The Adventures of Adriana1: to 'Green Turtle Bay Marina' On the Cumberland River

After a wonderful time at home for thanksgiving and family time we are back on the mid American Rivers. We arrived back at our boat midday on Thursday, Oct. 13th.giving us the afternoon to prepare for our next day and week..The next day it was sun in your eyes and again finding our sea legs, just a bit of adjusting. After about 15 minutes we settled into the demands of watching for buoys and directions on our chart plotter as we motored along from the Illinois river into the mighty Mississippi. The cities of Alton on the Illinois side and the St. Loius on the Missouri side had many bridges and barges stationary along the 'wall'. The banks along the Illinois side as far as St Louis were beautiful limestone cliffs with trees arrayed in fall colours.After St Louis the Missouri side was more picturesque . We had 2 locks to go through that day and 10 miles of a canal before we arrived at 'Hoppies Marine Services', 76 miles from Grafton our previous marina.Because the current carried us at about 4 knotical miles per hour we moved along at an average of 11 'knots'[A knot is 1.15 regular miles.] This trip took us about 7 hours.We were thankful to be safe and sound at 'Hoppies' just before 3.We did meet up with some big 'tows' on the way, one had 35 barges.Fern and Hoppie made a great team.Over 50 years of experience.Fern does a seminar every eve, letting the current boaters like us know about anchorages and river conditions. We did have some excitement shortly after arriving there . A collection of barges had broken loose from the tow and were moving downstream towards our area. If they had floated to the opposite bank too early some of them could have headed back towards the marina. Hoppie headed out in his little boat with 2 logs secured to the bow . He was able to give them just enough of a push in one corner to make sure they were diverted the right way.Everything turned out okay with only a minimal damage to the first barge. Fern had called the tow and coast guard right away and a section of the river had to be closed to boat traffic 'til all was under control. With Fern's info and a good night's rest we were back onto the River on a beautiful sunny day to our first anchorage at mile 99 behind a wingdam[these divert the current]. It was a good anchorage and well away from the barges.There are no marinas along this stretch of the Upper Mississippi, so the next day off to little Diversion River.at mile 46. Again this anchorage worked for us, only we had to stay close to the mouth since the river was silting in. Another sunny warm day.We enjoyed one more sunny warm day before the weather changed. This time we anchored behind a wingdam again, at mile 7.7.We were almost at the mouth of the Ohio river.It starts at mile 981 mile ,0 would be at it's source. From here on the lower Mississippi continues south of the mouth of the Ohio.

Awakening to a cold rainy day we dressed in warm clothing and rain gear. Visibility was good and we had no trouble meeting with barges\tows.In less than an hour we were motoring up the Ohio River.Also a big river with lots of barge activity. Most were at loading docks. lots of coal and gravel on these .We took photos of a huge new lock under construction.It is taking 20 years to build.to be finished in 2013. It is to replace the 2 locks we will be going through.We anchored at mile 950 very close to shore and well away from the shipping line.Glad to warm up in our cozy cabin with the furnace going. wed. was cold and overcast.
Wed. night we anchored behind an island at the start of the Cumberland River.
A pretty and winding river. we enjoyed the scenery, the quiet and the sunshine.
We didn't meet up with any moving barges, only some loading at the big mining areas-gravel and lead.. After going 'up' in the biggest lock[Barkley Lock and Dam] so far on this adventure we came to Barkley lake, still on the Cumberland , to 'Green Turtle Bay Marina and Resort' at a little town called Grand Rivers. A love

you may try to google the area .The Tenessee River[Kentucky Lake] and the Cumberland R. are both a lake for a stretch because of a dam on each river.We plan to explore this area for the next 5 days .We were without wifi for a while- thus a long blog.I also realized we haven't filled you in on our tour of St.Louis -Lewis and Clark Museum and the History museum,hope to blog a few photo's of that on another blog.