The fog finally lifted and Viridian and Gypsy Spirit inserted ourselves back into the swift, muddy waters of the Mississippi River. We were soon scooting along at a clip of 13.5 mph. We met one of the huge Mississippi tugs (three engines) pushing a 6X5 stack of barges. Powering against the current, she left behind 16, 6 foot standing waves about 3 seconds apart. We did not get into these waves but were hit by the bow waves, which were just about as bad. Ahead in the distance we saw another Mississippi tug that was going our way. It had a 6 across and 5-deep stack of barges and was churning along at 13 mph with the current. A few hours later, we caught her but were not able to get around her simply because we didn't have enough power. I called the captain and told him we would just fall back and follow him until we turned into our anchorage at Little Diversion. He was going all the way to New Orleans and said he would escort us as far as we were going. Since he was going downriver, the upbound tugs had to pull over to the bank and allow this larger downbound tug to pass. We were still able to cruise at about 12 mph but at a much lower rpm. With the tug about a mile ahead of us, we had smooth sailing all the way down to our destination, thanks to the giant escort clearing the way.
Four Looper boats ended up anchoring in Little Diversion tonight, and what a nice, calm anchorage it was. A is a great place just off the Mississippi River and about 100 miles from Paducah, KY. Tomorrow will be another long cruising day, half on the Mississippi (downriver) and the other half on the Ohio River (upriver).
That's the news and here's the views:
We are here
Today's Route from Kaskaskia Lock Wall, MO to Little Diversion Canal, Cape Girardeau, MO
Viridian on the Kaskaskia Lock Wall
Fog keeps us tied up
Work day
Our Escort the Alix Anne Eckstein (one mile away)
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