From the Mississippi to the Ohio

October 19, 2001 - From the Mississippi to the Ohio

We left our anchorage at 8:20. The anchor came out pretty easy today. All the sailboats had already gone. Wonder when we'll see them again? The river is a little calmer today and it is starting to warm up a bit. Does anyone know why they call the markers Day Markers, when they are only readable at night and are well hidden in the trees by day? They blend right in with the green foliage. Eye strain, for sure. We arrived at the Angeleos Towhead anchorage about noon, and decided that it was to early to stop for the day, so we thought we'd head to Paducah. We haven't been able to get off the boat in 2 days and we need to see if our legs still work.

We left the Mississippi River and turned north on the Ohio River at 12:00, and caught up with the 2 sailboats from our anchorage. Soon after, 2 fast "pleasure craft" came up behind us and past us, leaving us rolling in the dust. We came upon the Olmstead Lock and Dam that is under construction, and found out that we don't have to lock through the next 2 locks because of high water, and we can go right over them. This means that we should arrive at the Big E Marina in Paducah Kentucky earlier than we thought. I thought it wasn't that far but, because we had to buck the fast current, we didn't arrive at the Big E Marina until 5:00. Really, it isn't as bad as we had heard. We heard that it was just a crumby old steel dock, and one man said that he wouldn't tie his boat to it and he anchored nearby. It is a steel dock and fuel dock with no electricity and water, but if you get fuel you can hook up to electricity. A boat was already in that spot, so we tied up with no electricity and walked up to town and had dinner at the Whaler's Catch restaurant. There is a huge Executive Inn Conference Center up on the hill from our dock.