From Anchorage to Anchorage

October 18, 2001 - From Anchorage to Anchorage

Today we got up late, about 8:30. Our friend the wind was fierce again, so it made raising the anchors difficult. We struggled, but finally succeeded at 9:30. We locked through the Kaskaskia Lock by 9:35. The two sailboats locked through with us. The river is pretty wild today and it's hard to see the logs and debris. It is very choppy and muddy, and it's spraying up on our windows. You should see the mud on my clothes, and the anchors. Please tell someone to turn off this wind and warm us up. The Mississippi isn't very pretty, but we are seeing lots of American Flags everywhere - on land and on sea. It is definitely a working river. We are passing a lot of barges. Oops! We just missed hitting a large log floating in front of us. Wow! Bill turned the wheel real fast and we slid past it. Travel along here isn't relaxing, as we have to spot all the markers to know where we are. It's a lot of work and not really all that much fun, this old Mississippi. Just heard a crash, and discovered that the satellite T.V.dish just fell off the top of the boat. It's cracked but Bill hopes it will still work. We plan to get diesel fuel in Cape Girardeau at a barge called Kidd City Fuel, which is a 50 foot barge along side the river just short of the Cape Girardeau Bridge. We had to call 24 hours in advance, and then 1 hour out, and he brings a fuel truck down to us. This is plain and simple, THE WEIRDEST. We got 130 gallons of diesel and started down 2 miles to the anchorage on the Little River Diversion Channel that Fern told us about. A little sailboat from Hoppie's was already there, so we went ahead. It is very narrow, but deep. We stayed right near the mouth, as we were afraid we couldn't turn around to get out if we went any further. I don't know what other boats will do if they stop here, as we take up the whole channel side to side. Guess we were here first and have squatter's rights. Wonder if we'll sleep tonight. The anchor seems to be holding now, so I guess we are o.k. At 4:00 o'clock, the two sailboats that anchored with us last night came in and went in beyond us, so we're in good company. We have one more night to anchor out, before we can stay at a marina again.