Joe & Isaac's Adventure: Episode 3 - Chapter 2

Cape Girardeau was exactly 100 river miles south of Herculaneum and we had a little more than 100 miles of fuel left. Our second day would be dictated by the requirement to purchase fuel at Cape. There is no marina at Cape, just a gas dock that requires the fuel be trucked down to the river. The best thing in Cape is the downtown flood wall (see below). It's painted with murals both sides and it's almost as cool as the flood wall in St. Louis. The company that supplies the fuel requires that you call a day ahead to make an appointment. We called then on our second morning and told them we would arrive in the morning of the next day. 100 miles is an easy day. We knew we couldn't pass Cape until the time of our fuel appointment, so we made it a leisurely day. The weather was again excellent and we enjoyed the view passing through the bluffs that border the river in central Missouri. When Mississippi river bluffs are mentioned, folks typically think of the bluffs that border the upper river in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. The lower river has bluffs as well. These occur most notably in central Missouri and again between Vicksburg and Natchez with some unique exceptions like the Chickasaw bluffs in Memphis.

The bluffs here are limestone and valuable as such. We passed two or three huge quarries right along the river with facilities to load the limestone directly onto barges and transport it down river. Just above Chester we passed the confluence with the Kaskaskia River. Another mile or so and the bridge at Chester came into view. With a pair of binoculars, if you know just where to look, you can make out the bronze statue of Popeye on the bluff just south of the bridge. Located in Segar Park, Popeye keeps watch over the river valley. Chester is the home town of the late Elzie Segar who created Popeye and crew -- inspired, so the story goes, by local characters in town. Something to consider before planning a visit to the area. My car broke down in Chester just three months before this trip and I did have the misfortune to run into Bluto while I was stranded there.

This region of the river is sparsely populated, the bluffs are rugged and reach their highest point at Trail of Tears State Park just above Cape. Between Chester and Cape only the little Illinois town of Grand Tower reaches the river bank. The bluffs are beautiful and at times easily rival the upper river bluffs for their scenic qualities. The river is another matter. The upper river is clear and the water sparkles blue under an afternoon sky. The dams hold the river in pools and so the river is often very wide with a lazy current. Here in central Missouri the river is most often yellowish brown, choked with silt -- too thick to drink and too thin to plow as the saying goes. The current is always strong and seasonally it can be furious. Isaac maneuvered our boat into an advantageous position so that I could take some photos of Tower Rock. He turned the boat up river and had to open the throttle of our 115hp engine to nearly half simply to hold position against the current. The river here can often be frightening.

Just below Grand Tower is Trail of Tears State Park which is close enough to Cape that we hoped we could spend the night there. A sheltered harbor, Mocasin Springs, is located on the river right below the campground. Unfortunately the river was still too high and the harbor was a good four feet under a raging torrent so we continued down river. We found shelter at the head of Schenimann Chute just north of town and dropped anchor for the night. As is his habit Isaac dropped a baited line over the side to test the fishing prospects. We fixed dinner and were getting the boat ready for night when Isaac noticed his rod bending and bouncing around. He reeled in the biggest drum we'd ever seen on the river. Isaac was elated with his success, but we weren't prepared to filet and store any fresh fish just yet so we tossed the big fella back.

We fueled up in the morning at Cape and headed toward our next big milestone -- the Ohio confluence at Cairo. On our way there we passed Commerce Missouri and the upper end of Crowley's Ridge. Crowley's Ridge is a geological oddity that forms a sweeping arch west of the river with ends at Commerce MO and Helena Arkansas. I call it an oddity because the experts are still arguing about how it came to be. As I was working on the map you see here, my father-in-law was visiting for lunch. He saw the image on my computer screen and asked what it was. I told him Crowley's Ridge and he asked me if I was including Reelfoot Lake in what I was writing. Well, my father-in-law studied geology years ago when he was in college and I surmised he was connecting the lake and the ridge via the New Madrid earthquake of 1811, so I replied, "you're suggesting the ridge was created by the quake." "Of course," he said. At which point my wife, who had studied biology and botany in college, jumped in to say that the biological data suggested otherwise. According to my wife, Crowley's Ridge was created by the river changing channels. I went straight to the kitchen to make a sandwich. It is a fascinating piece of geology; anywhere from a mile to 12 miles wide and as high as 550 feet it stands out plainly from the surrounding flat flood plain. Helena wouldn't exist without it. Crowley's Ridge provides the high ground that keeps Helena dry. In about a week we'd see Crowley's Ridge again.

The Ohio river more than doubles the volume of the Mississippi at their confluence. All I can say is, that's a lot of water. Wow! Our fuel stop at Cape slowed us down and by evening we had only gone as far as Hickman Kentucky. Hickman has a nice sheltered waterfront and some backwaters off the harbor that were ideal for a night stop so we pulled in. The bluffs were now on the east side of the river. Hickman is high above the river. A ferry there runs between Hickman and Dorena MO. All up and down the river ferries play a critical role allowing people to cross the river without driving hundreds of miles out of their way to reach the nearest bridge which in this case is either at Cairo or Caruthersville. The Hickman Dorena ferry is the longest and most fun of all the Mississippi river ferries.

We were in the middle of one of the two stretches of river where we knew we didn't have enough fuel to make the next stop. There was a marina in Memphis but we were going to run out of gas somewhere just past Osceola Arkansas. So before leaving Hickman we decided to go looking for gas. We had brought along two luggage carriers for precisely that purpose. As I was strapping gas cans to a carrier, a pickup truck pulled up nearby and stopped. I waved and then approached the truck. I asked the driver, Al, which way to the nearest gas station, and he offered to drive me. (I figured he might.) Thank heaven he did because the nearest gas station was two miles up hill. On the way, Al told me that boaters frequently get stuck in Hickman without gas and that he stops by the waterfront every day to check. Al was 88 years old. When I stopped in the gas station office to pay the bill I mentioned that all the cans were for a boat down at the river. The attendant said he'd figured that when he saw Al drive up. Thanks Al.