Grey Day at Mississippi MM225
We had to change the depth alarm from 20' to 10' as it was going off too often. The river has gotten shallower and wider with a lot of sloughs. The current is between 2 and 4 mph.
The wing dams are much more obvious now. Some are completely above the water. Some, ominously, are only visible by the ripples they cause.
Anchorage at MM258 (Hamburg, Il)
We overheard two towboat captains talking about the tows they were taking north. Apparently the tows were smaller than normal and had been for awhile now. Nothing overtly was said, but it was obvious they were concerned about the trend.
Nellie floated through Lock 25 as it was only a 1-1/2' lift. The 15 mph tail wind made it a challenge to keep her away from the walls. In the future we'll opt to tie to the wall rather than float through.
At Anchor Off the Main Channel
These river anchorages are a challenge. Getting out of the channel is tough. Getting out of the current is next to impossible. The ever present wing dams add to the urgency if the anchor should drag. To help avert 'exciting' o-dark-thirty events our scope is 10:1 (we're in 10' of water and there's 100' of chain out--double what we normally use) and we backed down hard while setting the anchor. Time will tell ;-)
At anchor near Hamburg, Il, MM258. Made 37 miles today which increases the total to 3,637 miles. DBH
