Friday August 11, 2017
Oops, where do we
anchor?
Because the run today was not supposed to be too long, we did not
make a conscious effort to get up and get moving early from our fore and aft
anchorage in the narrow diversion canal.
Eventually, we did get underway at 0840 in the rain and headed for the
Grand Tower wing dam anchorage 30 miles distant averaging 4.6 MPH. Unfortunately, when we got there at 3:15 PM a
recent rise in the river had overtopped the wing dam a bit allowing for a giant
swirl of debris to collect in there. It was
a most unwelcomed finding because the next known secure anchorage was 40 miles
north. That would have meant running in
the dark for many hours, and even though I have a 700 Watt work light rigged on
the bow for emergencies, we were not looking forward to this effort. Luckily, we spotted a sandy beach area off a
camper trailer park a few miles farther along.
We pulled in to an indentation in the bank which listed the place as
Tower Rock Ferry. We found that the big
rocky bluff jutting into the river nearby shields this spot from the heavy
current, and we hardy moved as we stopped the boat. We look directly west at the river, and there
is no wake or westerly wind protection, but the weather great with no wind, and
there is no traffic on the river. Being
a little warmed up after messing about in the engine room for a few minutes, I
got in the chilly river for a few minutes of cooling off. Swim call in the Mighty Mississippi!
