OHIO RIVER

We spent two nights on the OHIO RIVER. 

After departing Little Diversion Channel, we traveled about 50 miles with three other Looper boats and then turned left on the OHIO RIVER. The convergence of the Mississippi and OHIO RIVER was quite exhilarating! All of the Loopers passed safety onto the OHIO RIVER (with a few stories to tell during cocktails). The OHIO seemed much cleaner and smooth, but lots and lots of traffic and parked barges along the river banks. We were previously warned at Hoppies about all of the tow traffic on the OHIO RIVER, but it's even more than we anticipated.

Even though we were warned about all of the traffic... it was a bit overwhelming! The river systems were the original highways of the new world. The tows can be pushing anywhere from one to fourty-two barges linked together. An average tow of fifteen barges can carry as much 1,500 tons of cargo. This amount of cargo is equal to a three mile long freight train, or a line of semi trucks thirty five  miles long! The barges transport almost any type of cargo from port to port. Some typical cargo could include: coal, grain, oil, chemicals, trash, sand, gravel, timber or other materials.  

On our Great American Loop adventure we have the opportunity to see and experience the unexpected...traveling the River system has been very educational and incredible! We are both amazed by the amount of goods transported on the River Highways of the United States.

Once on the OHIO River we traveled about 20 miles to the Olmstead Lock and Lock 53. These two are connected and the Loopers cleared both together in about a two hour time frame (that was very fast for PC's).

After we cleared the final Lock of the day, we fired up our engines and hurried to our planned anchorage at Mile Marker 948.5.  Our Looper friends on Tyre-less were already at the anchorage. After a long day, we appreciated their local knowledge guiding Thistle over the sandbar to a safe anchorage for the night. Once anchored we saw the sky turn pink, orange, red for a spectacular sunset.

Tomorrow we head to the Cumberland River.

Departing Little Diversion Channel we saw Bridges, Barges and Beaches (with nice white sand).

When we entered the OHIO RIVER there was a turbulence warning on our navigation system.

WOW... it was extremely turbulent! 

One of our buddy boaters said, "He felt like a toy boat in a bathtub when the drain was released!"

Our buddy boater did an unexpected 360 in the middle of the river?

Thankfully we were warned :)

It was a unique experience when we left the muddy Mississippi by turning left onto the OHIO RIVER.  There was a distinct line in the water where the two converge. The Mississippi was muddy brown with turbulence, and The OHIO was blue/green and smooth.  We changed our navigation reminder stick to Red Atons to the right on the OHIO RIVER. 

We were warned about the heavy tow traffic on the OHIO River. This is a picture of our AIS. Thistle is the blue triangle with the green dot, the orange rectangles are other PC's or tows near us!

We entered the Omstead Lock (with three other Looper Boats).  The Lock is under construction.  With only a slight delay we were escorted through .

We were very lucky with our Lock timing, as there was a waiting list of about 24 tow boats with multiple bardges. 

Then up Lock 53, this Lock is connected to The Olmstead Lock. We waited on the wall for about an hour then "floated" (not attached to the lock wall) up the huge lock.

Finally at our anchorage for the night, Mile Marker 948.5. The anchorage was on the starboard side of the OHIO RIVER, protected from river traffic by a sand bar. 

An absolutely spectacular sunset :) at Mile Marker 948.5. 

Photo credit a Tyre-less ( Thank You !) 

Lock number 52 in the morning!

We are here!

The City is walled due to frequent high water on The OHIO RIVER ... the wall is decorated with murals explaining the towns history with information plaques under each mural. 

The annual Barbecue On The River was in full swing. There were 100's of BBQ, beer and craft booths with multiple stages and live music! An estimated 40,000 people attended the three day event. We ordered fried green tomatoes... Yum! And decorated Thistle with a bouquet of two dozen red roses.

      

Reenie visited The National Quilt Museum with fellow Looper Lesley (aboard Tyre-less).

No pictures are allowed to be taken inside the Museum! (These photos are borrowed from their web site.)  My favorite quilts told a story: The 2017 Solar Eclipse (top right), The Beatles, Yellow Submarine (bottom left) and Hot Pad (bottom right).    

We had a farm to table dinner at the Freight House...delicious! We asked about the KY Blue Snapper (never heard of that fish?)..found out that it is Carp.......a new KY marketing strategy! No we just couldn't order....Carp :( 

Good night from the brand new Paducah City Dock. Note how high the pillings are! It's necessary for  the drastic change of water levels on the OHIO RIVER.