Wow, what a day! The Mississippi River is not for amateurs! Between the debris in the water, the eddies, commercial barge traffic, and just being aware of your surroundings, this waterway demands your best or it will beat you up. We made it from our overnight anchorage just south of Cape Girardeau to Paducah in about 8 hours, two hours earlier than planned due to a tremendous push from current on the Mississippi and because I dropped the hammer and powered MTB up the Ohio at 25 mph! We’ve burned 112 gallons of fuel and traveled about 260 nm! Back of envelope calculation is > 2 mpg! Today we cruised at 1040 rpm, <2 gph, and ~13 mph on the Mississippi River. Ohio River was 2700 rpm, 28 gph, and 25 mph!

It’s been a long three days and we’re glad we’re tied up to a dock with power and water. The boat continues to perform well and meets all of our expectations.

Tonight, we’re at the municipal dock in Paducah, KY and will leave for Green Turtle Bay on the Cumberland River in the morning. The boat is a mess - dirty from the liquid mud we’ve been in for the past several days. It was incredible to see the water color change from brown to nearly blue once we turned up and into the Ohio River. The Mississippi River is an industrial river highway. Virtually no wildlife, no recreation, no signs of life other than industry. Air temp here in Paducah is in the low 90’s; water temp is 80’! Welcome back to the south!