Hello Paducah!

Our anchorage last night at Little Diversion Canal by Cape Girardeau was beautiful.  Next to no current, quiet and relaxing after being on the Mississippi all day.  We ended up sharing the canal anchorage with two other boats.  Tom watched a little Gopher football, yup, Sam, he was "rowing the boat",  we figured out our float plan for today, had a little dinner and wine and headed to bed.  We were both pretty tired out after 110 miles, but happy to have made it to the anchorage.  Amazing how far you can make it without locks holding you up!

View off the back of BELLA of our anchorage last night - Little Diversion Canal.

This morning we set out after wiping down dewy windows and isen glass for Paducah.  We only had 50 more miles on the the Mississippi and then 47 on the Ohio.  Of course there were a ton of tows (barges/tugs) on the Mississippi and we knew from other Loopers that there would be a lot at the confluence of the Ohio.  A lot doesn't describe the number of tows at Cairo, IL.  TONS, would be a better description!  
After slowly, I mean slowly making our way thru Cairo - our speed dropped to about 6 mph when we turned on to the Ohio and its current.  Even though we had the strong current we didn't have debris, and soon the tows were few and far between, so after a few miles we got up on plane,  25-30 mph.  We had two locks on the Ohio, both under construction, so really all we did was a "drive thru".  We arrived in Paducah around 3:45pm and Tom was able to watch the Vikes game. ( I don't know why he tortures himself)
​More from Paducah tomorrow~