Cruising the Mississippi River September 1997 and 1998 M/V ILLUSIONS David and Angela Magill      We cruised the lower Mississippi River on our way home to Houston, TX.  In 1997 we had come through the Great Lakes and down the Illinois River.  In 1998 we had been up the Tennessee River.  We used the Mississippi rather than the Tenn-Tom because we wanted to go west at the Gulf of Mexico, and we thought it would be a faster and shorter route.          The first problem on the Mississippi River is finding enough fuel stops.  We filled up at Alton, IL in 1997 and bought fuel again at Cape Girardeau, MO.  Alton is just above St Louis, and Cape Girardeau is only 115 or so miles below St Louis.  We bought 375.5 gallons at Memphis.  If we had not bought 158 gallons at Cape Girardeau, we would have needed 375 + 158 = 533 gallons at Memphis, and we only hold 500 gallons.  Total mileage from Alton to Memphis was approximately 436 miles, so we were getting good mileage at 1.22 gals/mile.      In 1998 we left Green Turtle Bay on the Cumberland River, descended the Kentucky Lock on the Tennessee River, and cruised to Memphis before filling up.  That distance was 294 miles, and we purchased 380 gallons of fuel for an average of 1.29 gals/mile.  The Memphis Yacht Club in downtown was a better stop than the Port of Memphis, which was a few miles off the river.      Leaving Alton and cruising through St Louis in 1997, we spent the first night tied up to the floating guide wall at the Kaskaskia Lock and Dam, just off the main river on the LDB (left descending bank), about Mile 117.3 on the UMR (Upper Mississippi River).  The tie-up was free, to a floating structure, with the lockmaster’s permission.  The second night we anchored in an oxbow behind Island No 14, TN.  We used the same anchorage in 1998, 173 miles from Green Turtle Bay.  The entrance to the anchorage was on the LDB at Mile 857.2 LMR (Lower Mississippi River).      Mile zero for the UMR is at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, near Cairo, IL.  That point is Mile 953.8 on the LMR, which has a zero point at Head of Passes in Louisiana.  The Mississippi was 12-20 feet deep until the Ohio; then it was 30-35 feet deep.      The other big problem on the Mississippi River is where to spend the night.  We ran some after dark, but never all night, like the towboats do.  Marinas exist at Memphis, TN and Greenville, MS, but our timing put us at both places at midday rather than dark.  We expected lots of oxbow anchorages, where the Corps of Engineers had cut off a part of the curving river to straighten it out, but there were few to be found.  Entrances appeared to be silted up on some oxbows we saw which otherwise would have been attractive.      The next night was spent below Memphis on the RDB at Mile 663.5 in Helena, AR (1997) and an anchorage on the RDB at Mile 625 LMR (1998).  The first spot was marked on our borrowed charts, or we would not have seen it.  The 1998 anchorage was marginal for depth getting in and over a sand bar, but otherwise worked out okay.      The next night was spent at Vicksburg, MS, which has no marina or fuel dock, but is considered a must stop because a fuel truck will bring fuel to the boat.  Vicksburg is located on the LDB at Mile 437.1, or 299 miles below Memphis.  On both of our trips we stopped at Greenville to get fuel, thinking we would save money at the lower price there, but by 1998 prices had equalized.  The fuel pump in Greenville was very slow, the run to the marinas at Greenville was time-consuming, and we really didn’t need the fuel as long as we could get what we needed at Vicksburg.  In 1998 the fuel truck delivered 100 gallons less than we had requested due to a mis-communication in their firm.        The tie-up in Vicksburg was to a barge.  Harrah’s Casino offered a good buffet within walking distance from the boat.  Filling up at 5pm and leaving early the next morning allowed us to get into the Morgan City, LA area at a decent hour, but the run from Vicksburg was about 260 miles.      The turn from the Mississippi River into the Old River Lock was on the RDB at Mile 300, and we missed it in 1998.  (We also missed the turn into the channel for Greenville, MS.  Having charts and keeping up with your location would help avoid these problems.)  The lock dropped us 12 or so feet into a canal that led to the Atchafalaya River and then on to the Morgan City area.  We saw no marinas or fuel stops or anchorages in that distance; we ran below plane speed after dark to hopefully push aside any logs rather than running over them and damaging the underwater gear.  Running over drift is the biggest hazard to the pleasure boat cruiser.      We bought 318 gallons of diesel in 1997 and 445 gallons in 1998.  The effect of that 100 gallons missed in Vicksburg was a nervous arrival into Morgan City.  The Atchafalaya River was 90-100 feet deep at the upper end and 12-20 feet deep at the lower end.      The Mississippi River is huge, and there are many wing dikes protruding from the banks to keep the water moving in the center.  Buoys are placed at the ends of these to keep boaters off the rocks, which may be under water.  The level of the river may be 30 feet higher than we saw it, if you were to travel the river during the spring.  The charts are interesting, confusing, helpful, and annoying; and I would recommend them for the cruise. _____________________________________________________________________________   Written for the "The Great Loop Link", newsletter for America's Great Loop Cruisers' Association Published March/April 2000