St. Louis to Waverly, TN
Sept 17 - 23
Walter Muff, Jerry Stone

Sept 17    Crew arrived at SeaBird slip at Alton Marina.  A good dinner at Tony's Restaurant followed cleanup and provisioning.

Sept 18    Departed quickly after rising at 0645, got underway at 0730 in time to catch the Melvin Price lock with several other early rising cruisers, which included Leatherback, a 55 foot Fleming trawler that we saw at Kingston, NY on the Hudson.  Last Mango, the Longboat Key boat we traveled with on the Illinois River was also at the Alton Marina.  The two locks we transited today were both double chamber locks, a 1200 foot and 600 foot chamber with floating bollards which make for easier tying off.  Great view from the river of the Arch and downtown St. Louis.  While the downtown area is very commercial waterfront, it quickly becomes a very rural setting within a few miles.  The Mississippi current was running an average of 3 knots, up to 5 knots in the narrow stretches, making for cruising speeds from 11.5 to 13.5 knots.  Barges on the Mississippi are much larger than those we saw on the Illinois, largest we saw was 5 wide and 7 deep, about 1500 feet long, and these were smaller than the biggest as size on this section of the river has been restricted due to low water!  Some run up to 7 wide!  Discovered we had no Ohio or Northern Tennessee River charts on board.  Dinner at anchor at Potato Bend at mile 96, a days run of 107 miles.  A half dozen barges passed in the night, impressive to watch.

Sept 19    Another early departure, breezy day.  Shoreline was mostly dykes on the west and sand beaches on the east.  Passed Cape Girardeau, Jerry's home town in the early afternoon.  Had an interesting stretch through a smoke bank created by a brush fire, on a curve with two tows to pass.  We completed the 96 miles to the junction of the Ohio River at Cairo, IL, (heavy commercial barge traffic) where we turned up stream, lowering our speed from 11.5 knots to 8 knots.  We continued up the Ohio about 20 miles and locked through the first lock, anchoring for the night at mile 951, about 10 miles west of Paducah.  Note that there is only one small marina between St. Louis and Kentucky Lake, a distance of some 275 miles.

Sept 20    Completed the second of the Ohio River locks, holding in mid chamber since the walls were not conducive to small boat mooring.  Decided to take the shortest route via the Tennessee River after calling the lockmaster at the heavily traveled Kentucky Lock who indicated our wait would probably be about an hour, minimal since the alternate route on the Cumberland River would have added 24 miles and 2-3 hours to the trip.  The Tennessee River was quiet, with tree lined banks on each side.  Kentucky Lock was however something else.  The wind increased to 25 to 30 knots during the day and we we finally got into the lock after a 1 1/2 hour wait, it was like being in a wind tunnel, impossible to moor to the planned wall, so had to make a quick switch to the starboard side after being informed that the mid chamber float, which was encouraged on the Ohio, was not permitted here.  The lock was a 57 foot lift with a severe side surge which pinned the boat to the lock wall, applying a layer of grunge to the fenders and resisting our best efforts to hold off.  Not fun.  Upon exiting the lock we were immediately into Kentucky Lake and winds which were a steady 35 knots, kicking up a significant chop.  During the 3 mile run across the end of the lake to the marina we broke the steering cable and lost rudder control.  Fortunately the marina was pretty well protected and we were able to dock using the gears only. 

9/21    Repaired the steering after making a trip to a marine store that just happened to have a stainless pin the size we needed.  Jerry did a fine job in his role as ship's engineer - especially for a Chem-E. We got away from the marina at 1140 for a scenic cruise down Kentucky Lake; a wide lake with many coves, light recreational (fishing) traffic and very little tow traffic.  Great lunch anchorage in one of the coves about mile 40.  Stayed at Paris Landing Marina - another state park - no booze - dinner at their lodge was good.  Marina could use some work. Narrow slips (15.5 feet).

9/22    The usual breakfast - coffee, juice, yogurt and peanut butter toast.  Departed at 0830 an proceeded at a leisurely pace down the lake.  A cool day with light breeze, mostly cloudy.  Some nice homes on the eastern shore above New Johnsonville.  Passed Dupont plant at Johnsonville (Jerry's old co.).  Arrived at the Cuba Landing Marina in Waverly at 1500.  Friendly folks, better docks than Paris Landing.  They provided a courtesy van for transportation to dinner at the Log Cabin Restaurant 7 miles away and transportation to the airport in Nashville on Saturday.