TUESDAY
MILES TRAVELED TO DAY: 91 KM
It must be fall. This morning we woke to find wispy webs of fog clinging to the water’s surface while the sun crept up to find its place in the stringy clouds. The trees are slowly beginning to change from their normal verdant color to a mixed bag of candy corn and the migratory birds are gathering with their traveling companions, milling about and waiting for a sign to begin their long journey south. Nice!
We were off by 8:30 and ready for a day of cruising with no time consuming locks. There were fewer floating forests and we were able to relax our vigilance just a tad. Dan spotted these OMYA cars on the RXR tracks to our starboard.
OMYA CARS
OK, so that reprise was short lived. Once again we were dodging the floating trees and sometimes we just didn’t quite manage to avoid the bump-bump caroming off a collision. The river traffic fluctuates. Sometimes we go miles without seeing one of the tugs with their huge rack of barges and sometimes we are weaving in and around several at one time. We have even seen barges so massive that there are two tugs laboring to move them in this swift current. Not boring, for sure.
LOGS JUST FLOATING ALONG
MAS GRANDE TUG!
The skies are blue with scattered puffs of clouds and the temperature is in the 70s. My favorite dress code is appropriate now, shorts and a sweatshirt. Just about as good as it gets.
Here, the Illinois side of the Mississippi is seems to be a bit more forested and the Missouri side has a few scattered homes and some farms.
SILOS ON THE RIVER BANKS
We passed under the Memorial Bridge (MM 51.5) that connects Cape Girardeau, MO to Illinois, taking time to appreciate her beautiful lines.
MEMORIAL BRIDGE
Now it was time to be on the lookout for the tiny, hidden Little River Diversion Channel that should be somewhere near MM 48.8. Boy, I got to tell you, if you didn’t have detailed instructions and a specific mile marker you would never know it was there. We made our approach, just like Fern at Hoppie’s told us to, and nuzzled into this ¼ mile “short” and 100’ wide little haven. We dropped both our bow and stern anchors and we were all set for the night. We could watch the river traffic from our back door but were safe in the confines of our little channel.
LITTLE RIVER DIVERSION CHANNEL
Kirt and Dan each caught a catfish during the evening but Dan’s was really weird, pale and colorless like an albino. We won't be eating any fish from these muddy waters!
WHITE CATFISH
We pulled out the cards after dinner and taught Kirt and KelLe to play Fan Tan. The list is growing!
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