As we passed this on the Ohio River, we couldn't resist photoing it for our Fredonia friends and relatives...yep, a working riverside cement plant...Lafarge is everywhere.

Our trip through the Barkley Lake Lock and Dam...we've been too skittish to even attempt pictures as we went through the other locks. This was by far the largest. We'd like to say that because of our previous experiences it was really the least intimidating. Floating bollards are our friends. Tumbleweed was lifted 57 feet in this process. You should be able to see the water mark lines on the walls.

WE MADE IT...St Charles, Mo to Green Turtle Bay, Ky...312 miles, 5 locks (but had to go through one twice, so let's say 6), 1 marina, 3 anchorings,3 rivers, one lake, and one Big Blue Bertha of gas...What an adventure!!!! Floyd and I have both commented that we couldn't remember a time when we worried about so much, worked so hard, sweated so much or had so much darn fun. We had forgotten that when you commune with nature, it starts so dang early. Those birds start singing and the sun pops up...hard to stay in bed. We are not ready to do it again tomorrow, mind you. But we do want to come this way again. The hills we saw today were so beautiful all dressed in green. We think they'll be magnificent in their fall colors. The Cumberland River today was smooth and uncomplicated. We saw a few fisherman, one small tow barge, and lots of vultures. We arrived right on schedule. Floyd is a master at locating points on the charts and predicting exactly how long it will take to get there. The gas dock loves us...and we were thrilled to have arrived with 88.5 gallons of gas in the tank. We even ran the generator 10 hours yesterday. We didn't need that gas drum after all. Better safe than sorry I guess. We are looking good now...gone are the boat bums that have been on board these last three HOT days...and we're off to have a meal that some one else is cooking...Celebration time. Yes, we have more photos...we'll try to get to that tomorrow.

TGIF

It's Friday. Tomorrow this time we should be plugged into shore power, watered down and refueled. What a day we have had. We are currently anchored just outside the mouth of the Cumberland River, tucked in behind a small island. We have traversed the Ohio from where it joins the Mississippi to where it joins the Cumberland. What a difference!!! No more icky muddy water. The Ohio is very green. Couldn't believe how you could see the difference the minute we crossed. Since we were going upstream today the going was pretty slow. We managed to average alittle over 6 miles an hour at 1400 rpms. HOT today....and we got stuck at Lock and Dam 52 for two hours. Then had to go through twice. Some professional Tow driver couldn't follow directions and we courtously backed out so he could recover. Floyd and the Tumbleweed knew what to do...and Linda had practiced throwing the 40ft rope. So we got to do it twice. Gold Stickers for everyone! The lock manager even commented that we were good. He also said we were the first of the Loopers to go through this year. Guess they expect a few more. Big storms are all around us now. But the anchor is holding and we have an alarm to let us know if it gives way.

July 24 ...Our view of the dam...wish you could see the jumping Asian Carp. They don't have many redeeming qualities. No one eats them and they eat everything...all they do is jump. Sometimes even into the passing boats. Folks down there are looking for ways to get rid of them.

Yep, this is us all tied up at the Kaskaskia Lock and Dam, Wednesday night, July 24.

July 24

Our longest boating day...10 hours running time. We left those jumping Asian Carp in our wake and scooted back into the Mississippi right in front of the tow "Randy Eckstein". He was behind us ALL day. We are starting to cath on to the tow lingo on the radio and it was interesting to hear them chatter to Randy about the river conditions and where they were. Kept us informed cause we sure felt like we were the only folks on the river. We encountered very few folks on our long stretch. Those we did encounter were pretty huge and pushing lots of barges. We even got so we could tell if they were empties or full. Heavy showers outsdie of Cape Gireardeau made us really glad we had the canvas up. Those new zippered windows worked great. New to us though were all the whirlpools in the water. In some areas you just couldn't avoid them. Many were dangerously large and deep...yes, made me skittish. We decided to push alittle and traveled on to the Angelo Towhead for the night. We are in the area behind an island just off the US 60 Cairo Highway. Anchoring was a piece of cake...Linda at the helm and Floyd managing the anchor line. Then came the fun of transferring the 50 gallons from Big Bertha. We had a siphon and some hose that didn't really match up...but with a little duct tape and we were good to go. Only took us about 40 minutes. We've got gas and water to spare...one more night out and two full travel days til we reach Green Turtle Bay on the Cumberland River. It will be slower going as we'll be headed up river with current against us. We are trying to maintain 14oo rpm to monitor and conserve fuel. We figure that'll be a whopping 6 miles per hour....I'm reading a good book. Let us hear from you by logging on to the comments bar. We are missing our friends.