Sept 15-16

Sept 15--Tom-Kat & Sea-Knight were up and ready to leave the Beardstown Barge at 6:15 am as they had a long trek down the river and were not stopping until they reached Alton on the Mississippi about 110 miles away. I mentioned yesterday that there was some concern about the water level at the barge. Tom-Kat pulled away without problems. However Sea-Knight went to back away from the barge and he was stuck on the bottom. He was able to pull forward and plow through the mud with his prop. About 100 yards from the barge he almost came to a standstill and I thought sure a rescue mission was about to take place, but at the last minute he was able to pull free and he shot forth as the grasp of the mud bottom let him loose. Luckily the bottom is mud and sand and no prop damage occurred. Our mission today was to make about 40 miles of river travel. We departed the barge without problems. About 10 miles down the River was our last lock we needed to traverse. This lock is a wicket dam and we cruised right over the dam! True! A wicket dam actually folds down into the river when the water conditions are right and flood and navigation control is not needed and thus you can sail right over the dam without the need for locking through. Saves loads of time for the PC's like us and even more time for the tows. Skipper Bob's book traveling from "Chicago to Mobile" is the authoritative book for cruisers doing this part of the loop and he lists many places you can anchor safely along the River. 2 problems in anchoring. First you must be out of the tow channel so barges won't hit you at night and second when you do leave the channel you need enough water so you don't run aground. Skipper Bob suggested a good anchorage behind Wing Island which is at MM 39.8 (39.8 miles from the Mississippi). That was our goal. We arrive at Wing Island about 1:30. We proceeded cautiously to the suggested spot and found about 8' of water and no other boats there. The hook (anchor) was dropped, the wind was light, and the current kept us in the almost the exact same spot all night. The alarm is set on the GPS so if we drift more than 200' the alarm will sound. We were well off the beaten tow path. Several times in the night we could see the mighty tows travelling the river. Not envying the Captains who maintain the course 24 hrs a day, but what a beautiful sight with their lights aglow. It is so peaceful when you anchor. Every birds call and the wind whispers could be heard. The girls said we needed to clean out the fridge so we had stir fry and salad for supper. The genny purred like a kitten and provided cooking power and later on a little tv. No phone service but we did have internet service. I think I mentioned in a previous post that I was not happy with my internet service amplifier andI had sent the amplifier and connecting cable off for repair. It turns out the cable was bad and now I seem to be able to have internet service when the cell phone signal is marginal or non-existent. We looked on a map to try and pin point land wise where we were. There aren't any towns remotely close by. We might have been close to a town the size of Goblesville! The picture is of the Beardstown barge we tied to. If you look closely you will see Silver Foxes tied to the end

Sept 16 Today the mighty Mississippi is our goal. Sure simple to pull away from an anchorage. No dock lines to gather in. No power to disconect and no water line to unhook. Just push the button and the anchor is pulled in. Today was cloudy and chilly as we departed but the flybridge enclosure is warm Our travel to Alton IL was uneventful. The river is very wide and only on one occasion I had to converse with a tow. At the point where we entered the mighty Mississipi we were struck by the beauty of the cliffs that rose along the Illinois shoreline of the Mississippi. The Alton Marina is very new and modern. Arrival time was about 3pm. It was cool and windy. Our assigned dock was narrow but we slipped in with room to spare on each side. I have not made an official count of the looper boats that are here but there must be 10-12. At the looper cocktail party there were 24 people, and not all people on all boats were accounted for. We met several new people that we had not met before. After the cocktail get together, the four of us adjourned to a very popular local restaurant where we put on the feed bag to celebrate Don's 70th birthday. Tomorrow and perhaps the next day is a layover day to prepare for our journey down the big River. The picture is of the cliffs along the Mississippi . Miles traveled 1184