Knock on Wood! We left a fog-covered Kaskaskia Lock about 9 a.m. after our friends helped us turn 180 degree and go down river. When you are going out of a harbor, green markers will be on your right. When we came up the Kaskaskia River last night the green markers were on our left (backwards to our many miles on the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers). Which side do you think the green markers will be on when we enter the Ohio River tomorrow?
From a distance it is often hard to distinguish the color of the marker. Some ingenious soul decided to make the green markers have a flat top and the red ones have a dunce cap! Check the slant of the marker for the curre
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Ellen and Woody call their boat the "Double SS". I'll give you a hint - their last name starts with S and the smarter S said SS would be fine but the other one wanted the double!
Today we passed an RV park, many quarries and a half dozen 5x5's. In the Illliois we had seen 2x3 and 3x4's. If you haven't guessed a 5x5 is a pusher with five barges across and five long. It is very big! It is not a guess to who has right of way!
I also saw my first cows grazing on a green hill!
Frequent Wingdams line the banks. This leads us to wonder just how many there are and how many bendweirs we don't see.
One group of Benweirs on Mile 84, fountain bluff bar, had a wide sandy beach on the other side. The flow of the current caused the sand to pile up there!
The Mississippi River is much wider here. We have to use binoculars to read the mile numbers on the banks or have special long distance vision!
Mississippi has its own Bridge to NOWHERE. It is a cable bridge that is only high over the river and then disappears on each side!
Lastly, we saw the Grand Tower for which a town was named! The town of Great Tower not Babel!
We motored slowly into Little Diversion Channel at Mile 48.8 about 4:30. The three boats from last night were there. We tied up to one side of Barbara and Double SS was on the other. This is called rafting. What a great way to have another dinner for six this time aboard Ellen and Woody's boat. The mosquitoes were very hungry and we opted for the inside dining room table!
Tomorrow we leave the Mississippi and continue our trip up the Ohio.
