So after locking up to the Kaskaskia river for the night, Thursday morning we got up early to lock back down and continue on our way. The lock master said we could come down as early as 7am. Mother nature had another idea however and we were surrounded by heavy fog.

Not so good for spotting dead heads and other miscellaneous debris in the already cloudy river. Once the sun was out for a bit though it cleared and we were able to continue on. We all went down to Little Divergent Canal. A tight spot off the river, fairly shallow but pretty well protected. Everyone either also dropped a stern anchor or tied a line to shore to keep from swinging into shallower water, or each other.

Friday we were up early again. This morning wasn’t as foggy but we still had to use the chart radar to make sure no tows were coming as we pulled out with the canal being along a blind curve on the river.

Clear to go we motored to the next spot, Angelo’s tow head. It’s an island on the river that you can anchor behind. There are several like that called tow heads, I don’t actually know why. Anywho, as we were coming up to it we could see a barge coming towards us. We sped up and snuck in well clear before it crossed our path.

It was a nice spot but as we were waiting for the other’s to catch up, the barge, which turned out to be a dredge, came up and stopped right on the tip of the island. The others could have gotten in around behind it but they decided to go anchor at the bottom of the next lock.

There was just enough current to keep us from swinging around and protected enough from barge wakes. It was a pretty chill evening and I got to watch the new Hocus Pocus movie. 😄

Saturday we set off to meet the other boats at the next lock. Where we were anchored was right at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. So right away we turned off the Mississippi and were now going against the current on the Ohio. We got through the lock and spend on to Peducah to get fuel, thus clearing that 200 mile no fuel stretch.

We were not able to get a spot to stay at Peducah so we decided to make the push all the way to Green Turtle Bay in Kentucky. From the Ohio river we turned on to the Cumberland river and had another lock to get through. When we got to Green Turtle Bay we were in another very nice covered slip that turned out to be right by Steve and Ann’s (New Adventure) condo.

This is actually where they started their Loop last year and have crossed their wake! Which means they have completed and are done with the Loop. They decided to sell their boat here in Kentucky and drive back to California. They originally had the boat trucked out here! It will be sad not to see them along the way anymore 🥺.

Sunday we did laundry and booked the marinas courtesy car for noon to run to Walmart. When we got back Don did an oil change on the dinghy motor and I let Skia go swimming in the harbor. We were able to watch the last quarter of the Bills game and then went to dinner with Steve and Ann at the Thirsty Turtle Tavern. Which you get to by golf cart shuttle 😄.

After dinner we meet for docktails with some other Loopers at the marina, then went back to Steve and Ann’s condo to play cards and made plans to watch Monday night football. Being from the LA area, Steve is a Rams fan.

Monday morning we wanted to go to this local breakfast spot we were told was really good. We had to walk up to the main road of town, about a mile away, and about 2/3 of the way there we Googled to see exactly where the place was and discovered they were closed till Friday. *Sigh. We were still able to drop some things in the mail before walking back. There was another breakfast only restaurant at the marina/resort called Dockers, so we went there instead. It was really good, huge delicious cinnamon roll.

We spent a good amount of time cleaning the boat and the dinghy, which was full of muddy paw prints. Then I walked back up to town to check out the shops. A big part of them is Patti’s 1800 settlement.

All original buildings turned into modern shops and a restaurant. Got us some fudge and a Fall pillow cover 😄🍁. At docktails that evening Don met a fellow Coast Guard Vet, they swapped stories and shared disgust over the state of the bouys along the river.

We met up at Steve and Ann’s to watch the game. Ann and I mostly talked instead of watched. They also gave us a hand held radio, so now we will be able to monitor two different channels, and a Loopers Companion guide book which compliments the set of Waterway Guide books we have. We said our goodbyes and promised to keep them apprised of our journey.

Our reservations for Nashville aren’t until next Monday, but we wanted to give ourselves time to get down there and explore the lakes a little. So leaving Green Turtle Bay today we only went about 5 miles and found a nice spot in a cove on Lake Barkley.

Along with the much nicer rocky instead of muddy shoreline for Skia, it was surprisingly a shell jackpot. I did not have big enough pockets.

Don spotted this huge one still in the water that when I pulled it out had the coolest green color!

So the next few days will be fairly relaxed, short travel days as we make our way down to Nashville.