Aqua Yacht Harbor and Midway Marina 10/27 - 31

10/26/2021  Aqua Yacht Harbor and Midway Marina

After staying at the very small marinas in Cuba Landing and Clifton, it was nice to pull into a very big and nice marina, Aqua Yacht Harbor.  We ended up staying for 3 nights, waiting out some rainy weather.  We were able to take one of their loaner vehicles to buy a few things at the grocery store and visit the hardware store.  We also stopped at a restaurant, Cades Grill, and had a terrific breakfast.  I had the chicken and waffles and Dan ended up with not only eggs, French toast, and bacon, but also biscuits and gravy!  We both ate every bit! 

A pretty large contingent of Looper boats left the morning of 10/30.  They all planned to stop just short of the first lock of the three that can be done in one day.

This part of the journey is in the TennTom Waterway, an artificially created canal that connects the Tennessee and the Tombigbee rivers.  We arrived at the area, where there were numerous anchorage opportunities at 2:00 p.m.  We decided to keep going, go through the three locks, and stop at the Midway Marina.  Assuming the locking went well, we should arrive at the marina well before dark.  The locking did go well, but there was one very slow sailboat that was following us. At every lock, we had to wait at least 20 minutes for them to arrive.  That put us arriving at the Midway Lock just at dark.  The day was really chilly, gray, and damp – we were really ready to stop.  I was delighted to hear that there was a restaurant on site that was still open!  Yay!  The food was good old Southern style – we had fried green tomatoes for an appetizer.  We both had a full meal and then a warm brownie with ice cream for dessert!  Yum.

For the next two nights, we were likely to be anchoring out.  There are so many boats coming down these rivers right now, that what marinas there are, are completely full.  

Green Turtle Bay, Rendezvous, Bennet's Cove, Cuba Landing 10/15 - 26

 

October 15, 2021  Green Turtle Bay and Rendezvous

Green Turtle Bay was the marina where we had decided to leave the boat for a few days to go to AGLCA’s Fall Rendezvous.  We had to use their loaner vehicle to drive the 30 minutes back to Paducah to retrieve our rental car.  There were LOTS of Loopers at the marina!  And more arriving every day.  We re-met some folks we had met earlier, had dinner with Noah Genda at the yacht club.  Another night, we had decided the restaurants were not worthy of the $$ they charged, so, at my suggestion, the crews from Kittiwake, Noah Genda, and LeeAnn got together for dinner.  I provided the spaghetti, Sarah from Noah Agenda provided some caprese salad, and Debra from LeeAnn brought a lovely tossed salad.  We had a great time swapping stories and plans.  I did just fine, had a G&T to start out, some wine with dinner…until Sarah offered a delicious mudslide.  That drink put me over, way over the top!  I didn’t get sick, thankfully, but Jonathan from LeeAnn did help me get home to our boat.  We will see these folks on down the river.

We drove the 3.5 hours to Rogersville, Alabama, where we attended the 5 day Rendezvous at the Joe Wheeler State Park.  We had an absolute ball, meeting and reconnecting with Loopers we had met up the way.  The sessions covered the next segments of the Loop all the way to Norfolk (the site for the Spring Rendezvous).  Dan and I found that, although the information imparted was good and well presented, we really didn’t learn anything that isn’t covered by the several guides we had already purchased and use daily.  The trip was worth it, though, just for the social interactions.  One other bonus, I had bit the bullet and bought us two Jupiter e-bikes – they were waiting for us at Joe Wheeler.  While there, we put them together and took a test run.  They’re going to add some real fun to our travels!

We returned to Green Turtle Bay on Friday morning.  On the way, we stopped at a grocery store in Paducah and bought some supplies.  Once back at the marina, did some laundry, greeted the Loopers who had arrived while we were gone.  Unfortunately, the battery charger problem we had experienced before we left the boat did cause us some grief.  The freezer/refrigerator that resides on the fly bridge did not switch to the 110 power provided by the connection at the dock, as it is supposed to do.  What that meant is that, once the house batteries lost their charge, there was no power to the freezer box.  We had about $200 worth of meat all nicely packaged in meal-sized portions that thawed and had to be thrown out.  Grrrr!  Cleaning out that mess was not my idea of fun.  Back to the store, bought more meat to put in the freezer.

We left GTB with full fuel tanks, full water tanks, empty black tank, and provisions to last a while.

First night, we anchored at Bennets Cove.  Water was a little “skinny” coming in, but the cove was lovely.  It was protected from the currently prevailing south winds and from the big storm that came in overnight.  The anchor held!  We raked up a bit of mud upon exiting the cove…ugh.

Next stop we planned was at Cuba Landing.  In my book, there is both a marina and an anchorage in there.  We started into the entrance, we thought, and immediately ran aground.  Dan was able to get us off, but not easily.  There was a boat behind us who came on the radio with us, and then called the marina.  The entrance channel for the marina is on the south side of a little island – no information on that was in my book or on our chart.  Grrrr.   So, instead of going to the anchorage, we surrendered and went into a slip at the marina.  Fortunately, it was one of the least expensive we’ve found!

The problem with the batteries is that the installed battery charger has stopped working.  What that means is, when we are not running the engines (the starboard engine charges the house batteries) the house batteries are not being charged.  Even the generator does not charge the house batteries!  Yikes.  So, on the boat currently, we have two problems:  one, the freezer box isn’t switching to the 110 power when the voltage from the house batteries isn’t available; two, the battery charger that keeps the house batteries charged isn’t working at all.  Sigh.  Dan got on the phone with customer support for the battery charger – we need to send it in to them for repair or replacement.  Good news:  it may be under warranty.  Bad news:  it’s in an almost impossible place for getting it out of the boat.  He can probably do it, but it will take some boat yoga and probably cursing and moaning.  We’ll have to limp along without it for some time, because it’s going to take a bit for Dan to extricate it from the boat and also because we are currently in the middle of nowhere – no UPS site near here.  And, once they receive it and have it ready to ship to us, we will then have to figure out what address to give them!!

And, still, we are loving our time on the boat!  Our cruise today down the Tennessee River was beautiful.  The colors here are just starting to change.  Even with the cloudy and cool weather, the views are simply beautiful.

Next stop, Clifton, Mississippi.  The town is reputed to be charming and interesting!

10/12 - 10/15 Paducah, Ky. (one of our favorite stops!)

October 12, 2021  Paducah!

We left Angelo’s Towhead anchorage at around 8:00 a.m.  We are done with the Mississippi River – with no increase  RPM’s on our engines, we cruised down that big river at 13 – 14 MPH.  Compared to our usual 8-10 MPH, we were flying!  We turned into the Ohio River, going upstream, and suddenly, our speed dropped to around 6-7 MPH.  We arrived at the Olmstead Lock at around 10:40 to find three other Looper boats there already – they had been waiting for an hour and had dropped anchor.  They let us know that the lockmaster had told them to pull over to the side and wait.  There were multiple tows to get through before any Pleasure Craft were accommodated.  We dropped our hook also, and FINALLY got through the lock at around 3:00 p.m.  Our destination for that day was the Paducah, Kentucky city docks, about a 4 hour cruise from the lock.  We would never choose to cruise in the dark, but there didn’t seem to be many choices for anchoring.  We decided to continue to Paducah, making our arrival time around 7:30 p.m. 

We were both tired and anxious as we approached the mile marker where the docks were.  We had no idea what the docks were like, how we would identify the location.  Turns out, we could have relaxed – as we neared the mile marker, we could see a well-lighted dock with a few boats our size.  Then, as we neared them, we saw someone with a flashlight signaling that this is your spot!  There was a welcoming crew of about 8 people, mostly folks we had met before, to help us get in and tied up safely.  What a blessing to be part of this group!  We took part in the same ‘ceremony’ on the following days we were there. 

The city of Paducah installed these docks a few years ago, because the city leaders realized what a boon it would be to boaters, especially those doing the Loop, who have had to anchor out from one to three nights before arriving there.  The dock space is free.  The docks are very good quality.  The power is free.  The water is free.  The city has employees who take care of the boaters, picking up their trash, doing pump outs (free also), and just generally being good city ambassadors.  And, of course, the boaters go into town and spend lots of money in restaurants, bars, and shops.  It’s a win/win!  There were often city residents who would come down to the dock, just to talk to the boaters, to welcome us.  It was totally a pleasant experience!

Another decision by those city leaders (and approved by the residents) was to offer large grants to artists and other businesses who would come to the city, rehabilitate an old building, and establish their business or gallery there.  Because of that decision (I believe), there are almost no vacant storefronts downtown.  The buildings are lovely, brought back to their original states (or better).  There are new restaurants, a wonderful variety of shops and galleries.  We only had 3 nights, 2 full days, in Paducah, and I wish we could have stayed longer.  But, we had a schedule to meet, something we normally try not to have!

Some things we enjoyed visiting:

The National Quilt Museum – amazing works of art in the form of quilts.  Such a variety of composition, colors, subjects.  One gallery was all quilts commemorating 9/11 – very touching.  One quilt in particular struck me – it was an artist’s representation of the Manhattan skyline which was missing the twin towers.  The skyline was shown as being reflected in the water, but the reflection did include the twin towers.  I found that to be very affecting.

The Wall-to-Wall paintings.  The town’s riverfront is protected by a continuous wall, about 16 feet high.  There are openings, but in times when the water is rising those openings are filled with cement pieces to stop the water.  This wall’s panels were each a work of art – murals depicting the history of the town.  The artist who did most of the work was the same artist who painted the murals on the river wall of Portsmouth, Ohio.

The downtown area – as I mentioned, has some lovely old buildings, nicely renovated.  Most of the storefronts are full, including shops, restaurants, bars…a nice variety.  We enjoyed “Barrel and Bond”, which is a bourbon and whiskey bar.  It was started by two guys who had a club, the purpose of which was to get together to enjoy various bourbons and whiskeys.  There is one room with large tables which, we believe, are for their club meetings.  The bar itself was a quiet, comfortable place, with literally hundreds of different liquors to try.  We also had a nice meal at a Cajun place.  There was an axe throwing place (?), that also had an outdoor restaurant with surprisingly good food!

The river was very much below the town level at this point.  The river wall was at the top of a very high hill.  The access to the docks was a long, jointed ramp that goes up from the docks to the street/parking area.  The docks are floating on very very long poles (about as big in diameter as a telephone pole).  It was explained to us that, if water gets high enough to float the docks off the poles, then that would be the LEAST of their worries – the whole town would be deep under water.  There are light poles in the parking lot at street level that, we were told, were under water during the last big flood.  It’s hard for us to imagine that much water.

There were parts of town that we didn’t have time to see – there is a whole artist’s area, plus there are streets with many restored Victorian (and earlier) houses. 

Next stop after Paducah is Green Turtle Bay, which is on Kentucky Lake.  This marina is resort, with condominiums, three restaurants, and a spa.  We will leave the boat there, while we travel to the AGLCA’s Fall Rendezvous in a rental car.  We realized early on that we did not have time to travel to the rendezvous in the boat, so we made arrangements to rent a car.  We have reconnected to other Looper people that we encountered in other marinas in the past few weeks.  We are having a terrific time!

 

10/10/21 Kaskaskia River anchorage and 10/11 Angelo Towhead anchorage

 October 11, 2021

We left Hoppies to continue down the river, expecting to anchor in the Kaskaskia River, about a 140 mile run.  With our late start (around noon), the 3 or 4 hours to get to the Kaskaskia River was all we wanted to tackle that day.  It was a pretty uneventful day, dodged our share of logs in the river, a very windy day (drove from the pilot house).  We arrived at the Kaskaskia River around 3:00.  What boats have to do these days at the K lock and dam is to go through the lock and anchor up river.  Then, of course, the next day, you have to go back through the lock to get back out on the Mississippi.  On our way down, we had been practicing seeking out good anchorages, should we need one.  It had been suggested that we could anchor behind any of the weir dams that have been placed along the river’s edges.  They create a pool of still water behind them and are well out of the channel.

Right across the river from the Kaskaskia River entrance was one of these weir dams.  We went downstream of the end of the dam, and carefully and slowly entered the area behind the dam.  We need 4 feet of water under us, and, as we entered the area, we saw 5 feet briefly, then 7, 8, and then 10 feet when we were well in.  Perfect!  Now, in the morning, we only have to just pull anchor and enter the river – no lock to negotiate.

We had a lovely night at anchor:  still water, clear skies, absolute quiet.  Tows did come by, both as we watched them and as we slept.  Their only sound is from the tow boat itself, at the rear of their huge barge group they are pushing.  I got up at 6, still dark outside.  In 30 minutes, I watched as 4 huge tows came by, first as lights in the distance, then slowly passing.  The captains used a huge spotlight to sweep the river ahead of them and, I imagine, to check out this small boat anchored to the side.  These tows did not ‘wake’ us, but some other craft (we suspect fisherman’s boat with a huge outboard) did ‘wake’ us around 5:30 – rocked us around quite well!

Tonight, we will be at anchor again, but we are hoping to make about 100 miles.  There are no marinas in this stretch of the Mississippi and not much to see.  Even places to anchor are fairly scarce.  As we understand it, most of the Mississippi River is like this.  We will be turning up the Ohio river either late today or tomorrow morning.  The Mississippi River is just not friendly to recreational craft, and that remains true all the way to New Orleans!

10/11   Angelo Towhead anchorage

Angelo’s Towhead anchorage

Our guide book said that this anchorage should not be attempted in low water, which the rivers are.  However, we decided to check it out.  It is at the end of the upper Mississippi River, where the Ohio River comes in.  We are going up the Ohio, which will be a different experience than ‘flying’ down the Mississippi.  Anyway, it was probably an hour before dark when we entered the anchorage – what a beautiful and deserted piece of water!  It was very large, very deep, and could probably accommodate 100 boats!  (Just my assessment!)  We never saw depths shallower than about 14 feet, and much of the space was 20, 30, even 40+ feet deep!  We found ourselves searching for a shallow enough spot for the amount of anchor ‘rode’ we have!  We had a very peaceful night – could occasionally feel, more than hear, the rumbling of tows passing on the Mississippi.  Otherwise a beautiful, calm, peaceful night!  We had an easy exit at 8:30 the next morning.

Turning up the Ohio, there were a LOT of tows, many just sitting at the side of the river.  We are 16 miles from the Olmstead Lock, and there’s no telling how long we might have to wait to get through.  Of course, commercial traffic gets priority, but we have found that the lockmasters are very kind and will get us through when they can.

10/2 - 10/9 Alton Marina, Mo. and 10/10 Hoppies!

 Alton Marina, Alton, Illinois, mile marker 202.9 on the Mississippi

On Saturday, October 2, we traveled from our anchorage at Valley City (mile marker 62 on the Illinois), to Alton Marina at mile marker 202.9 on the Mississippi – a total of 82 miles, a record distance for us in one day!  Of course, we had the currents of both rivers working for us!  Traveling on a rainy Saturday turned out to be a good idea.  We only met one tow, and none of the usual fishing boats were out. 

Alton is an old river town with some very interesting looking buildings.  It has flooded a number of times, probably explaining why the marina is totally floating!  The admin building, the swimming pool, and all the docks are attached to poles that extend (at the moment) about 25 feet above the water!  In 2019, the marina folks told us the parking lot, which is several feet up from where the marina is floating, was 4 feet under water for months!  Yikes.  Between the marina and town, there is a tall levee.  There is a pedestrian bridge that leads from the levee over railroad tracks and a highway.  The marina is almost directly under a huge bridge.  There used to be a lock right here, but, after the new lock was built about a mile down the river, the Civilian Corps of Engineers decided to put a marina here.  The city leases it.  They do a fine job – fuel is very reasonable, the staff provides excellent prompt service, including picking up any trash from the dock!  They had a deal for dock space – pay for 3 days, get an additional 6 days for free!  Sold! 

During our stay, every day more and more Loopers arrived – this is the time of year when the bulk of Loopers, who have spent the spring and summer in the Erie Canal and then the Great Lakes, are migrating to chase summer down to Florida!  We have decided to join the group this year, having been somewhat out of step with the masses since we started in 2018.

I’ve enjoyed a couple of good walks here, up and down the hills, and we have had some nice meals with our fellow Loopers.

                                                                                                                                    

October 9 – 10, HOPPIES!

Our next stop is the legendary Hoppies, which seems to be almost a required stop for Loopers!  The original Hoppie and his wife, Fern, have had this business for a very long time.  Hoppie and Fern are now in their 80’s and not even coming to the dock often.  Their ‘kids’ are in their 60’s and are running the business.  This is not a marina by any stretch of the imagination!  Hoppies used to have 4 or 5 barges, all tied together, where boats could tie up for a night, get electricity, get some advice for the coming stops on the rivers.  There was a hurricane 3 years ago, and they lost all but two of their barges.  You’ve never seen such rough barges!  To walk from our spot to the office required constant vigilance so as not to trip on the various pieces that stick out!  But, we decided to stop there anyway.

One of the attractions at Hoppies is the little town of Kimmswick and one restaurant there called the Blue Owl.  One of our looper friends, Mick Anderson, said we MUST go to the Blue Owl and get a piece of apple pie!  Unfortunately, on the Saturday when we arrived at Hoppies, the town was closed to anyone who did not have a ticket to a charity event for ‘witches’.  Apparently, it’s quite the thing. People come in costume and have a high old time! 

In order to go to the Blue Owl, we stuck around on Sunday morning to have breakfast and get some apple pie.  We bought a whole pie – having no idea what to expect, we were surprised at the size and weight!  The box was a 12 inch cube and weighed about 10 pounds!  We were in a hurry to get back to the boat and leave, so did not open the pie until later that day.  First of all, the pie cost $55!!  They use 18 apples.  This thing was huge – But, I must say, it was possibly the best apple pie I’ve ever had.

 

9/24 - 9/26 DuSable Marina, Chicago, IL

 

Winthrop Harbor, IL, Chicago, and starting down the rivers!

 

Winthrop Harbor Marina – September 2 through 9/24/21

Winthrop Harbor is just barely inside of Illinois.  It is the largest marina in the Great Lakes with 1,500 slips!  To walk from our slip to the office was about a mile!  Their prices were reasonable, so we decided this would be a good place to leave the boat for our visit home.  There was a stop on the Chicago commuter train just a mile away – We got a ride from the marina personnel.  Not knowing how far away from Union Station in Chicago, we decided to go into Chicago the day before our train to Detroit.  We got a hotel room right downtown, and enjoyed the evening and next morning of “touristing” in Chicago.  We’ve already enjoyed Chicago on several occasions, so were fairly familiar with the downtown area.  Always fun to visit!

From our hotel window, Dan saw a sign painted on a building not far away that advertised a restaurant that sounded interesting.  Off we went.  When we arrived at the building, we found out that the restaurant was long closed – when asked why they sign was still there, the doorman replied that the sign was historic!  We ended up eating at a nearby Irish bar.  Next morning, we explored the area before heading off to Union Station for the trip home.  Amtrak has a stop just 2 miles from our house in Royal Oak!  Friends met us at the train platform and chauffeured us home!

Next evening, my son, Travis had planned a surprise sit down dinner to celebrate his and Lisa’s 20^th anniversary!  Their actual anniversary was in July, but the dinner had to be postponed – Travis and his family had been exposed to Covid and had to be quarantined!  The dinner went off without a hitch in the hall where their wedding had been held.  There were about 40 guests, cash bar, and a lovely dinner.  Lisa was surprised – I couldn’t believe he actually pulled it off!  He surprised me with a short speech about how he hadn’t danced with me at the wedding, how much I mean to him.  He had picked out a song, and we danced – can’t tell you what that meant to me.

After a two week visit home, during which I had special adventures with each of my three grandchildren, we returned to Winthrop Harbor.  After some routine maintenance on the boat, we left for Chicago.

DuSable Marina, downtown Chicago. 9/24 thru 9/26/2021

We had an amazing time for two nights and three days in Chicago.  We went on a Sequeway tour of the museum campus, Buckingham fountain, and nearby area.  Fun and tiring!

We decided to go to the top of the John Hancock Building  (96^th floor) for drinks and the view, after which we’d go to another restaurant for dinner.  We were lucky to be seated right next to the window for our drinks.  What a spectacular view!  We could see our boat in the marina!  We sat there in wonder as the sun went down and the downtown lights started coming on in the buildings.  I could never get tired of that view.  As we finished our drinks, Dan said “Let’s have our dinner here too…”.  So we went down one floor to the restaurant, and were lucky again to be seated at the window.  We thoroughly  enjoyed our meal and some wine, all the while staring out the window.

A woman from the table next to ours came over to ask if we were celebrating our 20^th anniversary or some other event.  We got started talking to her and then to the other 5 people at their table.  Of course, we got into the “Loop talk”.  It’s always fun introducing the subject to new people – we truly are the luckiest people I know!  We are in our 70’s, healthy, financially able to do this amazing trip in our boat!

After dinner, we ended up in the elevator with some young women, who obviously hadn’t stinted in their libations….!   As we exited the building, they insisted on taking our picture, exclaiming how ‘cute’ we were!  We got a taxi back to the marina.  The taxi driver asked us why the marina.  When we explained that we are living on our boat traveling around America’s Great Loop, he was amazed.  We had a short walk from the taxi drop off to our boat.  One man asked which dock we were on – ‘OH!’, he said, “You’re on B for BIG BOATS!” 

All in all, we had a truly magical two full days of adventure and wonder in Chicago.  Can’t wait to return one day!

 Sunday, September 26, we leave the marina in Chicago and start the trip down the rivers!

On this journey, you can either go through downtown Chicago on the Calumet River, or go around downtown and down the Sanitary Canal (doesn't that sound enticing..."!)  The determining factor is the height of your boat.  We are fortunate in that the Kittiwake fits under the one fixed bridge in downtown.  We chose to leave on a Sunday so that the river traffic would be at a minimum.  We left with 3 other boats.  First up is the lock that takes boats from Lake Michigan into the Calumet River.  The drop isn’t much, less than 2 feet.  It was such fun to see downtown Chicago from the river!

Thus began our six week journey on the river systems until we came out in Mobile!  We enjoyed the trip, which involved several rivers, numerous locks, and many quintessential American river towns.

First stop is usually in Joliet, Illinois at the town’s free dock.  We had heard some tales of vandalism from locals, nothing serious, but we just didn’t want to deal with that stress.  We bypassed Joliet and went to the next marina, Harborside.  Nothing remarkable about the marina – in going to our assigned slip, we stirred up some mud – it was a little shallow!  But, it was fine, stress free, and we had dinner at an on-site restaurant!

September 27 thru 29 – Heritage Harbor Marina, and the famous Jeremy

Next stop was Heritage Harbor Marina, where we met up with the boats Four Pikes, Aurora, Alegria, and Lee Ann.  We would encounter, leave, and re-encounter these folks over the next weeks and months!  Heritage was famous for Jeremy’s briefing for boaters.  He generously covers the next parts of the river, talking about things to keep in mind, things to avoid.  One famous quote is regarding a spot on the river where there is a sign pointing to the left (“To the Lock”).  Jeremy exclaimed “For the love of God, GO LEFT!!”  Apparently, if you go right, there are some dangerous rapids that are not navigable.  We were in Alton, near that point, when there was a sailboat that didn't heed the warnings or the sign - they were rescued, but their boat was a total loss. We were grateful for his time and information – even if we were tired, hungry, and ready for bed after a long day’s cruise!  We stayed here two nights, taking advantage of their loaner car to get some groceries.

September 29, Illinois Valley Yacht Club (IVY)

This is a small marina with a nice club on site.  As we have often experienced, our transient status gets us a slip that is farthest from anything!  Here, we were only a few yards from the main building as the crow flies, but to get there required about a half mile walk!  We were happy to see Four Pikes there near us!  They were experiencing a problem with their generator – Dan was able to give them a part they needed.  They’ll return it down the river when they’re able to purchase one!  We decided to eat at home and not trek to the dining room.  We sat outside with Joyce and Paul from Four Pikes to have a drink and enjoy some talking about our adventures so far and our plans.

September 30 and October 1 – anchor out at Quiver Island and Valley City. 

We enjoyed these anchorages, seeing our boat friends from Alegria and LeeAnn.  We were fairly inexperienced at anchoring, so it was good to get advice from some veterans!  It’s nice at anchor – quiet, peaceful.  It’s wonderful to be self contained and competent!