A Modern Day Warrior, Today's Tom Sawyer

Day 126  | Kaskaskia River to Cape Girardeau, MO  |  5.8 Hours  |  60 Miles 

We departed the Kaskaskia River Lock wall this morning with Second Wave and Misty Pearl, heading for the only recommended stopping point for the next 150 miles. As we merged back into the Mississippi River, the strong four knot current grabbed hold of us and quickly pointed us downriver. A lone bald eagle sat in the trees observing our controlled power slide. This section of river is very turbulent, but thankfully had little log debris to dodge. On several occasions the swirling eddies quickly changed our course by up to 45 degrees, but the autopilot did a good job of correcting and keeping us pointed in the proper direction. We were surprised at how much barge/tow traffic there was for a Sunday morning. Several times we had multiple tows approaching in a single-file line. Large tows heading upstream put out a huge amount of prop wash/wake.

The tug Buckeye State passed us and Barry made reference to next weekend's big football game between Ohio State and his Penn State saying he hoped Buckeye State didn't run all over the Nittany Lion (him). We felt small next to these huge assemblies. We passed close to the Mark Twain Natural Forest about the time we encountered a kayak -- on the Mississippi, with all of this traffic. That brought to mind Rush's song from the early 80s as that dude truly was today's Tom Sawyer. Overall, it was a chilly and overcast, sometimes rainy, day with very little scenery. We stayed in the pilothouse with the doors closed. Birdlife was minimal, but this heron flew beside us for a while and I felt compelled to pick up the camera and get a shot, albeit through the window. With all the flooding the Mississippi River has seen in the last two weeks, the channel markers are in disarray. Dozens have simply been washed ashore. Several have been swamped, but remain in position barely bobbing above the water level. The Army Corps of Engineers has made a deposit of new markers in preparation for some much needed restoration. An interesting note about these river markers is that they are not numbered, as the ones on the east coast are, presumably because they get repositioned on a frequent basis.

Today we passed the largest tow that we've seen -- a single tug pushing 35 barges (5x7) upriver. Moving that much mass against the current requires quite a bit of horsepower and the prop wash created three foot breaking waves and a bumpy ride.

We neared the town of Cape Girardeau and heard the riverboat Queen of the Mississippi departing from its dock. We never saw the down-bound ship, but its dock featured an interesting mural of town highlights. Shortly downstream, we turned off the Mississippi River into the Little Diversion Channel anchorage for the evening. The name may sound upscale, but technically we are in the town's storm sewer for the evening. Again, we see evidence of high water as the reported 15 feet of depth is reading closer to 30, making for short scopes in this narrow channel.

There are six boats here this evening. There is minimal current and light/variable wind, meaning we are swinging more than we're used to. The anchor monitor app is set and we hope to get some good sleep. Tomorrow will be our longest day yet -- close to 90 miles with two locks, and a turn onto the Ohio River where we will be heading upstream, fighting a 4 knot current, with showers and shortening day light. The reward for completing this task will be a few days to recover in Paducah, KY, and the satisfaction of having traversed over 220 miles on the Mississippi River. Then we too can call ourselves modern day warriors -- Today's Tom Sawyer.