Oct 26th-Oct 31st Days 106-111

Happy Halloween

Weathered out the rain on the 26th and did boat things. Morning of the 27th the weather was nice so we headed out onto the lake. We found a place about 15miles from here called Crooked Creek and after entering it we found out how it got its name. We turned and twisted our way off the main lake to a cove. We could see the lake which was close but the water in between was not passable. Dan had a paper chart(no Depths) and the way in was well buoyed. Nice anchorage and we lowered the dingy for some site seeing and fishing. No luck fishing for two days and all the wildlife was turtles and pelicans. Left the anchorage on the 29th and headed back to Eddy Creek Marina. Donna's Brother and sister-in-law came in from Ohio(10 hours) and got here around 9pm. They left for a few days on the lake and Lin and I are doing marina things while they cruise. Changed the engine oil yesterday while Lin helped getting me things and did cleaning. We worked on a new way to support the Ding while on the top so we could leave the sides inflated. Will see if our plan works as we will try it today. Now we are relaxing catching up on paying bills, blog, and laundry. Starting to get cold nights so it is time to start heading south. Plans are to leave on Wednesday and start heading down the Tennessee River. With the time change the hours on daylight are getting short and fog and dew in the am will cut our cruising day down. We plan on being in the Pensacola area by mid December, find a secure place to leave the boat and head home for the Holidays.

That's an update from Kentucky

Lin & Rich
Eddy Creek Marina
Eddy Creek, Kentucky

Oct 25th Day 105

The wind did blow last night but not as bad as South Haven. This morning the sky got dark and down came the rain. Kentucky has been in a drought so to help them out we can put up with a few days of rain. Till Sunday's rain we had not seen rain since South Haven on September 22 over a month ago so we can not complain. Today we will do some laundry and engine checks. Looks like good weather for tomorrow so we will head out onto the lake for anchorage and fishing, even bought a license. It is noon and has rained all morning, good day to get a hair cut from Lin.

Lin & Rich
Eddy Creek Marina
Eddy Creek, Kentucky

Oct 22, 23, 24 Days 102, 103, 104

We left for Nashville on Friday after getting a rental car. It was about 109 miles from the marina, real nice ride. Checked into the hotel and headed downtown the place was packed as it was homecomimg at the University of Tennessee and they were playing rival Alabama. Also the Titans were in town set to play the Eagles on Sunday. Had a great dinner and ended up in a nice bar with a small group band, it was a lot of fun. Saturday we went to visit President Andrew Jackson's Home(farm) real nice tour and everything was original as it was when he stayed there.
Tried to see the Opry Hotel but it was still under repair from the floods. Went to an old car muesem which was interesting. Had another great meal Saturday. Sunday we headed to to the Ryman Building the original ole Opry but it was closed for three days while they held auditions for American Idol. On our way back to the marina we went thru the Land Between the Lakes, there they have bison and elk roaming free, within hundreds of acres, we saw both bison and elk(bull and cows). We were going to anchor on the lake for a few days while we wait for Donna's brother and sister-in-law, but the weather looks bad so we will wait till Wenesday to head out.

Lin & Rich
Eddy's Creek Marina
Eddy Creek, Kentucky

Oct 21 Day 101

It was a great anchorage we had last night only two barges went by with little wake movement. Left the anchorage at 11 am and headed to Eddy Creek Marina, this is where we will leave the boats for 4 days and travel to Nashville for two days returning Sunday afternoon. On the way back from Nashville we will drive thru a state park which has Bison and Elk roaming free. On the way here we passed the Kentucky State Prison which they call the castle on the lake. It is beautiful for a prison. I would love to have the money spent on stainless wire to keep the good guys out. It is suppose to house all the death row prisoners in the state. There were many towers surrounding the yards. We traveled 14.5 miles today and now have 2,391 miles under our keel.

Lin & Rich
Eddy Creek Marina
Eddy Creek, Kentucky

Oct 20th Day 100

Well we have reached the 100 day mark and are still together and having a great adventure together. We are now in Kentucky which is our 6th state. Had to wait to get underway this morning due to heavy fog. Got underway at 9am and started up the Cumberland River. It was a beautiful ride thru wilderness with the exception of a few HUGE stone quarries. We went thru the Barkley Dam which raise us 57' into Barkley lake.
We are at anchor in a cove called Willow Creek real nice and quite. It is nice to be off the rivers for awhile. Tomorrow we will head about 7 miles to Eddy Creek Marina where we will leave the boats while we head to Nashville by car for the weekend. We will spend next week cruising the lake while we wait for Donna's brother to arrive from Ohio.

Lin & Rich
Willow Creek
Barkley Lake, Kentucky

Oct 19th Day 99

Easy day today. Called the lock at 7am to try and get on the schedule to lock thru between barge traffic. The reply was be ready in one hour and we will get you thru, what a great piece of news. We listened on the radio as the lock master gave the list of barges and the order of passage. Some barges were told it would be a 24 hour wait. The lock master got us in and out and we were figuring on being there all day. We traveled 2.5 hours to our next anchorage a big 16.3 mile day. Got a lot of boat work done and tomorrow we will head down the Cumberland river to either another anchorage or to Eddy Creek Marina our next destination and from there we will cruise Lake Barkley and also head by car to Nashville. Life is tough decisions decisions.

Lin & Rich
anchored Cumberland Island Towhead
Illinois on one side and Kentucky on the other

Oct 18th Day 98

The last night anchored on the Mississippi went good. The traffic on the bridge was a little loud but we got a good nights rest. No fog this morning so we were underway by 8am traveled the last 7 miles of our Mississippi River journey and turn up the Ohio River at 8:41. Now we were headed up river and the current was against us, luckily it was not real strong. We traveled to Olmsted where they are constructing a new lock / dam to replace locks 53 and 52 what a massive project, should be completed either 2011 or 2013. Next we came to lock 53 and during periods of high water, the dam is lowered and you pass over the dam. That was our case and now we can say we drove GoofinOff over a dam. Made it to lock 52 after 49.9 miles and 6.5 hours. This lock has two chambers but the barge chamber is being worked on so all traffic goes thru the small chamber. There are barges all over being taken apart to fit then being put back together on the other side.IT IS ONLY A 10' RAISE. We had the option to get thru but it was late and the next anchorage was 30 miles upstream. We told the lack master we would wait for a chance tomorrow. It could be tomorrow or the next day before we get thru but we are not in a rush as long as it is not snowing. It was a great day and in the 80's. It was Dan's birthday today so of course we had to celebrate and Dan & Donna made a great birthday dinner. A little extra information, today we passed Metropolis, Illinois, the home of Clark Kent(Superman).
We are anchored on the shores of Kentucky our 6th state.

Lin & Rich
on the hook
I-24 Highway Bridge between Illinois and Kentucky

Oct 17th Day 97

We hung out for awhile this morning as we only had a 44.5 run and we were anchoring just outside the channel on the Mississippi. We left at 9am and and got to the anchor at 2pm. We tried to raft but with the two boats Dan's anchor started to drag. We broke lose and Lin and I headed to the channel to get GoofinOff ready to anchor. Remember this will be the first time we have anchored after we broke lose and hit the rocks. I was preparing the anchor and found the winch was a little bound up got that lose and in we headed up stream. Lin was at the helm and I was at the anchor as we got ready to drop I found out the anchor itself was stuck in the holder.
Back out into the channel we went hammer in hand I pounded until it broke lose. Anchor away and we were hooked a little nerve racking but we have been on the hook for 4 hours and have not moved. The current is running about 4 mph so we are dug in pretty good. Have the anchor drag alarm set and hopefully we will be able to get some peaceful sleep tonight(right). Tomorrow it is onto the Ohio River.

Lin & Rich
safe at anchor
Mile 7.5 on the Mississippi
Near the I-57 Highway bridge

Oct 16th Day 96

We got up early for our 70 mile run, well Ole Mother Nature had a different idea. We were fogged in and could not take off till 8:45. But we were sure glad not to be on the river in that thick fog. We traveled the 70 miles in 6 hours averaging 12mph with the help of the current. The day was beautiful and in the 70's. We are anchored in Little Diversion Channel off the Mississippi about 3 miles south of Kidd River City Missouri. Got some not so good news today, lock 52 on the Ohio river has two chambers and the large chamber will be shut down on Oct 18th for repairs. That means the small chamber used for pleasure craft will not do both. Delays could be up to 30 hours. There is no way we could get there before the 18th. If it is not Mother Nature it is the Corp of Engineers.
I have told you the barges on the Mississippi are large today we saw our biggest one being pushed by a tug with three engines and he was pushing 35 loaded barges, 5 across and 7 long. The turbulence these things put out is indescribable, like being back on Lake Michigan.

Lin & Rich
Little Diverson Channel
south of Kidd River City, Missouri

Oct 15th Day 95

Made it thru the night tied to the barge on the river. Every time a barge went by at night it gave us a pretty good ride and the docks creaked and cracked. We untied at 8:45 and headed back out into the river current and down stream we went. With the current we picked up 4 or 5 mph which also gave us better fuel economy(yeah). We traveled down river 42.1 miles to the Kaskaskai River mouth an turned up that river and tied to the lock wall. It is a free wall before the lock which can hold a few boats for overnight. We got here about 12:30, short day today but tomorrow will be some 70 miles before we can find a safe place to stay the night. The weather has been great as of late with good sleeping temperatures and 60-70 during the day with plenty of sun shine.

Lin & Rich
Kaskaskai lock wall
Kaskaskai River Illinois

Oct 14th Day 94

Up and ready to go at 8am, headed out and started our trip down the Mississippi. The current was still about 4mph so we were traveling around 11.5mph and saving on fuel also. We did two locks today and both were done without any problems. We passed St Louis and the Arch on the way down the river. We traveled 63.6 miles and arrived at a barge marina at 3:30. The marina is right on the river and we docked with our bows upstream into the current. The women who runs the marina and has run it forever is the expert on the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee Rivers. She told us where we could anchor what to look for and what to expect. Everyone doing the loop stops here. All the guide books mention that she is the river expert. We are at mile marker 158.5 at Hoppies Marine Services, in the town called Kimmswick, Missouri.

Lin & Rich
Hoppies Marine Services
Kimmswick, Missouri

Oct 13th Day 93

Worked on the boats today checked all the fluids and got her ready for tomorrow.
Gave her a good bath as Lin cleaned her up inside. We are starting to get that brown mustache from all the brown water. We headed to a winery thinking we would get a tour as good as the Bud plant. Well it turned out just to be a wine bar. It was on top of a mountain and had a beautiful view of the river. We sat on the deck and had a great bottle of wine. Not much of a town most exciting thing was the ride across the Mississippi and Illinois rivers to get there.

Lin & Rich
St Charles

Oct 12th Day 92

Another great sleeping night as the weather was great. Today we headed to St Louis to see the sights. First stop was the Arch, it is quite the sight overlooking the river on one side and the city on the other. Took the tour ride to the top 630 feet. The cars you are in are small but all 4 of us did fit. The ride up takes 4 minutes and the ride down takes only three minutes. You get off at the top and can stay as long as you want. We took pictures of both side so from there we saw St Louis. The river is high and running fast so we are glad to stay off of her for a few days.
Next we headed to the Anheuser-Busch plant, this is the first brewery for Bud, real nice tour about an hour long. What we saw of the place was very impressive and clean. They had a few of the Clydesdales and Dalmatians there. Of course at the end of the tour there was beer tasting and pretzels. Did some driving around town and then went out to dinner.
Another great day.

Lin & Rich
OPort Charles Marina
St Charles, Missouri

Oct 11th Day 91

Today was a non travel day and not because of weather, it was beautiful and in the 80's. We did laundry and got ready to do the tourist thing. Headed to West Marine to pick up a few things and return our binoculars which had some waterproof problems. We then headed to the historic district of St. Charles. It was really quaint with brick roads, old buildings, and many shops. Had a great lunch at Maggie's which had a delicious cherry crepe. Left there and headed to Sam's to resupply food and snacks. It was a great day and tomorrow we will either visit a winery or travel to St Louis. Since we are the only transit boats in the marina they have let us use their courtesy car.

Lin & Rich
Port Charles Harbor
St Charles, Missouri

Oct 10th Day 90

We had a great night on the hook, watch Happy Feet on Dan and Donna's HUGE screen.

Up early and underway by 8am. It was a great ride but had to watch for a lot of floating debris. Most was caused by the dredging we came across. We finally got out of the river valley and could see mountains and towns. Once close to the Mississippi we ran into many boaters out for the long weekend. When we reached the Mississippi the current really picked up as the river had just crested after all the rain and flooding. As I made the turn off the Illinois river into the Mississippi River I went from 9 mph to 5.5 mph current was running at 3.5mph. We fought our way the three miles up the mighty Mississippi went around island 521 and headed to the marina at Port Charles Harbor. The entrance was small with rock piles on each side, with the current as strong as it was we had to go down river then head against the current to enter. Lin was looking over my shoulder telling me I was doing a good job, I was not that sure. We did make in with a sigh of relief and hearts pounding. We plan on staying three days to do the tourist thing and get some jobs done. We have now entered our 5th state, Missouri. It was a long day 8 hours traveling 64 miles, we have now traveled 2,054 miles.

Lin & Rich
Port Charles Harbor
St Charles, Missouri

Oct 9th Day 89

What a beautiful day today was 80 degrees and the sun was out. Left our anchorage at 8:30 and traveled 8 miles to our last lock on the Illinois River, La Grange, it was a big 7 foot drop. We traveled down river to our next planned anchorage at Big Blue Island. The north end was too shallow to get in so we headed 1.5 miles to the south end where we are anchored in 7' of water. We covered 30 miles in 4 hours including the lock. In another 10 miles we will have logged 2,000 miles to date. Tomorrow will be a long day traveling some 60 miles to Port Charles Marina on the Mississippi River. It is 3 miles up river but it has the cheapest fuel and dockage. There we plan to stay a few days and visit St Louis by car. After that stay it will be 230 miles plus to the Ohio River.

Lin & Rich
on the hook
Big Blue Island
58 miles from the mighty Mississippi

Oct 8th Day 88

We got up early and was glad to see our boats still had enough water under them to float. Got things ready and were underway by 8am, glad to say we both made it out of the marina without scraping bottom which was all silt(better than rock). Down river we went on an uneventful day.
The camps along the river are built on stilts which from our view point look to be about 10' high.
Might have told this but yesterday we saw a coyote and today the big thing was a turtle besides all the dead carp. Once today we heard a loud thump on the boat told Dan to keep an eye out and as he passed the area he said we had gotten an Asian carp about 2.5' long one less to make it to Lake Michigan. As it has been running our 20' anchorage did not pan out. We went a little past that spot and found refuge in about 7' of water. We are near a town called Beardstown.

Lin & Rich
at anchor
South of Grape Towhead Island

Oct 7th Day 88

We got up early to check on the schedule of the lock 3 miles south of us, called and was told be there for a 9 am lock thru. We were there at 8:30 am and told it would be another two hours.
Dan anchored and we rafted off for the wait. At 11:30 we were called into the lock for the 9 foot drop. Down the Illinois River we went heading toward Quiver Island for our overnight dockage in 10 to 12 feet of water. During our trip we ran into many barges of 3 across and 4 long you give these guys all the room they need. We contacted them and asked their preference on passage. We came across one dredge operation which was a little close. Once at Quiver Island Dan headed in and about 100 yards from the anchorage he went aground (soft) backed off and our next option was a marina 300yds away. Called and they had room but was not sure of depth. We both made it in and are in a safe harbor this river is really low. We set our plans for tomorrow which looks like a 30 mile run to a 20 foot anchorage hope it is true because the next good spot is 60 miles. We are glad we will be getting off this low river soon, not only are anchorages hard to find so are marinas with enough depth. This is really an adventure. But we are having a great time MOST of the time.
Lin & Rich
Tall Timber Marina
Illinois River

Oct 5th & 6th Days 86 & 87

We left Henry where we docked in an abandon lock which was really falling apart but with the river as low as it is we did not have much of a choice. We went thru our 6th lock on the Illinois River called the Starved Rock Lock and Dam. We pulled into a free dock which was suppose to have 6 to 8 feet of water, well as I pulled in my depth finder read 2.5 feet. The mud was churning but we were still afloat as we tied to the dock. Dan and Donna came in behind us but their keel hit the mud end result was they tied along side of us. On the way our starboard engine stopped running, had to change fuel tanks and was able to restart the engine. Used more fuel than we thought fighting Lake Michigan. The town was nice but small not suppose to stay overnight but this time of the year who is there to say anything. We hit dollar taco night at the local bar they were really good. On the 6th we had to wait for the fog to lift to leave and got underway at 9:30 and were anchored by 12:40 covering 18.5 miles. Lin and I stopped at Hamms marina for fuel $ 3.25 per gallon, we took 138 gallons which will get us to a cheaper fuel before the Mississippi. We are anchored in Peoria in about 6 foot of water. It is hard to find places to anchor with enough water for us to safely anchor. Tomorrow the plan is to travel 41 miles to another safe anchorage. We are 162.5 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi River and hope to be there next Monday or Tuesday. Too date we have traveled 1881 miles, been in 4 states and two Canadian provinces and are still together.

Lin & Rich
on the hook
Peoria, Ill

Oct 4th Day 85

Don't know how you guys have been following us missed it but I was saying day 33 34 instead of 83 84, must be the cold weather or you gave up on us.
Well today we started out in the 50's and ended the day in the 70's real nice ride. We only had one lock to do and with out any wind it was a breeze. We planned on anchoring but both places we figured on were to low on the depth. We figure since the Mississippi is flooding they are holding the dams back on the Illinois which seems to be below normal pool. We ended up traveling 43.5 miles today well over our planned mileage. Tomorrow if all goes well we will only travel 17 miles to Chillicothe. We are tied to an abandon lock stone wall that was built over 100 years ago. We are at a place called Henry Harbor Marina. We are 196 miles from the Mississippi River, we hope the river will be back to normal by the time we get there in 4 to 5 days.

Lin & Rich
Henry harbor Marina

Oct 2nd & 3rd Days 33 & 34

Well our easy day was not as easy as we planned. Could have been the cocktails during planning or just being off the lake but our 20 mile day turned into 48.5 miles. We are in a town called Ottawa, not Canada, on a free city dock and decided to take Sunday off as a day of rest. Since leaving Chicago we have been lowered by 5 locks, gone under 62 fixed bridges, and had to have 8 bridges lifted for us. We are now on the Illinois River heading south to the Mississippi River which is 239.6 miles from where we are. We will travel 218 miles on the Mississippi to the Ohio River. The barge traffic near Chicago was something else with tugs pushing 4 barges. The locks are huge and you feel small in them. We went thru the Asian Carp fish barrier(electrified) no big deal, called the Coast Guard as instructed but got no response so on we went, hair stood up a bit but not a big deal. Today we will plan the next few days before cocktails, looking for anchorages and free docks. Pretty cold last night 38 degrees so south we head.

Till next time
Lin & Rich
Ottawa, Ill.

Oct 1st Day 32

We are far from Lake Michigan, we left Chicago this morning at 9am
traveled thru the city which was breath taking. We went under 40 plus bridges getting run over by trains and cars, had to have a few lifted for us. The barge traffic was something else a few times we had to wait to have room to pass. One lock at Lockport it looked like there was no door,
you went over the door and then as it lowered the door was there strange hard to explain.
We are in a town called Joliet. It is about 40 miles south of Chicago. Tomorrow wil be an easy day as we plan on only 20 miles to Ottawa not Canada.

Have a good one we are

Lin & Rich
Joliet Ill.

Sept 30th Day 31

We had a great day got things lowered on the boat to make the Chicago bridges 40 of them.
Tomorrow we will do the bridges, 2 locks, and the electric fish barrier. Should travel about 40 miles which will take us thru downtown Chicago.
Went to Millennium Park today and saw the Bean. It is a bean shaped structure which reflects buildings and skyline, hard to explain but really cool. Got some good pictures. Toured the town and had cocktails and dinner out. Home early to get ready for tomorrow. Will be nice to be underway again and as nice as it is will also be nice to be out of the Windy City.

Lin & Rich
Preparing to leave Chicago.