We have the Gold!

Miles Traveled 0

Total Miles Traveled 7206

Its official….we have the Gold Burgee.  For  those that are not familiar with the Great Loop, when you are planning or currently doing the Great Loop, you fly the white burgee, when you have completed the Great Loop, you fly the gold burgee, and if you have completed the Great Loop more than one time, you fly the platinum burgee.

Golconda, IL to Grand Rivers, KY

Miles Traveled 52.3

Total Miles Traveled 7206

Day 378

“Moni Jean” crosses her wake!

On September 21, 2016 at 4:33 p.m. this afternoon, we crossed our wake entering Green Turtle Bay Marina, Grand Rivers Kentucky.  We started our Great Loop Adventure September 10, 2015 and over the last 378 days we have cruised 7,206 miles.  This was truly an adventure of a lifetime, not just for the places we have visited, but also for the people we have met both currently doing the loop, the local boaters, and in each of the communities.

We have traveled with other loopers, but have mostly “done our own thing”, and have even been labeled as stealth loopers, as we would appear and disappear along the way.   We took side trips to Chattanooga Tennessee, spent the winter in the Keys of Florida, explored the St. Johns River in Florida, took the northern Canadian route to Montreal and Ottawa, and finally a short trip up the Ohio River to Evansville Indiana before returning to our home port.

We have shared our adventure through our blog and have had over 45,000 page views on it since we started, okay, most of them may have been from my Dad.  Several people have asked “what was the best part” but we really can’t pick just one, each place we visited seemed to be unique in its own way and the people we were there with, made it special.  We would like to name and thank all of the people we have traveled with, but would not want to do so for fear of leaving someone out. We are looking forward to spending time with family and friends, before turning the page to our next adventure.

Uniontown, IL to Golconda, IL

Miles Traveled 50.7

Total Miles Traveled 7154

Day 377

It was a little foggy this morning at our anchorage at Wabash Island, we could hear the barges passing but couldn’t see anything. 

As the sun came up, the fog slowly disappeared. 

This was the perfect cruising day on the Ohio River.

I’m glad this bird pointed out this log floating down the river.

We stopped at the floating E-Town Restaurant at Elizabethtown, Illinois along the Ohio River, they serve fresh caught catfish from the Ohio River, and pond raised catfish.  I asked if the pond fish was raised from local ponds and was informed they come from Asia…….we decided on the Ohio River catfish.  This was one of the best catfish dinners we have had, including  sides of baked beans, potato salad, and coleslaw, all for $12.

This will be our last night on the Ohio River, and our Great Loop Adventure.  We will lock through one lock on the Ohio and one lock on the Cumberland Rivers tomorrow, before crossing our wake and returning to Green Turtle Bay Marina.

Evansville, IN to Uniontown, KY

Miles Traveled 59.7

Total Miles Traveled 7103

Day 376

We had a great time at Evansville visiting family and friends, this was a great side trip that we definitely won’t forget.  We were off to an early start with clear skies and calm waters.  We caught up with this barge just before the railroad bridge at Henderson, Kentucky.

Our only lock today was the John Myers Lock and Dam.

We anchored next to Wabash Island and grilled chicken for dinner, this was a nice quiet spot to watch the sunset.

Evansville, IN Day 6

Miles Traveled 0                                                                                                                 

Total Miles Traveled 7044

Day 375

We took a tour of the USS LST 325 moored here at Evansville, Indiana located in front of the marina.  The ship is a decommissioned tank landing ship of the United States Navy.  Called the ship that won the war by Churchill, the LSTs were essential in sea-to-land invasions and many were built in Evansville, Indiana.  At it's peak, the Evansville Shipyard employed a workforce of over 19,000 and completed two of these massive ships per week, becoming the largest inland producer of LSTs in the nation.

The LST 325 is 328 ft. long, 50 ft. wide and 1625 tons of steel power.  This floating piece of history was on site in Normandy on D-day.  She is also the “Last of the Class,” meaning she is the only operational LST in existence.  Tours are led by dedicated and learned crew members, some who served on LSTs.  The LST 325 occasionally leaves port for cruises on other waterways, and is scheduled to leave port October 17^th for Cape Girardeau Missouri, then to Vicksburg Mississippi.

Doors on the front of the ship open to allow cargo to be loaded or unloaded.

This cargo bay could hold 20 Sherman Tanks

Crews Quarters

Officers mess hall

Evansville, IN Day 5

Miles Traveled 0                                                                                                                 

Total Miles Traveled 7044

Day 374

 We saw a unique boat come in to the marina yesterday, not a looper, just a couple of guys cruising down the river system to Mobile Alabama.  The boat is a Chinese Junk, built in Hong Kong and shipped to Guaymas, Mexico on May 15, 1974.  The boat weighs 24,000 pounds, measuring 36 feet long by 13 feet wide. 

It was in the movie “Lucky Lady” starring Gene Hackman, Liza Minelli, and Burt Reynolds.  It was sunk twice in the course of making the movie and once in a storm in San Carlos Bay.  It took four years to restore the boat.  The upper portion is the original teak:  the hull is yakal wood covered with marine mahogany and fiberglass.  It has a Detroit diesel MT-353 engine and an 8 KW diesel generator.

This must be the portrait of the Lucky Lady located on the engine room hatch door.

Evansville, IN Day 3

Miles Traveled 0

Total Miles Traveled 7044

Day 372

As we cruised northeast on the Ohio River and passed the Cumberland River, we didn’t think we would see any loopers, as most people doing the loop either turn south on the Tennessee River or Cumberland River.  On our first day at the Inland Marina at Evansville, a looper “RioMarLago” stopped for fuel.  They are from Tacoma Washington and started their loop from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Yesterday, another looper “In Deep Ship” stopped in for the night; they started their loop from Huntington, West Virginia.

“In Deep Ship”

Our plan is to be here at the Inland Marina visiting family and friends until Sunday.  We will leave Monday morning the 19^th, and make the three day trip back to our home port, crossing our wake at Green Turtle Bay Marina, Grand Rivers, Kentucky. 

Uniontown, KY to Evansville, IN

Miles Traveled 59.6

Total Miles Traveled 7044

Day 370

We eased our way into the Wabash Island anchorage yesterday with varying depths and settled on a spot with seven feet of water under our boat, but when we awoke this morning we barely had five.  We followed our bread crumbs back to the river channel and passed the Wabash River on the way to the John T Meyers Lock and Dam.

Most of the barges we see appear to be hauling fuel or grain, this barge is being loaded with grain.

T

Trucks are dumping grain to a conveyor to load the barge.

We passed this tow in a narrow channel of the river; we always contact them by radio and ask which side they want us to pass.  The tow captains will respond with “one whistle” or “two whistle”, if we are meeting, “one whistle” means we will pass port to port, and “two whistle” means we will pass starboard to starboard.  This captain responded “I’ll see you on the two”.

The Evansville gambling boat.

Evansville waterfront.

Golconda, IL to Uniontown, KY

Miles Traveled 51.1

Total Miles Traveled 6984

Day 369

We were off to a late start this morning with dense fog over the river, but it was all gone by nine and turned out to be another great day of cruising.

We passed Cave In Rock, a village in Illinois along the Ohio River known by its tourist attraction Cave-In-Rock.  The cave was originally a stronghold for outlaws, including:  river pirates and highwaymen Samuel Mason and James Ford, tavern owner/highwayman Isaiah L. Potts, serial killers/bandits the Harpe Brothers, counterfeiters Philip Alston, Peter Alston, John Duff, Eson Bixby, and the Sturdivant Gang, and the post Civil War bandit, Logan Belt.

There is also a ferry at Cave In Rock connecting Route 1 in Illinois to Route 91 in Kentucky and began operation in 1807.

We passed a few nice homes built on the bluffs along the river, I’m sure they have an awesome view…..almost comparable to ours.

We are anchored at Wabash Island where the Wabash River empties into the Ohio River near the John T. Myers Lock and Dam.

Olmstead, IL to Golconda, IL

Miles Traveled 61.9

Total Miles Traveled 6933

Day 368

I called the lock master at Olmstead Lock at 5:45 this morning to get an idea how long we would have to wait locking through.  He said there was a tow about 30 minutes out and we could follow him through.  The lock and dam is under construction and the lock chamber doors are both open, so you navigate through the lock…at a snail’s pace.

An escort tug will tag along side as we pass old lock #53, the dam has been demolished but the lock structure is still there so all vessels are escorted past the old lock before resuming cruising speed.

Our experience through the next lock, #52, was a total disaster.  We had very poor communication with the lock master, barges were stacked everywhere, and we had to deal with swift currents trying to squeeze between the front of a barge and the lock wall.  We made it, but it was not a pretty sight.  This lock is an accident waiting to happen and the sooner the new lock and dam are completed the better (it was supposed to be completed in 2014, but the current schedule indicates 2020 before completion).

We passed Fort Massac on the Illinois side of the river; legend has it that as early as 1540, the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his soldiers constructed a primitive fortification here to defend themselves from native attack.  Fort Massac was built by the French in 1757, during the French and Indian War.  In the Fall of 1803, the Lewis and Clark Expedition stopped at Fort Massac on their way west, recruiting two volunteers.  During the summer of 1805, former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr and Gen. James Wilkinson met at Fort Massac where they allegedly drew up plans to conquer Mexico.

This is the junction of the Cumberland River and the Ohio River…..ooops, we were supposed to turn here to return to our home port at Green Turtle Bay and cross our wake on Americas Great Loop.  We decided to take another side trip to Evansville, Indiana and visit family and friends before completing our adventure.

We have cruised almost 7000 miles on our Great Loop Adventure, and of all of the places we have been, the inland rivers and lakes are among our favorites.

Ellis Grove, IL to Olmstead, IL

Miles Traveled 135

Total Miles Traveled 6870

Day 367

Most of the severe weather and heavy rain was well north of us last night and according to the river forecast, the Mississippi River will rise about 4 feet over the next few days.  We decided to make a long run of it today to get off of the Mississippi River and onto the Ohio River.  We followed the cold front all the way down.

We found several very turbulent places on the Mississippi, I was able to take a couple of pictures of these, but the big whirlpools kept me busy keeping the boat on course.

After 120 miles cruising down the Mississippi River, we made the turn upstream on the Ohio River, we went from an average speed of 12-13 mph with the current to 7 mph against the current.  The Ohio River was noticeably cleaner and less turbulent too.

We are anchored just before the Olmstead Lock and Dam.  This is a new lock and dam that has been under construction for the past several years and will replace the next two upstream locks #52 and #53.  This is a real bottleneck for all boats on the river system creating long delays.  Pleasure boats have a low priority when locking through and waiting several hours is not uncommon.