Woke to fog so our departure was delayed until the fog burned off. We actually left at 9:00, untying the rafted boats and weighing anchor for our last day on the Mississippi River.
The river widens here and we again have our share of tows and barges. Today we passed 2 dredges and 12 barges - one was four barges wide and 5 long!
The last 25 miles of the Mississippi is all twists and bends. Also we noticed in the river bends that often the depth changed drastically and the water in that area became turbulent in these areas.
This chart shows the Mississippi going up and down and the Ohio veering off at the bottom. The red line shows our route for the day.
We met two barges on one of these bends and our ride through there was like going down small rapids with the turbulence of the barge engines mixed with the swirling water around the deep water pockets. We had to power through and really steer to keep in the channel.
Our last landmark was going under the Cairo Highway bridge and two miles later we left the Mississippi River.
Parting shots of the Mississippi River.
As we leave the Mississippi River, we turn left to enter the Ohio River. The first thing we notice is the water changes from very muddy water to the green water of the Ohio.
We are traveling upstream against a one knot current, so we lose our free ride in the current and have to work harder to move through the water. Our speed slowed from 10 knots to 7 knots pretty quickly.
Moving upstream we passed the city of Cairo, but can only see the industrial area on the river.
We passed rows of barges along the shore as well as groupings of parked barges floating in the river as we travel now between Kentucky and Illinois. Kentucky being our fifteenth state we travel through.
We realized that we were back in the Eastern time zone as our GPS adjusted our arrival time to one hour later!!
Below are some shots of the Ohio shoreline.
Contacting the lock master, he gave us directions to anchor below the lock between a dredging operation and their dam. So we volunteered to anchor and have one boat raft to us for the night.
Another beautiful sunset.
Here is a drone shot of our anchorage
Day 148 October 18 On to Paducah, KY. Miles 27. Total Miles. 4526
Woke early to contact the lock and was told that there was a barge in the chamber and one waiting to come down, so we were told to be ready at 7:30 am.
Made it through the lock, rising 10 feet and headed upstream on the Ohio River.
The Ohio river is 981 miles long, starting at Pittsburgh and. flowing to the Mississippi River near Cairo, IL. We will travel 60 miles on the river. The Ohio is wider, but shallower than the Mississippi.
During our cruise today we passed only one barge, and lots of industry- cement, power plants, coal, metal recycling and gravel. All the industry was on the Illinois side of the river clustered around the cities of Joppe and Metropolis. Like the Mississippi, the towns are off the river, the only visible part is the barge loading areas for the industries in the area. The Kentucky side of the shoreline is all undeveloped. Through a break in the trees we saw farmland beyond the river.
Of interest, the town of Metropolis has Superman painted on their water tower. Wish we could have seen that! Also just outside Metropolis is Fort Massac, originally a French outpost and then an American fort right on the Ohio River. The reconstructed wooden fort is now a state park.
We traveled under two bridges around Metropolis and followed a turn in the river to get to our destination, Paducah, KY.
The city welcomes boaters with their newly constructed transient docks close to town. Paducah was known as a steamship port and also for its maintenance and repair of steamships. The history of the city is displayed along the wall that protects the city from flood waters. It was surprising to us how each city on the river system had these flood walls.
Once we got all the boats settled and connected we ate a quick lunch and headed into town. First we walked along the flood wall to take in the Wall to Wall Mural depicting the history of Paducah.
We walked down the main street with old buildings and cute shops and managed to contribute to the local economy finding a few gifts for family, especially the grandkids!
We also went to the National Quilt Museum and thoroughly enjoyed the artistry and designs of the varied quilts on display. I didn't realize the amount of stitching that it took to quilt. I think my sewing machine would explode if I tried to do one!
We came back to the boat to get ready to go out to dinner with Roxanne and Rob on MV Beach House and Jenny and Danny on MV Another Woman. Had a delicious meal at the Freight House and enjoyed the good company.
