a generous portion catfish she couldn't finish. I had their specialty, a 2 inch thick pork chop, clearly the best I've ever eaten anywhere.

A scare-pumkin I guess, outside the front door of the restaurant.

This is a remote stretch of the Loop

Even though we passed by St. Louis, there were no marinas there or places to even drop anchor. So we stopped about 20 miles south of St. Louis at a marina called Hoppies -- not a first class facilty to say the least, but lots of character in the owners and their family members who run the place. Every day the owner (Fern) gathers all the captains and their first mates to a meeting place on the dock to talk about the journey ahead. She is an expert on this part of the Mississippi River so we were all attentive as Fern described the hazards we need to watch out to get to our next major destination of Green Turtle Bay in Barkley Lake.For about 300 miles ahead, there are no marinas or even places to get fuel or water.

Tonight, we are just south of Cape Girardeau, Mo. in a small canal off the main channel of the river. Tomorrow we finish the Mississippi River and turn up the Ohio River for about 60 miles. Then on to the Cumberland River to Lake Barkley.

Heading for St. Louis

Three University of Chicago graduates decided to build a raft and cruise (Huck Finn style) down the river system to Mobile, Alabama taking the same route as us. They are going about 5 MPH. We will check in on them as we continue down the rivers.

(top picture)Another Rotarian and boater joined us for church last Sunday. She (Barbara) and her husband (Ken) are on their way south like us. By the way, this is the church that provided a place for the Beardstown Ladies Investment Club to meet.

Commentary

Today has been very dreary, almost as bad as the stock market. My personal opinion is that the market decline is made much worse by the fear instilled by TV and radio commentators and bloggers who are creating a spirit of panic in the average investor mind. People act on their advice to get out of the market. Some of it is real, but more of it is emotional. This will take time to recover.

Peoria to Beardstown

Heard of the Beardstown Ladies? Well we are in their home town. I wonder how their stocks are doing now? You may remember they were a group of older women who formed an investment club with very high returns in the stock market, something like 24% a year for 12 years running. Then they were discredited by an investment professional who said they only had 9% return. I'm going to try to find them tomorrow after we get out of church.

Our trip today started at 11:00 am. The weather was so nice, we decided to go along with another looper who led us to Beardstown which is almost 80 miles for the day.

River Travel on the Loop - We're in Peoria, Ill

Traveling down the Illinois River means sharing the "road" with these behemoths known as tows. These tows are pushing anywhere from 3 to 6 barges loaded with grain, coal, chemicals, scrap metal, sand or anything produced in this area to reach ports in New Orleans and beyond. They are usually longer than a football field in total and require highly skilled captains to navigate the river bends and currents. We know to stay out of their way, since it takes about a half-mile to stop them if needed to avert a problem.

Tonight we are docked in downtown Peoria, within a block of the Caterpillar corporate headquarters. Since I have two Cat 3208's in my boat, I tried to get a tour of the Cat engine plant. But it couldn't be arranged in the time we are here. (I just heard this saying today: "If it's not a Cat, it's a dog.")

Being docked in downtown locations means there could be a rock concert nearby. In our case tonight, Joy @ Sea is docked about 30 feet from the back of the stage where a rock band is going full blast. Oh how I wish it could be Sara and her band. Her music has so much more substance. But for the time being, we'll endure this one.

Chicago to Joliet, then to Ottawa, Illinois

We left Chicago south to Joliet right through the middle of the city. After the first few miles, the scenery became very industrial with barges lining the banks left and right. We arrived the 40 or so miles into the downtown area of Joliet where they provided a free dock with electricity, a first for us.

Shortly after arriving in Joliet, we were treated to a visit from Jim Rasmussen, in the Chicago area for a business appointment. He had a car and took us to a restaurant to eat and Sams Club --Yea! Jim and Kathy are long time friends, going back to our days in Kansas City and before that for the Admiral prior to the turn of the century.

After two days in Joliet, we teamed up with 4 other Loopers and travelled in a westerly direction through three locks. The day became quite long as we had to wait at every lockage to permit the commercial tows to use the locks ahead of us. At the end of the day we were welcomed by a very hospitable marina named Heritage Harbor. They had full services at the incredible low rate of $1.00 per foot.

Side Note: Getting to know some of the fellow Loopers, we are finding that a good number of them are permanently on their boat, having sold their homes and taken to a new life. How would you like to do that? That is a bridge we will not cross onto. Although we are enjoying this trip of a lifetime, we love Minnesota and all our wonderful family and friends.

Happy 90th birthday today to Ivar Anton Frick, Marlene's dad. They had a big party for him today in Minneapolis.