The Big E Marina

It's just a few miles downriver on the Ohio to Paducah, the mouth of the Tennessee and the Big E marina, our mooring of choice (because it was the only choice) for the night. Let me take a minute to describe to you the Big E. It will be a little difficult because ones mind tends to blot out traumatic experiences and this marina qualifies as just that. (I'm sorry I don't have pictures) If you have ever seen those steel grates that are hooked together by our country's air force to lay on level ground and make an outpost landing strip, you know what I'll be describing. If you haven't, any level of imagination will do quite well. These steel grates, made up of empty spaces connected by the grating, provided the walk space on the dock. A small child would be in danger of dropping through those grate openings and I'm sure many cell phones have been victims themselves. The grates were free floating on 55 gallon oil type drums. I want you to get the real picture here, free floating means the line of grates, connected together, were moored to the bank at one end a to an anchor out in the river on the other, with lots of slack to move up, down and all around at the unpredictable whim of the Ohio River and its many passing towboats and barges. It is safe to say that this was the most exciting night of marina sleep I had had at that time and for sure since. I understand the Big E marina no longer exists; I trust its demise wasn't catastrophic.

The Big E was important because it was the last on river gasoline until we arrived in Memphis. Let's see almost six hundred water miles and a boat with a one hundred and fifty mile range. I carried gasoline in cans, which is more dangerous than the perils of the cruise itself. I guess I had no choice but I don't recommend it to anyone who might read this account. To make the trip possible, I carried six gallon cans of gas on the front deck and cockpit to trim the extra load. About 100 gallons worth. Don't do it. The extra weight high high on the boat changed the handling characteristics and multiplied the effects of the river's strength. I changed my gas handling method on the trip from Little Rock to New Orleans and I'll talk about that as we progress along the circumnavigation.

Kuttawa to Paducah, Kentucky sure does have some interesting names

It is rumored that Kuttawa is Indian for "leave your trailer in the parking lot and it will get towed". Anyone who has ever cruised and had to make layovers can tell you the two most difficult planning elements are fuel and land transportation management. How do I berth in a distant port, get home, get back and not have cars or friends scattered all over the country. In my experience car management is the most difficult issue in long-range inland cruising. I look forward to the day I can use layovers to enjoy the local sites, sit on the cockpit, have a cigar, sip good scotch whiskey and not worry about how quickly I get home and back to work.

As you will recall, I finally found lay over at Kuttawa and made my way back to Little Rock by car and spent the next month planning the most daunting part of the trip. Cruising the Ohio and the mighty Mississippi. I took driving trips along the path of my trip on the Mississippi because I knew anchorages and gasoline would be of serious consequence. My travels took me to Caruthersville, MO because they have a casino there and I thought it might give me a place to tie up and hide from the floating dangers of the river. I visited the casino to survey for layover possibilities. In the back of the casino there was a work area that looked to be suitable for tying off. It was in the eddy of the casino hull and anything coming down the river would hopefully be deflected. I checked with the casino office and received the number of the marina division, evidently some of their properties have marinas. I was questioned briefly and provided my USCG documentation number. The person put me on hold for a while and informed me I would not be able to tie off. All I could surmise was that I had not lost enough bets there to receive accommodation.

My second land survey of the river was to secure a supply of gasoline. No pleasure boat fueling is located on the Mississippi and obviously I would need gas. I read an account or two of other pleasure cruisers having gas delivered by a supplier in New Madrid, MO. The chamber of commerce in New Madrid was very helpful and put me in contact with MFA Oil Distributors (877-748-5300) and they never hesitated to offer a riverside delivery at the concrete boat ramp in the offshoot south of town at MM 888.5 or so. Just give us a call about an hour before you arrive and we will meet you. I knew it would take about one mile a gallon and I added 20% because of the 4/5 mph downstream current; not a deal breaking decision but I don't recommend it. I used almost as much gas going downstream on the Mississippi as I normally do in lesser current. I guess at the same rpm it doesn't matter much about the current. The Mississippi's current is very confused; sometimes going downstream you can see snags moving sideways or even upstream. Never underestimate the power of the Mississippi River's unpredictable currents, eddys and whirlpools.

OK, listen carefully this is complicated. On the morning of August 6, a Wednesday, I loaded my autocross Miata on its trailer, hooked it to my Honda SUV and took off bright and early for downtown Memphis Tennessee to meet my son Bo and his good friend Jack. It was the first stage of a multifaceted car management plan to get cars boat and people from Kuttawa KY to Little Rock, AR and various other destinations. We met up at the Mud Island Marina where we left Bo's truck and my Miata in the well protected parking lot and headed off, with car trailer in tow, for Kuttawa and the first cruising leg of our journey.


After loading supplies, fueling up and filling the water tanks we pushed off for the trip to the mouth of the Tennessee River at Paducah, KY. It was about 2:00pm in the afternoon and the 53 or 54 miles to the Big E marina on the Ohio River shouldn't be a problem, especially with the existence of the single lock at the Barkley Dam. We chose to stay on the Cumberland rather than the Tennessee because the lock on Kentucky Lake was backed up with commercial traffic. The Barkley lock master never answered my calls and we cruised in circles for about thirty minutes before he whistled us in. Not the worst locking I've had but its always easy to remember the difficult ones. I'll share a harrowing one with you later that happened on Lock 5, Arkansas River. Remember Mickey, I almost lost him.


The trip to the Big E was quiet, peaceful and beautiful. I knew however, the two biggest rivers in the US and one of the biggest in the world lie ahead.

Arrival at the mouth of the Cumberland where it emptied into the Ohio was quite a sight. I was excited to be there but I knew it marked the part of the trip that was the most dangerous for myself, my crew and Detour. Motor trouble, collision with one of the many large snags floating just under the surface or any of the multiple issues that could render a boat inoperable would be very difficult and expensive to overcome. I had decided the best option if Detour became hopelessly disabled would be burial at sea, or river. But that's not a good idea either because the EPA would fine me heavily, the Corps of Engineers would bill me for the removal of Detour and then impound her for sale as salvage. After worrying about all the things that could happen, I decided to not think about it and hope to deal with it if necessary. Thank goodness, I've cruised almost four thousand miles on the inland navigable waterways/intracoastal and Gulf of Mexico with no serious damage or mechanical issues that I or any "kinda handy" captain couldn't handle.

On to Little Rock: Pickwick Lake to Kuttawa, KY

Kuttawa, KY doesn't sound to me like it is the short way from Pickwick to Little Rock and if you are thinking that too, your right. I'm not prone to remembering dates or most anything for that matter but I remember getting to Kentucky Lake on the Tennessee River. I am sure I've never see such a gathering of boats, really big boats. I had a couple of Mobile Bay crossings under my belt at that point and I would liken the roughness of the lake to one of my more memorable crossings. The wave action generated by the yachts and a passing summer thunderstorm made the arrival one I would not soon forget. There was one other small memory that hung around for a while, the one about the marina giving my reserved slip to another "local" boat. I'm sorry Mr. Hemphill, we don't have a slip for you. One of our young staff members rented it to someone else. I'm now sitting in the middle of Kentucky Lake with a "capping" four foot surface and a cell phone signal that looked like a flat line in the emergency room... oh yeah, the date, I almost forgot, July 4, 2003. I opened my trusty Quimby's and started calling marinas to look for a slip I could get for a month's layover; remember its the fourth. My calls worked their way around Kentucky Lake and across the canal to Lake Barkley on the Cumberland River and into Kentucky. I finally located a berth for my month's stay at Kuttawa Marina in, yes, Kuttawa, KY. I'm actually glad, now that its over and I'm writing about the experience, that I was forced thirty miles or so Northeast on the Cumberland and off course because it's a beautiful river that I would have never seen. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to cruise it again someday. It would be neat to cruise down to Nashville anchor downtown or out at the Grand Ol' Opry and enjoy a couple of weeks of slow living and country entertainment. Now that I am safely birthed and fed, Kuttawa Marina has a wonderful restaurant and great burgers but as I recall it not "wet" except for the boat slips (bring you own whisky). I had arranged to be picked up way over on Kentucky Lake but as it turned out, as car management usually does on a cruise, my driver had to negotiate about seventy-five land miles and a couple of "lost and found" experiences before arriving at the quaint little village of Kuttawa. I didn't mention this in the beginning but this part of the trip was my only solo cruising experience. I know its not a good idea but sometimes it becomes necessary and besides I wanted to see if I could negotiate locks, stay between the markers and not scrape off the running gear on some of the all manner of flotsam found on our inland waterways. It turned out fine; I think I'll go for a solo Atlantic crossing.

A Year at Pickwick

The layover in Columbus didn't last quite as long Detour's time at Pickwick Lake on the Tennessee River. The trip from Demopolis to Little Rock was put on hold for about a year while we waited for a berth at the Little Rock Yacht Club and to gain the knowledge and work up the courage to attempt a cruse in such unknown waters. The wait could have been a lot worse if Pickwick Lake wasn't such a beautiful place to cruise. Pickwick is really about the first place to make a long layover on the Tennessee. There are a couple of marinas that are well appointed and provide good service but we decided on the marina at Pickwick State Park. The folks are friendly, the price is right and they had an open slip. The range of services there are not as comprehensive as Aqua Yacht Harbor on the Yellow Creek arm of the TennTom or some of the other Pickwick marinas but it was convenient and it was familiar because I had bought Detour there about three years before. I changed her name to Detour from Recess, which I thought was a great name but wanted her to have a name that was original, at least to me. If you are in the area and need assistance Lee Spry marine services is available. Lee is a surveyor of some reputation in the area and did good work for me.

This doesn't seem like much to say about a year's stay but I didn't get over to Pickwick from Little Rock very often; it's a long trip. I took the time to drive the route, at least as closely as possible, that I would be taking from Pickwick to Little Rock on the rivers. I wanted to look at marinas and check on places to get gas, especially when I left the Tennessee and entered the Ohio, Mississippi and the Arkansas. The story line will get more interesting as we go forward... I hope.