We woke up at Hoppie’s hoping we were clear of debris. After a check around, it looked like we were clear. The trees we had wrangled last night were still tied to the dock, and there wasn’t anything obvious under the boat or swim platform. The guys on Manifest were preparing to leave, so I assisted them off the dock. We weren’t in a hurry to leave, so we had our coffee and made our preparations for departure. Today we had to go about 37 miles with our next stop being a lock wall. We have read that this lock allows Loopers (and anyone else) to tie up to their wall for a safe place to moor for the night. There are not many safe spots to stop along this stretch of the Mississippi. You certainly don’t want to try to drop anchor anywhere, what with the currents and amount of barge traffic. The lockmaster does expect you to ‘check in’ and call ahead of time for permission, but they always allow it. 37 miles is easy with this current pushing us.
We made the trip in 3.5 hours, averaging over 10 knots! We barely had to use much fuel, just enough to steer. We will be pay for this however, when we turn up the Ohio River and have to fight the current. We were half way to the lock when I called the lockmaster; I asked for permission to tie up, and he said it would be fine, just radio in when we get there. We continued to dodge debris and barges, and soon were very close according to our charts. I was looking back and forth, trying to see where we should be, when I realized we were passing the turn off! Crap! We turned hard port, and were immediately faced with the swift 8 knot current pushing us down river, backwards. I pushed the throttle and was going more and more to try to gain some headway. I had a moment where it was a complete optical illusion to me, and had to ask Lauren which way we were going and if we were moving forward? At this intersection I had three different visuals: one part of land was moving sideways (steering) one part of land was moving backwards, then slooowly forward (throttle) and all the water around us was moving backwards (current). I truly couldn’t tell if we were moving forward, backward, sideways…which we were all at once, it seemed. Once we got to the channel, out of the Mississippi, the current disappeared and we were moving forward toward the lock. I radio’d in and was told to tie up along the wall between two pillars. Since we were just staying the night and continuing on down the Mississippi, we did not have to actually go through the lock. We tied up around 2pm, and prepared to relax for the afternoon. We were the only ones here. After awhile, we spotted another boat heading in to the wall. I went out to assist with lines, and we met the couple on ‘Fratt House’ who are also Looping. Eventually a few more boats came in, and there were four of us tied to the wall for the night.
All of the excitement was over for the day. I took Frank for a dinghy ride to a park across the way and we walked around and he did his business. We returned to the boat and I fired up the generator, both to charge the batteries and to make dinner. We spoke to some of the other boats and three of us were going to go to the same anchorage next. There aren’t many options and we all will have to anchor somewhere. The weather tomorrow also is calling for rain, so hopefully we can make it before the weather turns for the worst.