The Waters of the Mighty Mississippi are Finally Going Down (Again)

I have good news.  Work has begun on the SaSea Sally in earnest…….but there still is a lot to be done yet.

Our original Great Loop departure date was June 1 but two epic floods have delayed us quite a bit.  Last weekend (6/15/2013) the water receded so Port Charles Marina is now dry and the disruption to their operation “is water under the bridge”.  Our target for departure is now the end of July.

The lady sewing the new canvas top arrived and started cutting fabric Mon. June 17 and the radio installer showed up for an hour on that Monday also to “go over what needs to be done”.  Real progress.  The new electronics have to be installed and integrated with the 4-5 other older electronic navigation components.   

After Port Charles finishes their list of “To Dos” which they feel will be done the week of 6/24, the canvas top fabricator finishes her work which she estimates will take another two weeks, and the electronics installer finishes his work (a week whenever he shows up), we will bring the boat to Louisiana.  Once we are back here we’ll need approximately 3 weeks to clean, sort, re-arrange items, load/unload stuff from the house and Mary A II and provision the boat. 

Then we’ll leave Louisiana heading south, presumably around the end of July.  We'll spend several days in the St Louis area, then head down the Mississippi to Paducah, a 6-8 day trip from St Charles.  Due to losing nearly two months of cruising in 2013 due to major flooding, we are not planning on cruising  any part of the OH River except the 60 miles from the confluence with the Mississippi (at the southernmost tip of Illinois) to Paducah, KY.  The silver lining to our delay is Sally can swim daily at our marina pool!

Once in Paducah, we will head up the Tennessee or Cumberland River to Grand Rivers and Eddyville, KY.  Then on to Clarksville, TN, Nashville, TN and 50-100 miles beyond Nashville; then back to Grand Rivers, KY .   Bus and air service from STL is very good to most of the Cumberland stops. 

Once we are back at Grand Rivers, KY, we’ll head south on the Tennessee River, then east and northeast to Chattanooga and Knoxville, TN.  We then head “down” the Tennessee for the AGLCA Fall Rendezvous at Rogersville AL (Joe Wheeler State Park) for the week of Oct 13-18.  After the Rendezvous we’ll turn south on the Ten-Tom Waterway in NE Mississippi and follow the Mississippi/Alabama border to Mobile, AL .

Almost everyone who had scheduled a leg previously (before our delays) has had an opportunity to “re-up” for their original leg or an alternate leg.  If you were not signed up before and are interested in doing a leg with us this summer or fall, please let me know.  Let us know if you’d like to join us.