Lake Effect on Great Loop: Down the three rivers..Mississippi, Ohio, and Cumberland

Before I start on this next blog, we want to thank everyone for following us. Your comments and interest in our adventure have surprised us. We are happy that you are taking the time to follow us. Also happy Thanksgiving to family and Canadian friends.

First fog delay. This is the Ohio River this morning.

Since our last post, we have traveled on three rivers. The first being the Mississippi river. When we arrived in Alton, we were travelling on the Mississippi river. It separates the USA East from West.

Alton is home to Robert Wadlow, the tallest man in the world. He died in 1940. There is a life size replica of him and his chair. At 8.11, I looked pretty small beside him.

When we left Alton, we boated downtown St. Louis. Right by the famous Arch. It represents the gateway to the wild west. We didn't visit it, but you can actually ride inside the arch. I was there ten years ago, so didn't feel I needed to go up again. It was nice to boat by it as it's quite impressive. Unfortunately, you cannot stop in St. Louis by boat so we kept on riding.

Our following stop was at Hoppies. It is a couple of old barges along the Mississippi. It is one of our most expensive stop so far but it was interesting. They have a seasoned boater telling boaters about the hazards, locks and anchorage from here to Mobile, AL. Cute village too.

Hoppies ramp

Old Exotic Plant Botanical Garden.

The water level of the Mississippi is very low. Many anchorages were not safe. She recommended going to a tie off on a lock on Kaskaskia River. That is where I spent my birthday. Sylvie & Luc had us over for supper. It was the best restaurant in town with the best meal. She is a sweetie for doing this and it was totally unexpected.

We spent the next night at Little Diversion Canal. A safe anchorage with four other boats. A fellow looper took our picture. Nice memory.

From there we went on to the Ohio River. We are going into the current now, so the gas mileage changed drastically. On our next stop, we spent the night tied off at Lock 53. It was a long day.

We arrived early afternoon, tied on a wall. At 6 pm, they locked us through and let us tie on the other side. The next day we left for lock 52. Another waiting game, we waited almost 3 hours to lock through. We arrived in the pouring rain at 3.30 in Paducah, our destination for two days.

Wall that can be closed in the background.
On the street side they are murals.

Docks and boats rise as the water rise.

Paducah is a beautiful city. The government dock has been opened only two weeks. Such an engineering feat. It is built to accommodate shifts in the water level up to 40 feet. They have built a wall around the waterfront, with openings that can be closed when the river overflows. It happens frequently on the rivers here. They have a beautiful downtown with historical buildings and restaurants. It is home to the National Quilters Museum. If you like to quilts it is a nice place to stop.

We spent Thanksgiving in Paducah. We had a lovely potluck feast with Sylvie and Luc. The only thing missing was turkey, stuffing and family.

We went on to the Cumberland River. It looks man made, as it's very narrow. The river ends with a lock that ends on Barclay Lake. The Barclay Lock is 90 feet. It's very new and very fast. This was the best one so far.

Did I tell you, that every lock is different? The way they raise, the speed, the procedure, how they are built. It's very interesting and we learn something in each one.

We will spend 7 days on Barclay Lake. It is a marina resort. Another side trip planned.

Here is our journey so far: