Mississippi mud

We traveled down the Upper Mississippi in record time.  The distance from the Illinois to the Ohio River, on the Upper Mississippi is 217 miles.  We were traveling at about 12 miles per hour on the UM with the current and then turned up the Ohio River against the current and it felt like we were crawling at 5-6 mph. We anchored one night in the river outside Harrah's Casino in Metropolis, Il.  We had heard the buffets were very good and cheap at the casinos, and they were.  We did not gamble.  We figured our adventure was enough of a gamble!  Finally, we finished the Ohio and turn up the Cumberland.  It was more narrow than the Ohio, but just as slow.  We pulled into Green Turtle Bay Marina on Barkley Lake yesterday at 5:45, just fifteen minuets before they closed.  We had done 57 miles at 5-6 miles per hour and it was hot!  We were so tired.  We spent a few minutes with the other Loopers (they wanted all the details about our running aground at mile marker 17). I took the dog for her walk, had a bite of supper and crashed.  The story about running aground is for another blog!  

This morning we decided to spend an extra day here to get rested up and try to clean some of the mud from the  boat.  Mark Twain's quote concerning the Mississippi water is, "It's too thin to plow and too thick to drink!"  We have found this to be true. 

We did the laundry this morning and the marina has a courtesy car, so we used it to find a grocery store and get a few items to get us by until we reach Nashville which we should do in about 4 days, just in time for Mike's birthday.  We are excited about getting close to home.  It feels good.   

The picture is of Barkley Lock & Dam.