Travels of the Colorado Cat

August 10, 2017

"St. Louis is a fascinating city, with the "Arch" and all its trappings. However, don't plan to stop there. There is virtually no way to get to shore. The deep river, swift current and stone levy walls eliminate any thought of stopping.

In fact, stopping for the two nights you need to get down the Mississippi is a problem. There are only two marinas along the 200 mile stretch, if one can call them marinas. They are actually floating barges anchored in the riverbed that provide very limited services to traveling boaters. Tying up to one of these barges can be a trying experience. First, just getting next to a barge in a current flowing at 4 knots is an adventure. Next, while you sleep that night, the disconcerting sound of a tree branch scraping down the side of your vessel at 4 knots can ruin your whole nights sleep.

We have no fond memories of our short trip on the Mississippi and don't expect many other boaters will either."

This is a quote from one of the guide books we use to find our way from one place to another. This quote pretty much describes our experience on the Big Muddy. (You should know that our first mate jumped ship in Grafton, Illinois, just before we entered the Mississippi right when we needed her. The Shore Patrol is looking for her. I think she is living with some guy in St. Petersburg, Florida. I hope they catch her!) We did in fact find this part of our trip exciting and challenging. The current is terrific, but it did help with our speed. Having your bow suddenly swing 40 degrees is sure a surprise especially when you are passing a tow.

Now, you need to have some idea of just how big these tows are. Each tow can contain up to "north of 42" barges. Each barge is about 200' by 35' all being pushed by a large tug boat which "digs" a hole in the water about 6' to 8' deep and leaves a large wake for about a quarter of a mile. Each of the barges is at least 9' deep and can hold 1500 tons of cargo. I asked one captain how long it would take to stop his tow. He pointed out a curve in the river about 1.5 miles ahead and said, "Maybe by then." We had to be alert every minute as we hurtled down the river at 12-13kts. Then we had to be alert every minute as we fought the currents on the Ohio. These were 90nm to over 100nm days.

Good Morning Kentucky

All along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers are great docking areas loading and unloading huge amounts of cargo. Giant cranes, elevators, loaders, shutes, track hoes, warehouses, explosives docks line the banks and add to the confusion. The rivers are crowded, fast, and full of curves. We had to run against the current on the Ohio and Cumberland rivers. It was 90 nm and 100 nm between our two anchorages between marinas. We were tired when we finally reached Green Turtle Bay Marina on Barkley Lake in Kentucky.