Both Jeff and I knew that the St. Louis Arch existed but after watching some YouTubes we learned a lot more about it. The design had been chosen from a competition among architects held in 1945, but the actual building of the arch did not start until February 12, 1963. It was completed on October 28, 1965. Like the construction of the Erie Canal, engineers had to solve many construction difficulties. We were impressed that not ONE person lost their life in the construction of the arch. We enjoyed watching this video on YouTube which is a one hour documentary about the Gateway Arch.
We went to the Arch on the evening of Memorial Day and it was not crowded. We made our reservation to go up the arch just before sunset so that we could see the sunset. It was lovely to be that high in the arch at that time to observe the sunset.
Sunset from the Arch
Barbie taking pictures of sunset from the top of the Arch
Mississippi River and south leg of the Arch
At the quilt shop, Dora's Spinning Wheel, in Alton, Illinois, Barbie met the owner and learned that the owner's father had worked on the building of the arch. He also was in some of the footage of the video shown at the Arch. The mid 1960's had many good things accomplished in the United States: building and completing the St. Louis Arch, February. 12, 1963 - October 28, 1965, the signing of the Civil Rights Act, July 2, 1964, and landing on the moon, July 20, 1969.
We began our journey down the Mississippi River on Wednesday, September 6 at 7:00 am and we were in the first lock at 7:20 am. Today we were going to go 84 miles. We usually went 40 - 60 miles in a day.
We cruised past the St. Louis Arch and tugs with barges. There was a lot of commercial traffic near St. Louis.
Passing the St Louis Gateway Arch
The Mississippi River is a big river. The Missouri and the Illinois Rivers join the Mississippi River near Alton, Illinois. With the currents from these other two rivers the Mississippi becomes the "Mighty" Mississippi. We were given an nice 5 miles per hour push from the current. Many places we saw and experienced the whirl pools and eddies of the river. The river has many wide places but also meanders and has rather narrow places.
Upper Mississippi River with our anchorage at Mile 21
Again, we were very glad to have A.I.S. (Automatic Identification System) so that we could see, on our navigational charts, the tugs with barges coming toward us up the river and ones that we were approaching and going to pass going down river. We often contacted the tug by name and asked the captain if they would like a one whistle pass (I intend to keep you on my port, left, side) or a two whistle pass (I intend to keep you on my starboard, right, side).
We had two locks on this first day. We were able to get into both locks without a long delay. We used floating bollards that were in the lock to put our lines around. Barbie always is at the helm and Jeff gets the line around the bollard from a midships cleat.
We were traveling at 13 miles over the ground due to the push of the current of the Mississippi River. We were tied up at the Kaskaskia River Lock wall by 3:05. We went 84 miles plus two locks in 6 1/2 hours. It was very hot. Supper was grilled chicken, corn on the cob, and boiled potatoes.
We tied up to the Kaskaskia Dam just one mile off the Mississippi River
The second day on the Mississippi River we started cruising at 8:30 am. We went through a whirlpool that sent the boat 45 degrees off course. We had to follow a slow tug and barge system for 3 miles to a bridge before it was safe to pass. This barge system was large --
5 barges wide by 6 barges long.
At 3:45 we anchored at mile 21 (21 miles above where the Ohio River joins the Mississippi). We anchored between two wing dams. Wing dams are jettys of rocks under the water and perpendicular to the shore to slow the current down. It was a very pleasant anchorage and we were out of the way of the tugs and barges, but not their wakes, which didn't bother us. This was a 98 mile day. The push from the Mississippi River really helped us get down the river. We had no locks this day. We only have 21 more miles on the Mississippi then we turn onto the Ohio River.
The anchorage on the Mississippi river -- quiet except for the current!
Friday, September 6, was our third day on the Mississippi River. We started cruising by 8:45 with a temperature of 74 degrees. Barbie missed the cool temperatures of the summer in Canada when the high for the day was 74 or 78.
We turned onto the Ohio River at 10:00 near Cairo, Illinois. Since the Ohio is joining the Mississippi and the current of the Ohio is going into the Mississippi the navigational aids become red on our right (returning) and green on our left. Just before we turned off the Mississippi River we were cruising at 14.3 miles per hour over the ground. Once we turned into the Ohio, going up stream and against the current our SOG (Speed Over the Ground) went down to 8.5 miles per hour.
The point where we reached the Ohio River blue water ahead
The wind was behind us pushing us but the current was against us, but this condition still allowed our ride to be comfortable. After about an hour we came to the Olmstead Lock. We ended up waiting almost three hours for the lock. It was a difficult and stressful three hours. We tried to anchor but it was too deep and not good holding ground. Barbie used the engines to keep the boat headed into the wind and waves. However that meant the current was pushing us away from the lock so she had to keep going in reverse a little and try to keep heading into the waves.
When we first got to the lock at 11:45, Barbie went below to make lunch and let Jeff steer. Within minutes the boat was rocking from side to side and food and dishes were sliding making it impossible to prepare salads. Barbie came back up to the helm and lunch was put on hold until finally at 2:40 we were in the lock with a tug and barge. The temperature was 91 degrees.
Olmstead Lock and Dam on the Ohio River before Paducah, KY
At 6:05 pm we were approaching the last bridge to Paducah, KY. We were tided to the slip with engines off at 6:35. The temperature was 91 degrees. The dock is a floating dock. The poles are three feet diameter! You can see that they have had water to within 10 feet of the top. The water is very low at this time, 15.5 on the river gauge. However, February 2019 it had reached 53 feet!
The Paducah Transient Docks where we stayed three days
Taking the dogs for a walk
The National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY
We visited the famous fabric store Hancock's of Paducah. Barbie has ordered fabric from this business. When she visited it she resisted the urge to buy any fabric. There was just too much to try and choose only a few fabrics.
The famous fabric store, Hancock's of Paducah
We were at the point where the Tennessee river joins the Ohio River. From this point, the Tennessee river runs about 648 miles to Knoxville. Jeff felt like he had "made it safely home" since he was born and grew up in Tennessee. He now felt that since we had made it through the Mississippi River we could relax and go slower. We ended up staying in Paducah for three nights. We rented a car and visited several breweries and quilt shops. We also went to a farmer's market on Saturday morning.
On Monday, Sept. 9 we traveled 34 miles from Paducah to Grand Rivers, Kentucky. We were going into the current instead of being pushed by the current. We also had about a 30 minute wait at the lock. There was very little pleasure craft vessels and only one tug and barge the whole day. We were missing the cooler weather of Canada and Michigan where the high never was above 80. We were now experiencing temperatures in the mid 90's.
