Ohio River to Cumberland River to Green Turtle Bay on Lake Barkley

Daisy Trying to figure out a Green Turtle

Location 
 We are located at Green Turtle Bay.  Where is that you might ask?  Well it is in Kentucky, between Monkeys Eyebrow and Possum Trot.  Here is a snapshot from my weather app on my phone.  You cannot make this stuff up!!!

The Ohio River was nice to traverse, The Cumberland River reminded me a lot of the Muskegon River Hardy Pond area.  The tree lined banks, mostly narrow, and clean water.

Loading Barges

Rock Quarry  Conveyers all over the place.

There was some industry.  Rock crushing equipment and many barges to haul the rocks for cement use in New Orleans.

Weir at Barkley Dam

Entrance to Barkley Lock (Lock Master was a prick) 

This thing was huge.  There is a fishing boat in there on the left.

Vicki manning the Floating Bollard

Daisy has no problem in the locks.

That is a 14 wide x 42 long boat.

The Barkley Lock and Dam was a 55 foot lift up to Lake Barkley.  The Lock was huge in its operation.

Right after the lock, was Green Turtle Bay Marina a 450 slip marina with 100's of condos, rental boats, swimming area, swimming pools, Spa etc.  It was so nice to come to a great marina for a few days. I enjoyed a very long hot shower.


Below is a snap shot of an 'gaggle' of turtles

We ate dinner at Mr Bills. In Grand Rivers Ky.  They are noted for their pork everything.  It is a destination restaurant and is very large and popular.

Here is my dinner plate:

Needless to say it was enough for three meals.

The marina knew I was coming, so they posted up new signs:

Thanks for PEEking in today. All is Good!

Good Bye Mississippi (good riddance) Hell-o Ohio River.

Mom and Daisy (peeking over the dingy carpet) after a trip to shore.

The Mississippi River is 2,340 miles long.  I witnessed 218 miles at high water stage.  I do not need to see any more of the river!

There were some nice vistas, but navigating the debris limited the duration of the viewing.

Click this image to see how big this really is.

The 'tows" kept us on our 'toes'.  They are very large. and we had a safe traverse around them.  We traveled 10 hour days just to get off the river ASAP.  The wing dams are pretty weird.  These are Corp of Engineers inserted dams, made of rock piles,  at an angle, typically 45 degrees  to the normal flow of the river.  The wing juts into the river between  40 - 80 yards,(approx) and the height varied but they were mostly under water, while some had about 1-3 feet  of visible rocks.  The purpose of the wing dam is to  redirect most of the current back to the middle of the river.  The dams prevent erosion of the banks, and reduces shoaling.  One must be cautious of, not cutting an inside corner too sharp (as I tend to do) or a grounding may occur on the wing dam.

Hell-o Ohio River.
As we rounded the confluence of the Mississippi and the Ohio, everything changed.  Debris was minimal, water was much clearer, and the river was very wide.  We simply enjoyed the change, it seemed to be peaceful.  Of note, is that there were 1,000's of carp (unknown type but maybe Grass Carp).  The fish would be swimming along near the top of the surface of the water and then dive into the depths.  1,000's for maybe two miles.

 

 
The new, and still under construction Olmstead Lock is HUGE!!  The 1988 appropriated sum of $750,000 has ballooned to 3.1 billion dollars (government!).  I counted 17 cranes. A construction manager told me once, 'the size of the cranes, determines the size of the project'.  This lock will replace Lock 52 and 53.

We spent the night on the hook in Metroplois (yes there is a Superman museum).  We were located near Lock 52.

Different angle to see a train.

'First Mate'  Daisy after a long day of...... napping

Thanks for taking the time to read this blog.

Grafton to Hoppies (not on Burt Lake)

The time in Grafton was awesome, but we had to make the move, and get heading down the mighty Mississippi some more...... DEBRIS and all.



It is difficult to describe the amount of debris that was in the river and in the lock well as well.  As one local said to me.....

 "This is very unusual for the fall months to have this debris, it is usually the spring runoff that causes this mess"

It was impossible to take your eyes off the river for even a minute.  Many times we had to pick the lesser amount of debris to plow through, while zig zaging around the piles of accumulating twigs, limbs and trees and junk.

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We passed many nice natural surroundings.

We made it to the World famous Hoppies Marina, with a greeting by Hoppie himself (age 78) and, Fern (83 years old)  Both of them manning the lines for five boats coming in to their 'Marina' in a short period of time.

The marina:  Five OLD barges strapped together with cables, rope etc.  There is an old wrecker with a winch holding the barges to the shore.  Between each of the barges was a gap of 10-12 inches and a slight ramp to get across.  There is fuel, there is a lot of junk (JUNK).

Fern

There is a seating area for Ferns Evening briefing on what to expect for the next two to three hundred miles or so down river.  While smoking, and seated next to the fuel pumps she conducts an informational packed hour.  Many serious boaters rely on her knowledge.  Her knowledge can help you avoid the rivers ability to screw up your day.  She is serious.  She can answer anything about the river in that area (boils, current, hidden cans, debris, boat emergency, tow protocol, anchorages and non anchorages, each lock, fuel stops, current mergers etc).

Edge View of the Arch

We passed St. Louis and of course the famous Arch.  What a nice sight from the river.

Here is the Sprit of Mississippi, this is a huge boat and it is supreme in character.

Daisy getting some ZZZ's while underway.  All is well.

Thanks for peeking in.

Grafton - Wild Raven Adventurers - Jennifer and Piere

While in Grafton I met two wonderful people.  They are in the middle of a 2-3 year adventure via paddling a canoe.  While my blog headline contains the word 'Adventure' these folks are the epitome of seeking and realizing adventure.

Jennifer and Piere are awesome folks with an incredible philosophy of life.  Their dog Jasmine rides on top of their equipment in the middle of the 20' canoe.  They exert 50 strokes per minute while paddling their canoe (do the math).

Example from their website:

.....The aim was to explore fully all aspects of a long-term expedition and to be able to live in the present moment; we will sell our home, our possessions  and leave our jobs. There will be no more barriers, nothing to hold us back or tie us down; only adventure in its purest form.

We will be modern day explorers and endeavor to be ambassadors of freedom. Our mission will be to share with as many people as possible our experiences, discoveries and reflections.

I cannot do justice to their content....  Please visit their website and blog, it is truly inspiring.

Website:

http://www.wildravenadventure.com

Blog:

http://www.wildravenadventure.com/#!blog/c3e4

Also, they did not know about "The Great Loop" until learning of its existence, they have  since changed their itinerary to include its area.

Grafton - Alton Illinois

Grafton and Alton Il.
 
We are here

As the debris in the river settles down we are forced to spend six days in Grafton Illinois.  The debris is of mostly tree limbs, sticks, dead tree sections and of course trees themselves.  The debris accumulates in pools and then floats down the river.  Debris also gets caught up on bridge supports, along the side of the rivers, and at lock areas, including the entrance area.  The locks then accept the debris along side vessels that are in the lock and it creates problems.








Grafton Illinois

I Loved this building,
 if you study it is is very unique

Grafton is a nice tourist area.  The architecture of some older buildings is quite attractive.  Like so many communities there is a processes to rebuild the waterfront with newer tourist type of businesses, condos etc.  Grafton is at the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, and not too far down is the Missouri River.  There are rather tall and steep granite formations lining the north rim of the area. The marina is very modern, clean and has a pool and hot tub.

Not a good picture of the view, it was superb.

At the top of one of the areas surrounding Grafton is a very cool bar restaurant called, Aeries Winery and Restaurant with an awesome 170 degree view of the Illinois, and Mississippi river confluence. Vicki and I both  had Comorran Pizza...WOW it was awesome, Goats Cheese, raisins, nuts, and spinach.

While at Aeries we met a group of skull rowers from England (Where my mom is from).  They plan to row the entire Mississippi River.  They are doing this as a charity event, and raising monies via donations, and selling tee shirts (got one).  Great group of folks.  I made the 'My mother if from....'  connection, and it was great making conversation..

First set of steps to 'Monks Mound", there is another set half this tall.on the next plateau
At the top was a simple flat surface for the Leaders home and servants,

We went to the Cahokia Mounds. There lies the remains of the most sophisticated Native American Civilization north of Mexico. Managed by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, this 2,200 acre site has been designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization for its importance in understanding the cultural heritage of the native civilizations in North America. We were impressed with the entire museum, but we also walked up to the 'Monks Mound'  nice view, all the way to St Louis.
  

This is the spirit of Fast Eddies

Cold Beer, 

We also went to Fast Eddies Bon Air bar (three different times) for something to eat and drink.  This is a very well known bar for its uniqueness.  We had a great time there.  $2 , 1/2 pound burgers, Peel and eat shrimp, Steak Kabobs and $3.25 22oz  Draft Heinekens.  Great music playing, and everybody was having a great contagious time.

We attended a 'Cross Your Wake'  celebration for Captain John of Satisifaction, who completed the Loop at Grafton (his home port).  It was a 'Bring a covered Dish to pass' and there was,  Champagne, Fajitas, and desert provided, awesome time by all.

Vicki took the ferry to St Charles Mo. for shopping etc  I worked on the boat.

We had breakfast at the Lodge at a Illinios state park with 28 other loopers.  Great food, great people.

We went to Elsa, a local historical village.  Real cool older architecture and every home had a series unique attributes. The homes were rather close together, but really unique.  We drove very slow to take in all the details in the homes.  I wondered what it looked like at Christmastime.

We spent some time in the pool and hot tub, relaxing.

The day before we departed we picked up a hot apple pie that we ordered.  I told the lady about my moms ability to make superb apple pies (almost every weekend during the fall and winter months),  she proceeded to make an extra tall pie, and she was so proud.  I had a piece when I returned to the boat......  yum.









While in Grafton, we met a very unique couple from Quebec.  I will post a separate  blog page about them.