Day 12 - A Long Day to Paducah, Kentucky

Our plan was to leave Little River early to allow plenty of time to travel from there to Paducah, KY, about 100 miles with 2 locks.  There was steam coming off the water as the night temperature fell into the 60’s while the river temperature was in the mid-80’s. 

We pulled anchors and entered the Mississippi at 6:50 AM.  Looking north, the fog had pretty much cleared, but to the south around a bend it was still heavy and visibility was very poor.  Captain Randy saw barges on radar and we did not want to take the bend with them.  So we started to “hang out” by the Southeast Regional Port Authority to wait for the fog to clear.  Then we saw a tow with a full load coming at us out of the steam and that was enough to send us back into the Little River Diversion until visibility significantly improved.  We anchored again and cooked breakfast.

The fog had lifted at 8:30 and we set out again under much better conditions.  There was steady barge traffic all day and a few fisherman in small boats were out as well.  Another beautiful sunny day after all of the fog was burned off.  Not much on the Mississippi shores during this stretch.  As Fern told us, the Army Core of Engineers installed lots of dikes in the river to redirect flow and help keep the channel open by collecting mud and silt.  The second picture below shows a dike.  We passed under the I-57 Bridge at 10:45 and then Angelo’s Towhead, another anchorage.  At 11:05 we left the Mississippi and entered the Ohio River at Cairo, IL.  Cairo appears to be a heavy shipping town with numerous commercial structures and floating work docks on the shore and barges pulled off close to both shores.  It took us an hour to get through this, calling tugs to pass as we went.  The tug captains are responsive and friendly, passing on information about river traffic as well.

 

 

The Ohio River is wide and dirty here.  The current was now against us and seemed to be running at about 4-5 knots.  We did not see much besides tows and barges on it until we reached the Olmstead Lock and Dam at 12:30.  A paddle wheel cruise boat, Queen of the Mississippi, went by us here.  Olmstead is under construction so we did not need to lock through.  The next lock is Lock 53 and depending on conditions, you either lock through or pass.  If the lock “wickets” are up, you have to lock through; if they are down, you can pass through.  Lucky for us, the wickets were down and on we went.

 

The river banks are low here and a few homes sit on some low bluffs.  We passed a huge power plant at Joppa and a Harrah’s Casino boat at Metropolis, IL.

 

Our luck with the locks ended at Lock 52.  We arrived at Lock 52 at 2:55 pm, the wickets were up,  and were told “it will be a while” before we could get through.  We were warned about a delay when we talked to the Lockmaster at Lock 52 and saw commercial traffic waiting to get through all the way from Cairo.  We anchored close to the dam and prepared to wait – boy did we wait!  Commercial traffic has priority over recreational boats in the locks, but recreational craft are entitled to get through at least every third lockage.  The first picture below shows the "wickets" of the dam and they are in the "up" position.  I figured we would be anchored for about 2 hours.  After hour 3 I started getting restless; as we approached hour 4 we realized that we would have very little daylight left to travel the 4 miles to Paducah where we planned to tie up to a small municipal dock – if we could find it!  When I started snapping sunset photos around 7:15 pm it was clear that it would be DARK as we exited the lock.  Finally we entered at 7:45 behind the Gladys Ford, a tugboat with no barges and went through with it.  We left the lock a little after and it was very dark.  Everyone has warned us to get off the river when it is dark and now we se (or don’t see) why.  We were in unfamiliar waters, it was very dark and there were no city lights to guide us.  Therefore, we followed the Gladys Ford, moving very slowly, in the channel for several miles toward Paducah.  At Paducah, the Tennessee River joins the Ohio.  The Gladys Ford continued on the Ohio while we headed towards the Tennessee River in an effort to find the Paducah courtesy dock.  What we found was more commercial operations and barges – the lights from these facilities blinded us as we approached and we could not find the courtesy dock.  Fortunately there was a small protected area, Cuba Towhead, about 2 miles from where the courtesy dock was on the edge of town.  We gratefully pulled in there to anchor for the night.  Randy turned on the spotlight to check out the small cove and we set the anchor in the center, noting a small “critter” of some sort running along the shore. I think it was a Tennessee River Otter.  I also noted the swarms of bugs as I stepped out to the bow to unhook and lower the anchor.  I was happy to get into the cabin and we were now able to relax a little.  It was 9:23.  Randy watched to see if we would swing, but there was no wind or current and we did not move.  So we did not put out our stern anchor.  Not what we planned, but at least we were safe!  My second night in a row on the hook.  It has now been 36 hours without stepping on land.