October 20, 2004 -- Through the Heartlands the Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers "Reverie" is currently at a marina between Tennessee and Mississippi while we are taking a week off to return to Plano, Texas. When we resume our trip in a few days, it will be all down hill to Mobile, Alabama and the Gulf of Mexico. Each of the four rivers we traveled from Alton, Illinois to the top of Mississippi had a different character and their own pleasures. We had waited an extra five days in Alton for the rain from Hurricane Ivan to come down the Ohio from Pennsylvania; we began this leg of the trip on Sunday, September 26. The Mississippi helped us along with a current of up to five mph. That gave "Reverie" some record speeds of nearly 11 miles per hour. We traveled the 202 miles of the Mississippi River from Alton to Cairo, Illinois in four days with weather that was sunny and mild every day. Our niece joined us for the first day of the trip through two locks, past the Gateway Arch in downtown St Louis, and on to Hoppies Marina in Kimmswick, Missouri. On the second night we tied to the wall of the Kaskaskia River lock and were in lovely quiet anchorages for the last two nights on the Mississippi. We did see a good number of large tows up to five barges wide by five long. The last night on the Mississippi we were anchored six miles above Cairo, Illinois at the Interstate-57 highway bridge. The water here at the end of our Mississippi leg was high from the Ohio flooding, and we watched it fall more than a foot over night. We went the 60 miles upstream on the Ohio in two days, anchoring at about the mid point on the first night. We watched the water drop four feet over night and the current slow by half at our anchorage. We encountered one spot where the flow is increased by a wicket dam, and "Reverie" had to power through five knots of current. We made it, but we heard of other boats that had to wait for a tow or slower water. On our last night on the Ohio River we anchored behind an Island at the mouth of the Cumberland River. The 30 mile motor up the Cumberland on October 2nd was the longest and slowest day of the trip. This is a narrow, rural and very picturesque river. It was running at about three mph against us, so it took about 10 hours. We were really glad to find the lock open and waiting for us so they could boost us right on up to Lake Barkley. We used the short canal between the lakes to pass directly over and into Kentucky Lake where we went into Lighthouse Landing Marina. This was the location to which we had had our mast shipped. We arrived on Saturday and the mast got there on Monday morning. By Tuesday night we had the mast in and the sails back on; Bobbie had done the laundry and we were stocked up on food and ready to go. On October 6 we began our trip south, 'up' the remaining 191 miles of the Tennessee River which for nearly 60 miles is a broad lake behind the dam. We even got to "sail" the boat for a day with favorable winds. We anchored out two nights in Kentucky and one night in Tennessee before spending the fourth and fifth nights in different Marinas in the middle of Tennessee. By this time the beautiful sunny weather had finally begun to change and we had a couple of days of clouds followed by several days of showers. The rain was welcomed by the local residents as it had been dry for over a month. We anchored out two more nights before locking up at Pickwick Dam. Just above the dam we anchored out for the final time on the Tennessee River. On Thursday morning, October 14, we entered the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway and pulled into the Grand Harbor Marina where Reverie awaits our return and the 450 mile trip to Mobile. Jim & Bobbie
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