Welcome to Kentucky

This Riverboat Still Cruises The Mississippi and Ohio Rivers

We left Hoppie's on a chilly 42 degree morning to continue on down the Mississippi. Our next marina was over 200 miles and 4 days away but we were armed with the knowledge we learned at the Hoppie's briefing and we had an idea of where we wanted to anchor along the way. We were still with our buddies on Sea Clef and Beyond and were joined by two other loopers as we headed out. Our first day's goal was anchoring near the Kaskaskia Lock and Dam where the Kaskaskia River flows into the Mighty Miss.. Many Loopers have been able to tie up over night on the lock wall but the lock was undergoing repairs so tying up was not an option. The lockmaster had us transit through the lock and advised us to anchor for the night above the dam. It turned out to be a very pretty and quiet anchorage and we had a peaceful night.

Entering Kaskaskia Lock - Under Repair

Woke up to another chilly morning!

We awoke the next morning to thick fog and a chillier 39 degrees. Time to fire up the heater! In what would become a fairly common practice for us as we headed into fall, we fired up the generator in the morning to run the heater and warm us up a bit as we had our coffee and tea. Once the fog lifted we transited back down the Kaskaskia Lock and re-entered the Mississippi and continued south to Cape Girardeau, MO. Although this looks like a cute town with an historic old fort, there are no places along the waterfront for recreational boaters to tie up. Instead, we would anchor in Little Diversion Channel. This is a popular anchorage for Loopers - not because its a great spot but because there are no other decent options in the area. The current in this part of the river was quite rapid and strong and entering the channel required us to float past the entrance, make a rather harrowing u-turn and fight the current as we left the river and entered into the channel. In one way, it lived up to its name- it was little. On the other hand, it seemed to resemble more of a creek than a channel. This would be our tightest anchorage yet as 9 of us jockeyed for position in this narrow creek. To maintain our positions in the deeper center of the channel, we all had to deploy both bow and stern anchors so we would not swing. The concept is easy. Drop the bow hook first and back down to set it. Then let out additional line to continue backing up until you reach a spot to drop the stern hook. Then slowly pull back in on the bow anchor chain and let out the stern line until both anchors are set with the boat in between them. In the tight confines of this channel it was not quite as easy as the concept. It took us two tries to get the stern anchor to set and the mud that came up with the anchor as we brought it in made for a sticky and dirty job. But - we got them both set and settled in for the night with a nice salmon dinner with corn on the cob and salad. That's one of the nice things about cruising on boats....you can settle down in the middle of nowhere with all the comforts of home!

6X5 =30 barges on one tow - biggest one we have seen so far!

Cape Girardeou Bridge

Little Diversion Channel

Leaving the anchorage the next morning morning required the reverse maneuver with the anchors. Karen let out the bow anchor while I manually pulled in on the stern. The anchor had set well overnight and hauling that stern anchor in by hand was not fun... but a little work out is never a bad thing. Our flotilla planned to head to an anchorage just off the side of the Mississippi just before it intersects with the Ohio River. Unfortunately, when we got there, there was a dredge working in the area and they would not allow us to anchor there. We had to scramble to find another anchorage and make a new route on the fly. Although our plans for the next day did call for us to leave the Mississippi and head up the Ohio River to Paducah, we were not planning on anchoring on the Ohio. We had seen that other Loopers had been allowed to anchor below the Olmstead Lock so we made that our destination. As we rounded the corner onto the Ohio, we transitioned from travelling down river on the Miss to up river, against the current on the Ohio. It also quickly became apparent this would be, perhaps, the most commercial and busiest stretch of river we would see. It was far busier than the area around St. Louis. There were multiple large tows running up and down the main channel, dredges working the center of the river, and smaller tugs and barges running up and down the side of the river. A few days before, a Looper couple hit what they believe to be an unmarked, submerged barge and did significant damage to their hull and props. Needless to say, we had our eyes, ears, and spider senses on high alert as we made out way up to the river. As expected, when we approached the Olmstead Lock, the lockmaster advised us to anchor for the night below the dam. The area was large and wide open but had significant current. After setting our anchor, we monitored our position very closely for a few hours before we were comfortable that we would be ok over night.

The Ohio River had the most commercial traffic we have seen.

Our flotilla made it through the night without anybody dragging anchor. We warmed ourselves up and headed out. The Olmstead lock was another huge lock but had only a 10  foot rise. Our travels this day northeast on the Ohio River was only 31 miles but was filled with passing tows and barges. A little after noon we were tied up at the city docks of Paducah, Kentucky.

Olmstead Lock and Dam

Paducah City Docks

We had no great expectations for Paducah other than it being the home of the National Quilting Museum. However, we found it to be a very charming river front city. The downtown historic district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The river front walkway was filled with large murals depicting the history of the town and the river. The area was first settled in 1821 and the city mapped out 5 years later. Paducah was a site for many large dry dock facilities for steam boats and barges. It later became a hub for the Illinois Central Railway and a major site for rebuilding of steam locomotives and later diesel engines. During the Civil War, Paducah was occupied by the Union Forces under the command of General Grant. As I am typing this, the US and the world is seeing a rise in antisemitism as Israel is attempting to wipe out Hamas following its terrorist attack on southern Israel. I find it interesting that in 1826, Grant forced 30 Jewish families from their Paducah homes under General Order No.11. Antisemitism at that time led many to believe the Jews were responsible for the black market trade of southern cotton. The Jewish community appealed to congress for help and, less than 2 weeks later, President Lincoln countermanded the order.

The city of Paducah sits up on levees 50 feet above the level of the Ohio River. In 1937, the river flood peaked at 60.8 feet! Residents had to flee the city for 3 weeks until the flood waters receded. In response, the Army Corps of Engineers built a wall around the city. Thus wall is still intact and many of the murals are painted on the wall. 

Murals Painted On The River Front Wall

The National Quilting Museum in Paducah was one of the highlights of our trip. Many years ago our daughter, Ali, was in a musical production of Quilters. We also had a friend that was an avid quilter. So, we had a little inkling of what quilting was about. But, even so, the variety of styles and artistic complexity of the quilts on display was amazing. The artists may not be as well known as those of the masters whose works may be found in the Louvre or Hermitage, but their works are beautiful, colorful  depictions of everything from nature, to history and fantasy. 

After 2 days of sightseeing, relaxing, looper docktails and dining, we again headed out for our final push up the Ohio and onto the Cumberland River to complete the first half of our adventures south on Americas great rivers.