Ah yes no matter how you look at it this is one big river. After leaving Grafton, IL we quickly leave the Illinois River (100,000 CFS), join the Mississippi and add the Missouri (+100,000 CFS). At this point the Mississippi is flowing at something like 700,000 CFS. To give these numbers some meaning consider that 1.5 cubic feet per second (CFS) is 1,000,000 gallons per day!
Big water, tow/barge traffic like we've never seen before. On the Illinois we were impressed by the tows that were 3 barges wide and 2 or 3 barges long. On the Mississippi we see tows 8 barges wide and 4 to 6 barges long passing each other side by side! And these tugs/tows can have 3000 to 6000 horsepower! It's dangerous to get too close to the prop wash behind a big tug because you can be sucked up into their wake. And the wake can extend behind them a couple MILES!
And debris, lot's of floating logs (and whole trees!) to be weaving in and out of. We hit a few of them because they are submerged just below the water and hear shuddering "thunks" as we do. Worse is our propellers (have I told you replacing them is a $4000-6000 fix?) ca-chunking as they suck up pieces of branches and debris. Luckily we get down the Mississippi and seem to have cleared the floating minefields without any issues other than blending up a little more mulch into the river.
For us PC's (the commercial tugs and lockmasters call us this as an abbreviation for Pleasure Craft (and you can hear their sarcasm when some of them say it)), there are strangely few places along the way to stop for the night. Anchoring in the 24/7 navigation channel is a big NO-NO and the few small creek inlets can quickly fill up with only a half dozen boats our size so regular marine radio communications with other boaters is a must to make sure there is room at the Inn at the end of each cruising day.
Still, the experience of cruising this piece of water is a unique experience!
After leaving Grafton, IL and the Illinois River we quickly join the Mississippi and see the St Louis arch come into view.
St Louie boasts a broad collection of bridges
Yo! The Arch!
Ha ha, yes that's a whole tree floating down the river.
The prop wash from a big tug can create a 2-4ft wave that can extend 2 miles behind it.
Oh and the current! We picked up 3 -4 mph going downstream on the Mighty Mississippi
Just south of St Louis is a castle that was imported from Germany, brick by brick and reconstructed on the riverbank
The geology of the Mississippi's riverbank is striking
A critical (and very substantial) pipeline river crossing.
Hoppies "Marina" (a series of 4 barges tied to the shorebank (two sank this spring in the floods)) 20 miles south of St Louis, is an iconic and special place. It is the last fuel stop for more than 200 miles, until we turn upstream on the Ohio River and then still have to get to Paducah, KY.
Fern, the 84 yr old owner has now retired from active work and her daughter Deb, gives a daily briefing to southbound cruisers to give updates on current river flows, the status and availability of the scarce anchorages downstream and navigation hazards.
.............like this guy, who is no longer doing his job.
One the precious anchorages, Little River Diversion Channel, holding a gaggle of southbound Loopers.
A quiet time on the Mighty Mississippi
