012 Two Choppy Days

We left Hoppie's on November 7^th at the luxurious hour of 9:00 a.m. as we only had thirty-six n/m to our next stop, the lock wall at the Kaskaskia Lock and Dam, and no locks to go through.   

The first twenty minutes or so we were “treated” to some barge workers on the VHF radio talking about their various surgeries and procedures, most particularly their colonoscopies.   Classic “locker room talk” and a bit TMI.    We had sunny weather, but we had a strong northbound wind, and we were travelling on a southbound current, so a bit rocky. 

Of course, we saw quite a few big tows.   I never get tired of taking pictures of the tows!

 

I am working part-time and I'm often on my laptop  while Nancy tends the helm.  (Also, this blog doesn't write itself!).

 

We arrived at the Kaskaskia Lock and Dam around 1:30pm.  You don’t go through the KLD for a G/L trip, it is off the main channel of the Mississippi.  It is a real bonus that they let “loopers” tie up to the entryway wall as the KLD is situated at a good stopping point.    The KLD has a really different look to it, very science fiction look IMHO.    The entryway lock wall actually floats up and down on those big triangle structures.                                                                  

 

Hygge all tied up:

While you are allowed to walk on the entryway lock wall, you are not allowed to go onto the lock itself.  If you want to get to land, you must dinghy into the shore, but there isn’t much to see there.                                                                                                                                 

 

 

 It was nice to have a sunny afternoon, away from the wind, to just “chillax” and talk things over with KatMat. 

 

The next day, November 8^th, we left the KLD at 8:00 a.m. on our way to anchor at the Little River Diversion Canal, basically a good-sized creek just south of Cape Girardeau, Mo. 

The clouds came in and that wind from the south picked up.  Here is what we had to deal with most of the day:  

https://youtu.be/ArSy3qxfSV0

Another tow!

We got to the LRDC about 3:45 p.m. with just enough day light left to get anchored.  There is a decent bit of room in the canal as you can see from the video and pictures.  

 https://youtu.be/lQj9Jxbs5h0

 

We had a “good set” with the anchor, but I did set out a stern anchor as the weather prediction was that the wind would switch from out of the south to out of the north at around 3:00 a.m. (which it did).   Since the canal was out of the main channel and out of that big wind, the stern anchor might have been overkill, but it did keep us a bit more settled overnight. 

Highlight of the day was that smooth anchor job and finally dipping into our supply of cheddar-Jalapeño brats from Bernie's Meats in Port Washington, Wi.

Dave