The Ohio River

                   TRAVEL DAY 130 - Cape Girardeau to Olmstead

October 24, 2023

7.4 Hours/ 66.2 Miles

    We push on with our core group. The River Rats have grown closer as our boats close on the completion of the Mississippi River. Out of our quiet anchorage in the Little Diversion Canal at just before 8 am. Once again we swing out into the swift river current.

 

River Rat morning

    Passing a massive dredging operation, one of many on this river, I got to review some of the things I learned when obtaining my captain's license, day shapes. Day shapes are mast head signals used to visually indicate the status of a vessel. There are three basic shapes, a ball, diamond, cylinder and cone. These black shapes are used individually and together. The dredge had a ball over a diamond over a ball, indicating it was "restricted in ability to maneuver" 

  

Day Shapes

Dredge

    At Cairo we turned north and onto the Ohio River. We were also at the junction of 3 states, Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky. At this point the Ohio is extremely busy with hundreds of barges on the banks and the main river. The Mississippi was low but the Ohio was very low and there was talk of shutting it down to navigation. We could see barges on top of sand beaches that were once underwater. I continued to communicate with the tows, passing the information back to the group. The current was also against us and our 10+ mph speed was reduced to about 7 mph.

  

Olmstead Anchorage

    Our last stop was an anchorage just below the Olmstead Lock. The current on the Kentucky side of the river was minimal and the water fairly calm. Our boats rafted together, 2 deploying anchors. In all there were 15 boats anchored for the night in the pool, waiting to transit through the massive Olmstead Lock in the morning.

   

Olmstead Lock

   

Cape Girardeau to Olmstead

TRAVEL DAY 131 - Olmstead to Paducah, KY

October 25, 2023

4.02 Hours/ 29.5 Miles

    Daybreak came and I called the Olmstead Lockmaster at 6:35 am, just after the 6:30 am shift change. He indicated that he had a tug coming down, then he had to get the dredge we were anchored near through and up river as commercial traffic has priority. "...we will be standing by channel 13". And we did, for 3 1/2 hours. So much for an early start. At 10 am, we were instructed to prepare to lock thru and the 15 boats hovered outside the long wall of the lock waiting for the third and final tow to come through.

 

Paducah, KY

    There were 16 floating "pins", eight on either side of the lock walls and each boat had a line on one. As the gates shut, the water started to rush in and our vessels were lifted to the higher section of the Ohio. Once the horn sounded, we exited to see a much prettier Ohio River. We pushed on against the current to Paducah. 

 

River rats - Pau Hana, Better Together, Side Trip & Runaway

    At Paducah we had a reservation on the city dock. Space was limited but we were able to rest on the outside face and still have room for the other boats in our group. The dock is on the river but fairly protected from the current and the 24/7 tow traffic. Once we got tied up we all headed downtown to get dinner and have a beer. We only stayed 1 night at the dock as the continual stream of Looper boats meant that more vessels would be coming the next day.

 

Olmstead to Paducah

TRAVEL DAY 132 - Paducah to Grand Rivers

October 26, 2023

6.35 Hours/ 44.5 Miles

    It was engines on at 7 am. and navigation lights lit. We were still exhausted but knew that after today, once we got to Barkley Lake, we could rest some.  Into the Ohio River Current and headed for Green Turtle Bay in Grand Rivers, KY. There are two ways to go at this point. The first is to make an immediate turn onto the Tennessee River and to Kentucky Lake. The second, is to continue up the Ohio River, turn onto the Cumberland River and into Lake Barkley. The first route is shorter but the Kentucky Lake lock is said to be one of the busiest locks in the country and pleasure crafts can wait hours to get through as the commercial traffic always takes priority. We chose the slightly longer route but would most likely have a shorter wait at the Barkley Lock.

  

Paducah Sunrise

     Dodging tugs & barges we continued up the Ohio against the 2+ mph current and roughly 2 hours later at Smithland, we turned to starboard on the the Cumberland River. Still fighting a current, we continued up this narrower but much more scenic route.

  

Barges of Coal

    A little after 1 pm we reached the massive Barkley Lock. I called the lockmaster and he instructed us to wait while he got a tow locked through at which time he would "turn the lock around". We hovered outside the entrance below the damn and spillway for about 35 minutes until we received the green light. As we waited, several boats behind us caught up and we moved into the 800' long by 110' wide chamber. The 54' lift in elevation releases over 37.5 million gallons of water each time it is emptied. In all, we had 14 vessels on the floating bollards or "pins", most every boat with it's own and plenty of room between us.  Once the doors opened, I immediately called Green Turtle Bay on VHF 10 and told them our 3 boat flotilla needed a pump out prior to getting to our slip. After 6 days of travel, most of the other 12 boats needed the same service. Once we got the holding tank emptied we moved to our slip.

  

Barkley Lock

 

It's a long way up to the lake

    Green Turtle Bay Resort is located at the top of Lake Barkley. The marina and the town of Grand Rivers is a great stop. We used this 4 day stay to allow the crew a couple days to rent a car and visit nearby family in Mount Vernon & Evansville, Indiana and give us some rest and time off the boat to recover from the 6 grueling travel days. Usually 3 days of travel, then a few rest days are the norm, but we needed to get off the Mississippi & Ohio and on to more tranquil waters with more amenities. 

Indiana Family

      

    A few days with family, and we were back in Green Turtle Bay and a spare day to explore the town and do some Christmas shopping. It's hard to believe we have been on the boat for 8 1/2 months and now it's Holloween. We also got to celebrate a wake crossing with our "Fancy Friends" on Ottyssey.

    

Patti's 1880 Settlement

    

It's almost Christmas!

  

Celebrating with Ottessey & Wilma May

   

Paducah to Grand Rivers