Mississippi Debris

As for today, all I can say is WOW!!!!! We did 281 miles today and finished in the dark, but we are safely tied up in a marina in Golconda, IL on the Ohio River. Not sure where that is exactly, but we are here and safe. More importantly, they have diesel fuel and will be able to top our tanks off in the morning.

Now for the rest of the story... We pulled out of Alton, IL on the Mississippi River today at 5:50am. We ran through the first lock without any issue all at. We were in and out by 6:15am. A great start to the day. At the second lock just before St Louis, we had a big delay. We were third in line behind a couple of tows. The nice thing was that the lockmaster kept us in our place. Normally we go to the back of the line behind commercial traffic. Here, as commercial boats came to the lock, they did not put us to the back of the line.

So after a 3 hour delay, we got underway again. At 9:45am, we had only gone about 25 miles. Once out of the lock and on our way south, we made time the best we could. The Mississippi was at flood stage. The good news about high water is that we picked up about 3 to 4 mph on our cruise due to the swift current. Instead of traveling at 26 mph; we were cruising most of the day between 29 and 30mph. The bad news, when the waters are high in the river, there is a lot of debris and crap floating down the river.

We dodged some doozies today. We made a quick 20 minute stop at Hoppie's Marina (just south of St Louis) around 11:30am to top off the fuel tanks since we weren't sure if we could make it to our next fuel stop without it. While we were tied to the fuel dock at Hoppie's which is directly on the Mississippi River, we had a tree about 20 feet long and a foot in diameter get stuck under the boat. David worked at it for about 10 minutes as we were fueling before he was able to get it dislodged. In the meantime, Hoppie, who is about 80 years old, is in front of the boat pushing trees and stumps away from the front of our boat with a big pole. It was an absolute rodeo for the 20 minute stop. I have never been involved in anything like this before. Bruce (on Miss Darlin) said there are those that love the Mississippi and those that hate it. You can firmly put me in the hate it category. I felt like it was pretty dangerous conditions today; especially with the pods hanging down

As quick as we could we topped off the tanks and got going. We slalomed down the river dodging huge trees, stumps and all kinds of debris. Finally, at 5:00pm we finished the Mississippi and made the turn east at Cairo onto the Ohio River. Yeah! Now we only have another 981 miles to go with 20 more locks along the way.

Well, the first 2 locks on the Ohio were perfect. The wicket dams were down, so there was no lock to go through at all. We were able to ride right over top due to the high water. The third lock was the Smithland Lock. I called the lockmaster on the phone about 3 miles out. The guy could not have been any nicer. He said the lock was open and he was ready for us when we got there. We were in and out in about 20 minutes. Perfect! We were fighting daylight and this was the make or break. If we were to have a delay, we would have gone back about 3 miles and anchored for the night behind one of the islands.

Once through the lock, we now had the final 20 miles to go to the marina as the light was fading fast. David did an unbelievable job driving the boat to our final destination. We came off the river with just enough light to see the entrance to the marina. We came in and got tied to the fuel dock at 8:45pm. The power cord was just long enough to make it to the power pedestal and one of the locals provided us with the codes to the restrooms and showers. Now we just need to wait until the marina opens at 8:00am to take on some fuel and pay for our dockage. A banner day!

We are now eating some frozen lasagna fresh out of the microwave. And for those in the know, I am having a few Oreo cookies for desert.

So here are some stats:

Miles traveled so far: 1,833
Miles to go: 902
Fuel: 2,562 gallons
Bodies of water traveled:

St Lawrence Seaway
Lake Ontario
Welland Canal
Lake Erie
Detroit River
Lake St Clair
Lake Huron
Lake Michigan
Calumet-Sag Channel
Illinois River
Mississippi River
Ohio River




One of the tows that locked through with us just north of St Louis


St Louis skyline


St Louis Arch


Not a good picture of the debris, but multiply this by 5 and you would get some idea of how much stuff was floating down the Mississippi River all day.




Construction at the Olmstead Lock


An Army Corp Dredge on the Ohio River

Lots of Miles on the River

Ok... so I will do my best to bring you all forward from last Monday.

So we ran from Harrisville, MI on Lake Huron on Monday to Leland, MI on Lake Michigan. Seas were a bit rough once we got around the Straights of Mackinac. We got held up in Leland for 2 days waiting for Lake Michigan to calm down. Seas were 3 to 5 feet with occasional 7 foot seas. We didn't want any part of that for the 265 mile run from Leland to Chicago. So we waited.

On Thursday we had an absolutely beautiful run from Leland to Chicago. Seas with a bit bumpy to start, but by the end of the day, seas were like glass. It was a very good decision to wait. We had a nice day to get off of Lake Michigan and onto the Cal-Sag Channel.

On Friday morning we continued on the Cal-Sag and encountered our lowest bridge of the trip. We got under the 19'6" CSX railroad bridge without any problem. We believe the measurement Meridian provides in its literature is to the top of the mast light since we had about of foot of clearance once we removed the light.

We made a good run from Chicago to Henry, IL on Friday covering 129 miles and 5 locks. We encountered lots of barge traffic, but we made the most of it. For the most part, the barges were very accommodating during our run down the Illinois River.

Saturday morning we set off in the rain from Henry Harbor looking to cover as many miles as possible. We completed the Illinois River at 2:40pm and made a brief stop in Grafton, IL. I wanted to stop and say hello to a client I did a trip for back in March. After a brief stop, we started off down the Mississippi River toward Alton, IL. We ran another 19 miles from Grafton to Alton before we stopped for the day after 212 miles. We found a great diesel fuel price of $2.95/gallon and decided to top off the tanks. We couldn't go any further today since the Mississippi River was shut down a few miles ahead of us. Apparently, 116 barges broke loose just south of St Louis and the USCG shut down the River for a 10 mile stretch. It looks like they have gotten things under control now and the river is back open. We are hopeful to get off early again tomorrow and make our way down the Mississippi. We might reach the junction of the Ohio River tomorrow where we will begin our 980 trip up the Ohio to Pittsburgh.


A passenger ship coming out of Ludington, MI on Thursday.


Chicago skyline






O'Brian Lock; the first lock on the Cal-Sag Channel


Capt David and Todd waiting for the lock.




The point where the Cal-Sag meets up with the Chicago Sanitary Ship Channel.


Need to try and keep out the Asian Carp.


Barge at the second lock on the Illinois River.




One of the barges allowed us to lock through with him.


No much room between us and the lock wall or the tows prop wash.


The beginning of our 3 hour wait at the Marseilas Lock








The barges are big and long going into the locks on the Illinois


A good picture of some wildlife as we waited for the lock.




Downtown Peoria, IL today as we traveled in the rain.

Long Day to Henry, IL

Sorry no good updates lately with pictures.  Internet connects have been non-existent.  We left Chicago yesterday morning at 5:30 and ran 129 miles to Henry, IL and are just northeast of Peoria.  In those 129 miles we did 5 locks.  We were very fortunate yesterday that one of the tows allowed us to jump ahead of him in line to get us through the 4th lock.  Otherwise, we would still be there waiting.  There were 5 barges coming through and they all needed to break down, lock through and reassemble on the other side.  It was a very time consuming process.  We only had to wait for one large tow and barge to go through and it took over 3 hours.  So you can imagine how long 5 of those would have taken.  We would have had to turn around and go back to a marina and try again in the morning.  All this happened around 3:00 in the afternoon.  So luck was on our side yesterday.

We hope to finish the Illinois River today and get down to Grafton or to Alton on the Mississippi.  If we get really lucky we could end up all the way down at Hoppie's below St Louis, but I seriously doubt that will happen.  I'll try and post some pictures tonight if I can.

By the way, we cleared the lowest railroad bridge on the Canal by about a foot.  David figured correctly that our actual height with the Satellite Antenna down and the anchor light down put us at 18'6".  We did not have to remove the radar or the stand for the light and Satellite Dome.

Lake Michigan - Check

No good internet connection tonight so this will be short. We ran the rest of Lake Michigan today and are down on the Cal-Sag Channel below Chicago. We did 264 miles today. Lake conditions were great with 2-3 foot seas early then becoming glass in the afternoon. We still have 1500 miles to go. We begin the Illinois River tomorrow.

Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan

I'll try and catch everyone up on the last two days aboard Obsession. On Sunday we pulled out of Geneva, OH at 5:30 in the morning. Lake Erie was flat and calm. You could not have asked for a better day. We had a really nice, relaxed run up to the Detroit River.

From the river, we cruised up to Downtown Detroit and got some great shots of the skyline. We needed to stop for fuel so I asked for some help from Ray Batt. Ray was too kind in providing great information on all the possibilities of fuel stops on the river all the way up to Port Huron. Then Ray said he would come out on his Boston Whaler and meet us on the river and we could follow him into Kean's for fuel. Kean's is right across from his home port of the Detroit Yacht Club. The facility and service was great and we were in and out in 25 minutes.

It was very kind of Ray to help us and take time out of his Memorial Day weekend with family to lend a hand. Thank you Ray. It was great to see you as always!

At 11:45am our tanks were full and we were on our way up to Lake St Clair heading for Lake Huron. About 2:00 we passed the 43 Tiara I was on and moving from Mobile to Chicago. Mike and his wife Lynn had just dropped off his step-father Bob in Harbor Beach and were heading home to Detroit. I got a good running shot of his boat.

By 2:20pm, we were out on a very calm Lake Huron. Waves were about a foot, but it was a very comfortable ride. We finished the day at 7:00pm in Harrisville, MI with overcast skies and drop in temperature of 20 degrees. We covered 329 miles. That is a new record for me for the most miles traveled in a day.

We had a nice meal at Shotmakers Bar & Grill before heading for bed. We were all tired after a very long and productive day on the water.

Monday brought us some new challenges. We had heavy rain and wind. We decided we would take our best shot and see what we could tolerate on a rough day.

Seas were a very sloppy 3 feet this morning, but manageable when we left the dock at 5:50am. As the morning progressed, the seas would periodically smooth out and then get rough again. Since the marina was closed last night when we got in at 7:00pm, we were not able to fuel up. So we needed to travel 54 miles this morning up to Presque Isle for a fuel stop around 8:15. We took on 360 gallons before heading back out onto the lake around 9:00.

Then the real fun began. FOG. Lots and lots of fog. I hate fog. The fog was so thick you couldn't see 50 feet in any direction. Fortunately we had a great color, HD radar and AIS. The AIS was invaluable today and we could see and be seen by very large ships. We talked to several cargo ships over 700 feet long and passed them within 1 mile and never saw them. We could hear the fog horn and see them on AIS and radar, but zero visibility. Its a little unnerving if you have never done it before.

We continued on under the Mackinac Bridge and on past Beaver and Manitou Islands. Once around the bend, the seas picked up considerably and they had a small craft advisory. Seas were building to 4 feet and projected to build to 7 feet by 5:00pm.

We decided we had enough fun for one day and turned toward Leland, MI. We still covered 214 miles today. We will probably have to spend Tuesday here as well since the forecast looks terrible tomorrow as well with winds 20 to 30 kts and seas 4 to 5 feet with occasional 7 footers. I didn't take a single picture today since we couldn't see a thing. Hold a white piece of paper in front of your face you will have the same view we had for most of the day.


Sunday morning sunrise on Lake Erie coming out of Geneva, OH.




Point Peele Light on Lake Erie


The skyline of Detroit as we are coming up the Detroit River.






Ray and his son Alex on their Whaler coming out to greet us.








Mike on his 43 Tiara as we passed near Port Huron.




Light house at Harbor Beach, MI


Harrisville Marina


Tied up after 329 miles in 13 hours.


These are a few pictures Ray emailed me of Obsession on the Detroit River.




3 Meridian Yacht Owners - Left to Right: Ray, Keith and Dave

43 Tiara home in Detroit

Final update. Mike and his 43 Tiara "Close Enough" made it safely back to his home port at the Detroit Yacht Club. Here is a picture I snapped of him as we passed yesterday and picture Ray sent me of his boat tied up at the DYC.