Half Way to Mobile

It is Monday 10/11/04 and we are at Green Turtle Bay on Barkley Lake in Kentucky. We are 641 miles from Chicago. In the next 7 or 8 days we will sail to Aberdeen, Mississippi - another 308.5 miles. We will stay at a combination of anchorages and marinas through some historic civil war sites and ante-bellum homes.

The trip down the rivers has been more challenging than we had expected. The low water and turbulence of the rivers provided a challenge. We had to replace all of the house batteries and the fresh water pump. Through a combination of moving and boat work Loy pinched a nerve in his back and ended up in a lot of pain resulting in an ER trip in Alton, IL and continuing meds. (Thanks to Bruce and Jane for transport and new groceries.) We learned to deal with push boats and their barges. We received the scary news of our sonhj, Carl, and his diving indicent in St. Thomas. We can occationally connect with him by cell phone and get reports of his continuing recovery. He is better now but still has pain and difficulty with feeling especially in his left leg. As the Missouri River joined the Mississippi we found ourselves traveling at 10 - 11 knots. Then we started going upriver against the current of the Ohio and Cumberland rivers and slowed to 4 knots. At lock and dam 52 we met up with a wicket dam which we had to sail across upstream. With our 50 hp diesel at full throttle we fought for control in the turbulence and at times found ourselves being pushed backwards across the fall on 10/6/04. We finally got across and exhausted went to bed at 7:30 PM. We arrived at Green Turtle Bay and rested ourselves and made repairs to get ready to push on to Aberdeen. The Cumberland River has the feel of rural America rather than the high pressure industrial pace of the Illinois, Mississippi and Ohio. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Loy and Linda