Great Loop II Date: 9/26/2014
Day
# 57 (Friday): 92 miles (1612 total miles)
Locks:
0 (10 total locks)
Port
#27: Metropolis, IL.
OB and
crew had been very lucky as far as river fog was concerned. It had been in the forecast for days on
end. However (knock on wood) there had
been none and the morning dawned clear once again.
All of the
boat captains in Little Diversion Canal were up before the crack of dawn. UnTide was the first to leave at daybreak,
followed closely behind by Canadian Flyer.
Infinite Sea moved out behind the twosome and OB followed the pack,
happy to bring up the rear after the events of the day before.
 |
| Sunrise on the Mississippi! |
There were
more barges and debris to navigate past.
This end of the Upper Mississippi River becomes more narrow and winding
as it comes to the convergence of the Ohio River. Weir dams were more prevalent, as well.
 |
| All that swirling water demonstrates where the weir dams are placed. |
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| Charlie on duty...watching for weir dams, debris and barges. Someone has to keep OB out of trouble! |
Just
before the convergence we passed two large barge units in the most narrow and
winding part of the river. In
retrospect, Todd felt it would have been wise to wait the barges out and let
them pass before proceeding. Luckily we
moved by without incident.
 |
| This barge was 4 X 7 + 1 = 29 barges !!! |
 |
| These barges are not small. Those two arrows are pointing to two men working in the middle of one barge. |
 |
| This is the tow pushing all those barges. His wake can be disastrous to any boat coming into it. |
UnTide had
moved well ahead of us. We passed
Canadian Flyer before we reached the Ohio River. Infinite Sea continued out ahead of us within
sight and radio contact.
The Ohio
River was a welcome sight with its blue water well defined as it met the muddy
Mississippi. Both Infinite Sea and OB
yelled with delight to leave the Old Muddy behind. We were now heading into the current and upbound. Our upbound travels necessitated more RPM to travel at the same speed and would last for our time on the Ohio River as well as the Cumberland and the Tennessee.
 |
| It was amazing to see the demarcation between the Ohio and the Mississippi the last time...and just as amazing this time. If you've seen my pictures from 2010, I'm sure you're wondering as I was if these are the same two fishermen we saw at the confluence! |
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| The red line is at the demarcation of the two rivers. |
Cairo,
IL is at the confluence of the two rivers.
It is a huge staging ground for the big barge units heading downbound on
the Lower Mississippi as well as trimming down barge units for transport either
up the Upper Mississippi or the Ohio.
 |
| It was interesting seeing this big freight train passing over this huge barge (7 X 5 = 35 barges) in the staging area at Cairo, IL. |
As we
approached the Olmsted Lock operation, three barges were grounded waiting to
go upbound (the same direction we were going).
We heard a group of downbound pleasure boaters hail the Olmsted Lock
for permission to proceed through the safety area ahead of a downbound
barge. Shortly after, a downbound barge
called the lock for clearance to proceed through the safety area. We ended up milling around behind the three
grounded barges until it was evident we could pass through the safety
area. We lost about an hour of sunlight
during the delay.
 |
| The Olmsted Lock project. This one lock will replace Lock 53 and Lock 52 on the Ohio River. Lock 53 is currently not functioning and the wickets remain down the majority of the time. Both locks are very old (built in 1929) and constantly in a state of repair. Construction on the Olmsted was started in 1995. The original target date for completion was 2005. However, funding problems as well a construction problems have pushed that date to 2020. |
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| In the foreground is the huge barge specially constructed for this project. |
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| The lock walls have been in place since 2002. |
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| Looking back at the lock walls from the downbound side (at this point we were going upbound). |
 |
| Old Lock 53. |
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| The Mule pushing four construction barges somewhere up the Ohio River. We followed him through the safety zone and all the way to Lock 52. |
By the
time we arrived near Lock 52, it was too late to pass through and still have
enough daylight to anchor. We looked at
an anchorage some of the Loopers had used days ahead of us. It was close to the barge traffic and we were
uncomfortable with the setup. I called
the lockmaster at Lock 52 and asked if we could anchor between the dam and the
Metropolis bridge on the Kentucky side of the river. It was the anchorage we used in 2010 with Sea
Estate and N II Wishin. The lockmaster
said we could as long as we kept out radios on in case of an emergent situation
with the dam.
We
dropped anchor as the sun set behind us.
It was another very peaceful night.
We were lulled to sleep by the very gentle rocking from the Ohio River
as it flowed by us.
 |
| Our anchorage on the Ohio River near the Kentucky side. |
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