At dawn (if you could call it that) on September 25th, after an almost sleepless night, we didn’t have any really good options. The overnight rain had now changed to thunderstorms, which were predicted to last throughout the day. If we sat where we were anchored in Little Diversion Channel, we ran the strong risk of encountering flash floods and possible disaster. If we left our anchorage and moved on down the Mississippi River, we would have to deal with poor visibility in a channel with lots of barge and tow traffic, as well as being a moving target for possible lightning strikes.
After careful consideration of our situation, we pulled up anchor a little after 8:00 a.m. and followed “Sonata,” the one boat in our group of ten which was now doing the Loop for the second time around. Throughout this long, miserable day, I struggled to keep her in sight and to follow her lead, while Ken spent his time mopping up the rain water that was leaking through the zippers on our strataglass windows (a total of over 5 gallons of water!) and periodically opening them briefly to wipe them off in hopes of increasing visibility during the downpours we were experiencing along the way.
Moving downriver with the current we were making good time, and by noon we had traveled almost 50 miles to the junction with the Ohio River where we turned upstream, negotiating our way around a large tow which was getting ready to turn into the Mississippi. Now our speed dropped dramatically, but not so the rain. If anything, it increased in strength, with even more thunder and lightning. The radar overlay on our GPS screen confirmed our feeling that we were right in the center of storm after storm as we struggled up the Ohio River, mile after torturous mile.
We had heard that some boats had anchored the night before just out of the shipping channel near Lock 53, the first of two locks we would encounter on the Ohio River, less than 20 miles upriver from the junction, so this was our plan as well. However, during high water caused by rain, this dam (and others like it, called “wicket dams”) is lowered so boats can pass right over it. Not wanting to miss out on an opportunity to avoid a lock altogether, we decided to continue on. Finally, at 5:30 p.m., 9.5 hours and 92 miles after beginning this day’s journey, we moved out of the shipping channel and dropped our anchor in the Ohio River, within sight of Lock 52, which we planned to tackle early the next morning.
After another sleepless night, spent hoping that the combination of current and wind would not cause our anchor to drag, and that no wayward towboat would run us down, we continued our Ohio River journey, headed for the junction with the Cumberland River. This day, however, which just happened to be Ken’s 65th birthday, was beginning to show some promise, as the sun struggled to break through the overhanging clouds.
Continuing to follow close behind “Sonata,” we approached the entrance to the Cumberland River, anxious to bid farewell to the Ohio.
Almost immediately, the sky brightened, as we left the Ohio River behind us, but this part of the Cumberland is a working river as well, so the ever present tows were still with us.
Here, however, the barges were being filled with rocks from quarries, rather than the grain and coal barge loads we had become used to seeing along the other rivers.
As we observed the scenery more closely along the Cumberland’s shores, we saw the reason why.
Before we knew it, we were entering the Barkley Lock, and preparing to exit into Lake Barkley, created when the Cumberland River was dammed as part of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) hydroelectric project.
Just a short distance along the western shore, we approached the entrance to Green Turtle Bay Resort and Marina, a popular hangout for Loopers, after their arduous trip from Lake Michigan.
And here we stopped, to celebrate Ken’s birthday, to rest up, recoup our energy, and just enjoy this wonderful destination.
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