ssloop: Alton-Kentucky Dam

Saturday, September 30, we pulled out of the Alton Marina and started our journey down the Mississippi River. Much like the Illinois River, the Mississippi water levels are very low. WOW! This river doesn't look anything like the last time we traveled it. Last time we were warned about the underwater wing dams which deflect water to the center of the river to keep the shipping channel from silting in. This time, the wing dams were very obvious as they were rock jetties sticking out of the water, some up to 10 feet tall. Yikes! Overall the Mississippi was much more enjoyable than last time. No dodging trees, logs and fighting the current, just one 6 point buck swimming across the Mississippi migrating from Missouri to Illinois. Sheli fell in love with the beautiful sandy beaches along the banks. Who ever knew! Our stop for the night was at Hoppies in Kimmswick, MO.

We departed at dawn for our 110 mile day on the Mississippi, pulling in late afternoon at Little Diversion anchorage. Sheli insisted we take a dinghy ride across the river to put her toes in the sand of the "not so Mighty Mississippi". The sand reminded us of Lake Michigan sand - weird! We spent the night anchored out with 6 other boats.

Monday, we left at first light and started our biggest/longest boating day ever! After 49 miles we made a NASCAR turn on to the Ohio River. As expected, it turned out to be a long day due to lock construction and closures. We floated right through the brand new lock chamber at Olmstead as the dam is not yet completed. The lockmaster told us the next lock was broken and instructed us to tie to the wall short of Lock 53. There were already 4 boats tied up and waiting. Come to find out, one boat had been there waiting 22 hours! Panic! The good news is we only had to wait an hour before it was fixed and we were on our way. Ten miles later as we approached Lock 52, we were instructed to drop anchor out of the channel, as our wait could be 4-6 hours before we could lock through. (due to backlog of barges). First Mate "Sweet Talker" called the lockmaster on the telephone and managed to get us locked through in an hour. Love that girl! Although we never, never travel after dark, we made an exception. One of the boats that locked through with us,was being delivered from Chicago to Kentucky Dam Marina by a local delivery captain. He intended to travel in the dark to get there and we made the decision to follow him. Following his stern light and our radar, we turned onto the Tennessee River and traveled 22 miles to the Kentucky Lock. After locking through, we pulled into the Kentucky Dam Marina at 9:30pm. A 15 hour day! Done!