Weighing anchor in Dark Chute anchorage was a bit trickier than my prior anchorages. Each link of the anchor chain (those that had laid on the bottom) was covered in gooey mud–not an issue until the last bit comes up. Using the deck wash pump, it is fairly easy to clean each chain link as it comes aboard. Once the anchor is plucked from the bottom, however, the current wants the boat to move…backwards of course. Problem is, the anchor had been completely buried in Play-Doh like clay…and that stuff needs to come off. Rushing back to the bridge, I would place the boat in gear for 5 or 6 seconds, then return to leaning over the bow, trying to hose off the thick mud. It took 5 or 6 such visits before the anchor was clean.

I was now en route to Polestar Marina, located on the Mississippi River about 5 or 6 miles below the Illinois, one of two area marinas with Travel Lifts on premises. Forever Friday would be hoisted out of the water & I would swap the destroyed stern thruster prop for nice new (upgraded) one. Still traveling with the current, it was a rude awakening when I turned south from the Illinois River onto the mighty northbound Mississippi. Bucking a 5 knot current, my speed was cut in half–while my fuel burn doubled.

Arriving at Polestar, I was greeted at the dock by Gina of the Monk 36 Alysana. Gina & John hail from St. Louis and are wintering Alysana next door at Port Charles Marina.

Hauling out is never a blast…for $340 the marina mechanics lifted FF out of the water & held her suspended in the straps while I spent 20 minutes swapping out the thrashed stern thruster prop for a new one. She was then placed back in the water and away we went. Now motoring with the current in our favor, I soon rejoined the Illinois for another couple miles until it terminated into the southbound Mississippi. I was on the “Big Muddy” from here out.

20 miles later I landed at Alton Marina, a beautiful, “Looper-friendly” 5-star marina. Paying for 3 days dockage, I would receive 3 days free. $132 for a 6 night stay…can’t beat that, especially with covered slips, a sparkling swimming pool, and dual hot tubs. The pool, spas, rest rooms, & decking are all on a floating platform that rises and falls, adjusting to the river’s level…very neat! Before docking in our covered slip, I stopped at the marina’s fuel dock where Loopers received an additional 10 cents a gallon off the already low price (75 cents a gallon cheaper than immediately up the river from this place). I was pleased to have saved over $100 on the 135 gallons of diesel purchased.

While at Alton, I was able to change oil & filters in our main engine & generator, as well as wax the boat’s exterior from the hull-up. We are good to go!

On Friday, October 11th, I picked Mary up at St. Louis International Airport…Hurrah! My co-captain is finally back on board! We went back to the boat, dropped off her stuff, and walked to the local casino which was on a barge.

Hello all! It’s Mary. I’m back and taking over the blog! Although I miss my family and CA friends very much, am so happy to be back with my husband and boat. Mike made sure FF looked beautiful upon my return.

Last Saturday, we went to the grocery store and provisioned. We then drove into St Louis and rendezvoused with John and Gina from Alysana. Was great seeing them again. They live locally, so showed us some of their favorite haunts…read, breweries.

Was a beautiful day in St. Louis. A very cool downtown and great for walking. Of course, we wanted to the see the famed arch. It is quite something.

We tried to get tickets to take the little car to the top, but it was late in the day and they were sold out. So, we walked to another brewery, Schlafly, which had great beer and food. Headed back to the boat and took a jacuzzi. It was ccccccold outside!

Dropped the lines the next morning to tackle the mighty Mississippi. This was my first time on this river, and it ain’t no joke!

Had to go through 2 locks just south of Alton. The first was only a 6 inch drop, but we locked down behind a tow and got to slew through his churned water as he, very slowly, tried to exit the lock. The 2nd lock was even more fun as we exited the lock first so we wouldn’t have to later pass the tow. The turbulence from the tow pushed us onto the lock wall while I was trying to push us off of it. No harm, no foul, but stressful for sure.

The scenery along the Mississippi wasn’t all that pretty.

There was a LOT of commercial traffic on the River. This, coupled with our 6-7 knot following current, made for some fun seas.

Every time a tow and barges passed us coming up-river (which was often), we had quartering seas for about 3 miles.

We also had a pretty good headwind. Wind adverse to current is not the best combination. Overall, pretty crappy seas. Although it was like driving on black ice here, it was a pretty view sailing past St. Louis.

Traveled 84 miles this day and through 2 locks. Ended the day on a wall at Kaskaskia Lock and Dam. It was only 1/2 mile off the river, but oh so wonderfully calm.

Took off at sunrise the next morning for a long day on the river. The current was still ripping. The eddies were really something.

Also, still a ton of commercial traffic. The good news? The wind was much more mellow than the previous day, so the seas were smaller. After about 120 miles, we gloriously pulled off the Mississippi onto the Ohio River.

We immediately went from 14 knots to 7, and confused seas to calm. It was wonderful! About 10 miles up the Ohio, we dropped the hook on a sand bar and had our anchor watch beer after a long ass day.

The next morning, we took off for Paducah, KY. Paducah is in McCracken County. (I just love saying those names.) Rain and thunderstorms were coming, but looked like they would hold off for a bit. Locks 52 and 53 on the Ohio River have historically been two of the busiest in the country. 80 million tons of bulk and commodity are passed through these locks each year. For efficiency, they have been in the process of being demolished and replaced by Olmsted Lock and Dam. Because of the river levels, we were able to bypass the Lock and go straight through the navigation channel. Yippee!

After an uneventful, and blissfully short, voyage, we arrived at Paducah City Dock. We had previously visited Paducah by car when we first arrived in Kentucky last year. It is a cool town. Paducah has sustained some substantial flooding in its history. Accordingly, the town built a huge flood wall. Facing the city, the walls have these great murals painted upon them, each telling of some history of the area.

Had a great afternoon and evening walking around town. Met with DeeDee and Mary, two locals whom we met on Kentucky Lake the prior Summer while anchored. (Mike and I were in our dinghy exploring and went past a pontoon boat who waved us over. We tied up to them and told them about our adventure. They gave us cold beer and invited us to stay at their Kentucky Lake house anytime. ) Was so fun seeing them again. Finally had dinner at Doe’s Eat Place, about which we had heard a lot. They are known for…wait for it…their tamales and steaks. Yes, tamales and steaks. Being from Southern California, I was not about to have a tamale in Kentucky. The steak though…

Just as we were almost back to the boat, it started raining. Right after we got aboard, the skies opened up. A bit later, the thunder, lightning and wind began. And, worsened. About 1:30am, we were bucking in the water against the dock. This, unfortunately, went on for hours. Super crappy night’s sleep.

The next morning, it was sunny, but blowing like snot. Was an adventure, and physical challenge with a boat hook, trying to get away from the dock. Alas, we did. Again, the wind was opposing the current which made for fun seas. We got to Kentucky Lock, our last lock before crossing our wake at Green Turtle Bay. The wait here can be 3, 4 or 5 hours. We only had to wait an hour & 1/2, which wasn’t all that fun doing long donuts in crappy seas.

When we got into the lock, we were advised by the lock master to go forward, as there was more turbulence toward the rear of the lock. Were also advised one of the valves was not working, so there would be more turbulence than normal that would be pushing us away from the wall. O.k. By this time, we have been through well over 100 locks in all kinds of conditions. We’re good to go, right? Well, yes…for the first 20 minutes. Then, our ass end was swinging out so much our bow was smashing her gigantic fender. And, I mean…gigantic fender. I brought more fenders to the bow. They, too, were getting smashed. I started the engine and put it in reverse as our stern goes to starboard in reverse. Nothing. I used the stern thruster. Nothing. I used the stern and bow thrusters. Nothing. I used both thrusters and went heavy on the reverse on the engine. None of this worked. Mike, by this time, was bleeding using his body trying to keep out bow from scraping up the lock wall. I radioed the lock master and advised them of our situation. They shut off the valve and advised us to untie off the starboard wall and go across to the port wall facing aft. We did this, and finished our 52 foot lock up without further incident. (Although there was blood and a bunch of black stuff on the bow, the only real damage were scratches to our stainless rub-rail, and some lines. Oh, and to Mike’s hands, but they were o.k.) Needless to say, we were so DONE with locks after this.

Getting onto Kentucky Lake was wonderful! I love this lake. We had a short run through the cut and onto Lake Barkley toward Green Turtle Bay.

Last Wednesday, October 16, Forever Friday crossed her wake in Grand Rivers, Kentucky! We took off from here on the Great Loop September 26, 2018. I haven’t calculated the miles yet, but believe it’s more than 7000 including our side trips to Nashville, Chattanooga and the Bahamas. Although I missed a chunk of the trip recently, it was my biggest personal accomplishment by far. And, Mike had to singlehand the boat while I was gone. Shout out to Scaliwag and Heartbeat who were super helpful to him in my absence, and who are just awesome people who have become lifelong friends. We are so blessed.

We opened a bottle of champagne and switched out our white burgee for our gold one. Celebrated with some folks at the dock, and put our girl away. Did happy hour at the Yacht Club where we celebrated with new friends and old.

The next day, did chores. Took the courtesy car into Paducah for more chores. Our friends Mark and Susan Sunderman, picked us up at the marina in their golf cart for dinner. (Mark made our bimini before we left last year and is an amazing canvas and upholstery guru.) They took us to their new favorite joint, J. Lawson’s, where we had great drinks and fantastic food.

The next day, did more chores. Cleaned the floors, carpets, etc. Did 4 loads of laundry. Provisioned. Bla bla bla. Had a nice break with Mark and Susan for lunch at the Thirsty Turtle. Then, more chores. Made dinner on the boat and got to bed early.

Saturday morning, we planned to leave early, but were still awaiting a package to be delivered. The sunrise was beautiful.

We got our package around 9:00am, and took off just before 10:00. The weather was sunny and warm.

Had a relatively short 36 mile run to Dry Fork Bay anchorage which is lovely. Saw a couple huge bald eagles resting on a sand bar as we were coming in.

Had a lovely night at anchor. But…our refrigerator decided to stop working. The day after I provisioned at the grocery store. We took most (not all!) of our beer out of our Dometic cooler in the cockpit and put a chunk of frozen food in there. Made some ice packs and put most of our refrigerated food in other cooler bags we have. Crossed our fingers.

This morning was stunning. There is very little that beats waking up at anchor by yourselves on a calm morning. O.k., if our refrigerator was working, that would have been better, but you know what I mean.

As we took off this morning, the changing Fall trees were so beautiful.

Wind was calm and seas were beautiful today. Passed by a bridge and sunken structure we recalled from last year. Still so cool to see. Stealing from my blog post from 2018 when we passed this:

“As we approached a funky looking bridge, Mike advised me it was the Danville bridge that was originally built during the Civil War.  It was blockaded and taken over by the Union Troops.  It was later rebuilt as a steel trestle bridge during the early 1930s.”

Again, taking from my blog from last year:

“Just past this was the Danville grain elevator, which was rebuilt of concrete and steel in 1914.  When the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) flooded the area in the early 1940s to make the Kentucky Dam, they left it intact.  There is approximately 40 feet underwater, but the structure remains.  It is super cool.”

Because we had to deal with the refrigerator issue, we pulled into Pebble Isle Marina, in New Johnsonville, TN. We came here last year and it was great. Filled up our fuel tanks ($2.99 per gallon of diesel!) and tied up. We pulled out the refrigerator and Mike replaced the controller.

After Mike replaced the controller, it looked like our refrigerator was dead. So, I took most our food and set out to give it away. I hate throwing away food! Some of it, I had to throw away as I didn’t have room to store it in cooler bags. The rest, I was able to give away to some of the employees at the marina.

Upon returning from giving away our fresh food, Mike advised that the fridge is working again…both fridge & freezer are cooling down. Who but my Boy Scout Mike would have a spare refrigerator controller on hand?

Expecting nasty thunderstorms early morning and throughout the day tomorrow, so will likely be hanging here.

Until next time. Cheers, M&M.