GLORY DAYS ON THE GREAT LOOP: OHIO R. TO CUMBERLAND R.

DAY 109 TUES. SEPT. 27, 2011
OVERCAST, CLOUDY COOL
DEP MM 966.2, 07:00 ARR CUMBERLAND I. TOWHEAD 2:30
D. 42.7sm / 2176.4

We woke up at 06:00 to find we were still secure to the Fed. Mooring cell, but had some surprise visitors during the night. The boat was literally covered with “fish flies.” Hundreds of them. They were attracted by the light that our white hull reflected from the bright lights of the lock construction project. As we prepared to get under way we had some good news. We knew that the wickets on lock 52 were down, now lock 53 wicket dams are also down. ( Wicket dams are lowered during periods of high water to allow boats to pass over them, thus eliminating the need to go through the lock.) Again, we are heading upstream, into the current of about 2 mph, so it is a slow go compared to the Miss. R., but we only have about 40 miles to go to our anchorage for the night, the Cumberland I. Towhead. Cumberland I. is located at the junction of the Ohio and Cumberland Rivers and provides a good anchorage out of the current and out of the way of tows. As we pull in we see hundreds of Asian Carp jumping out of the water because of our engine noises. The current here is less than 1 mph, and there doesn’t appear to be a lot of debris in the water, so the anxiety factor is pretty low. This will be our last night on the Ohio R.