Tuesday, September 13, 2022
So today we moved from Ivy Marina down to Peoria, IL, City Dock. Now, before we left Ivy we heard nothing good about the city dock in Peoria. Turns out it wasn't as bad as we were told. The dock master at Ivy talked of unsafe conditions due to vagrants hanging out around that area. That wasn't apparent to us at all. The only issues we saw were that the town is not keeping up the docks. We got in with 6 other boats but the depth of water at the docks made it impossible or rough for anyone else to tie up. And...the docks were not maintained. Bird poop everywhere on the wooden docks. We ordered food from Costco and had it delivered by Instacart. Maggie and I walked all along the river bank and felt totally safe. Peoria is working on the river front area and it shows. Now they just need to keep the city docks clean and cared for.
Wednesday, September 14, 2022
Went through Peoria Lock fairly quickly with about 12 vessels going through. We hurried along then to Logsten Tug Service for the night. We'd been there before on our last loop trip and knew it was a rough setting...but it was the only game in town for us that day...and for 3 looper boats. Getting to land was difficult from the tie-up to a tow boat. I took Maggie out that evening...but not the next morning. The stairs from the tow boat to land were precarious and I decided Maggie just needed to use her potty onboard...and she did.
Thursday, September 15, 2022
We traveled to Grafton, IL, that day and stayed the night...thinking we would spend two days there. Unfortunately they had no diesel service and we only stayed one. Nice marina with great laundry facility...so we washed some clothes before getting on the Mississippi.
Friday, September 16, 2022
Left fairly early and traveled to Alton, IL. Loved this marina! Covered slips, very reasonable, and right next to the town of Alton. We got there around 2 PM and ordered lunch (burgers, please) from the Bluff City Grill. I walked to get them and wished I'd taken Mags so she could get some exercise...but I made up for it by walking her around the park area there several times that day. The next day would start out with a lock...and our plans for going through it were collaborated with about 5 other boats, all loopers.
Saturday, September 17, 2022
Got up really early this morning and took off for an 85 mile run to Kaskascia Lock on the Mississippi River. First we went through a lock with about 7 boats, again mostly loopers, then traveled on down to the lock where we could tie up to a wall for the night. Turns out, the lock was doing some construction and, while we were welcome to tie up, the conditions were rough. Lots of activity in the narrow approach...tie up to concrete walk with no access to land (apologies to Maggie that night) and crowded with...looper boats. It was a free, safe space to stay.
Sunday, September 18, 2022
Left around 6:30 and headed on down the Mississippi River with hopes of anchoring at a place about 21 miles away from the Ohio River turn. Made good time and found the anchorage we were looking for only to discover it was too shallow an approach for us. We traveled on. And we began looking for good wing dam areas for anchorage. Finally found one at about mile 19 and anchored there for the night. One of the boats we'd traveled with took a picture of us as they passed by that evening....
Monday, September 19, 2022
Traveled today, again with an early start, down to the place where the Ohio River comes into the Mississippi. We made our left turn onto the Ohio and immediately felt the difference in speed: the Ohio River was running against us as opposed to the Mississippi, which was pushing us along.
We stayed that night at the Paducah, KY, Transient Dock. The dock runs right along the channel of the river so not much protection from boat wake...and many on the dock had issues with the electrical outlets (as did we for a while)....but it was a place to stay for the night. Looks like Paducah is working on a waterfront venue for the city. Town was close enought to walk to but we were HOT and tired by the time we got there.
Tuesday, September 20, 2022
Instead of starting out with "early start" every time, I'll tell you if and when we "sleep in!" Today we left Paducah and headed down the Cumberland River to the Barkley Lock. From there we made our way over to the Kentucky Dam Marina for the night. Again we had a really warm day and were happy to tie up to a dock and turn on the air conditioning!
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Spent a peaceful night at the marina...no river wake to shake the boat. ;-) Walked Maggie and actually turned her loose in a large grassy field to get some running in. This dog loves to run!!!
It was another hot day! Sounds like tomorrow might be a 70's day and we'll be SO glad!! We were
Thursday, September 22 2022
Leaving the marina that morning we celebrated the fact that we were now a step closer to home and familiar waterways. The Kentucky Dam created Kentucky Lake and that's what we traveled on today. It's very wide so we didn't have much need to hail oncoming tow boats to arrange a pass. Instead, we just avoided the tows by moving out of their way.
Pebble Isle Marina in New Johnsonville, TN, was our destination today. We've stayed there several times before and it was just as welcoming as always. They are known for their restaurant (which is open during the fall only on the weekend) and, apparently, their cinnamon rolls. We never knew they had cinnamon rolls let alone famous cinnamon rolls! I was witness to a boater coming into the office/restaurant at the marina and huffing out when told the rolls would be there the next morning. He muttered that he wouldn't have waited for the marina office to open (8 am) if it hadn't been for the desire to have a cinnamon roll. ;-)
One of the really nice things about many marinas in the South is that they often have a "courtesy" car that can be borrowed for an hour or two. Our plan was to get the car the tomorrow morning bring in more food! We're out of the essentials: apples, bananas, cinnamon raisin bread (I have a cinnamon raisin bread sandwich of p-nut butter and banana every morning :-).
Thursday, September 22, 2022
Got the courtesy car this morning when the office opened at 8 and drove to the closest Walmart for groceries. That job done, we headed out for an anchorage tonight. It was, indeed, cooler today and the trip was pleasant.
We had picked out several places for an anchorage...but when we got to them we realized there wasn't enough water for anchoring. So we traveled on and finally hailed a marina for dockage but were told they didn't have enough water for a 4 ft. draft (how deep our boat is). On we went a bit further and finally spotted a recreation area on the water that had what looked like a perfect place to stay for the night. We anchored in about 15 ft. at MM (mile marker) 135. Perfect place and we slept well.
Friday, September 23, 2022
Plans today were the same as yesterday: find an anchorage. Again we had several options and ended up at Wolfe Island. That's where we are right now. I've finally sort of caught up on the blog!
Now's the time to tell you about our change in plans. We are no longer interested in traveling for a year "or more" on a boat. We will have traveled about 4,000 miles by the time we get home and we think that's aplenty for us. We're coming back to Knoxville (first week in October, we think) and we're going to buy a house and boat on the local rivers...and perhaps go to Florida for some winters (though not this year because we have things we want to add to the boat.)
This trip was trying in a number of ways. First, our course of travel was simply too crowded. Loopers have been delayed in their travel plans in 2019 because of lock closures on the Illinois River, 2020 due to COVID issues and not being able to enter Canada...so a big number of those delayed Loopers started out in 2021 and are now on their way to Florida for the winter. When we hit the Illinois River off of Lake Michigan and all the way down to the bottom of the Mississippi we were in the company of as many as 15 Loopers. Nothing against Loopers, but traveling in a caravan of 15 boats takes all the adventure out of the trip. You are no longer motoring along, enjoying the views on either side. Instead, we found ourselves trying to space our vessel in among the others, slowing down, speeding up...very tedious. Going through locks was a zoo. When locks were closed for any reason the places one could stop for the night were limited by the number of boats needing the same services.
Other reasons we've changed our mind is that we miss the comforts of a home. (Probably shows our age, but so be it. ;-) And with both of us having had pretty serious recent health issues we are often needing a "check in" with our health professional (via a Zoom-like video session) or a prescription delivery, or a blood draw. All of those have been hard to arrange while boating and will likely go on for years now.
We had considered at one time moving to a different place at the end of this journey. That's no longer a consideration. We both want to live in Knoxville, TN, where we have lived the majority of our 75 years. And we're both looking forward to seeing our friends and enjoying your company as soon as we can settle in.
More photos to come later....
