Memphis in May, Not Really... August

Each May, Memphis hosts the biggest barbecue in the free world. If I cruise there again, I'll plan better and make landfall just in time to join in the festivities. This time, however, it was early in the month of August; they say heat and humidity is good for the skin. I'll take "they" at their word. It was during one of those extended southern heat "spells" and while my skin was benefiting, I was wondering if good skin would make any difference in heat prostration.

We slept as long as we could in our questionable anchorage behind the casino at Caruthersville and spent some time clearing the Mississippi River debris that had accumulated around the anchor rhode during the night. This was another of those "bump in the night" nights as objects making their way under the casino boat hull bounced off Detour making their steady way to the Gulf. I remember lying in the V-berth and hoping a big cypress tree wouldn't become entangled in the running gear and take us to NOLA backwards. We ate the last of the Honey Buns, saluted the Isle of Capri' security guards finest and joined the other flotsam on the way south to Memphis.

The trip was smooth and unusually free of the big tows that are normally numerous. It gave Bo and I a good time to visit before he and Jack departed for home. Mickey would join me at the Mud Island marina close to downtown Memphis. I know its been several posts ago that I explained all the goings on to get automobiles situated and otherwise arranges but Bo and Jack's car was to be waiting at the marina and if we were lucky it would be without urban art and with all its wheels.

We arrived in Memphis about 3:00 pm on Friday August 8 and worked our way around Mud Island and into the Mud Island marina. Since we were to be there only one night, the marina manager let us tie up on the gas dock and spend the night. Bo and Jack took off for home, by the way, the car was in good shape with all wheels still attached. I enjoyed having Bo on board and Jack's dry humor kept things light, even when we thought the Isle of Capri security guards were going to "draw down on us". It was a little sad for me to lose them for the rest of the trip, however, Mickey brought a whole new perspective to our cruising experience.

Speaking of Mickey, he was waiting for us in the parking lot of the marina and it was good to see him after a year or so. He looked prepared and excited about our next day's adventure. Little did he or I know it could have been more dangerous than we expected.

Memphis was quiet relatively speaking; I guess folks were spending quality time in their air conditioned homes. Mickey and I took off to find a good dinner, a couple of drinks and an early bedtime because we had a long trip planned for the next couple of days.

Caruthersville, MO and the Casino Security Guards

While we made it to New Madrid more quickly than we thought, it took a little longer to get to Caruthersville than expected. The delay made me somewhat uneasy as darkness approached and we were without a suitable anchorage. Anchoring out for the night on the largest river in the US with tows pushing the largest rafts of barges in the world with trees and other debris making its way to the Gulf of Mexico with no respect for my Detour or our lives was a thought I really didn't want to have. I knew there was an Isle of Capri casino at Caruthersville and that it would make a safe place to tie up for the night... if we could make it before dark. We cleared the final bend and I picked up the outline of the casino boat with all its lights aglow. I'm not a gambler but I sure did like seeing that big ol' floating bunch of one armed bandits. We pulled up behind the boat and looked for a suitable place to tie. There was a "fantail" of sorts and a large cleat that would do nicely. Several pic-nic tables and chairs were arranged on the large covered cockpit deck. We had just completed our docking, which wasn't as easy as it sounds as the swift current of the river was boiling up from under its long trip under the big gambling boat and buffeting Detour in all sorts of manner. But, we were security tied and more protected than we would have been on the river and quickly turned our thoughts to our barbecue grill and dinner after a long and tiring day on the river. Now, I've been around guns as a hunter all my life and understand just what they were made for and when the casino security team charged onto the cockpit with their holsters unbuttoned and bullhorn ordering us to untie and move our boat immediately we wasted no time in uniting and backing off. As the current quickly began to move us into uncertain waters we yelled to the guards and asked if we could anchor behind the casino because it would be dangerous to try to find a safe anchorage in the dark. The response was to anchor no less than one hundred yards from the casino. We floated back the required distance and dropped our hook. Dinner, although delayed was just as good as it would have been otherwise. Other than about one billion mosquitoes and no air conditioner because the generator wasn't running well; the night was very enjoyable and we woke early the next morning to make our way to downtown Memphis, Tennessee.

Mississippi River Mile Marker 953.8/Cairo, IL

I wasn't quite sure what I was looking at when the Ohio River seemed to open up into a much larger body of water. I glanced down at the GPS and realized we were approaching the Mighty Mississippi and before I knew what was happening, the swift current took Detour, shook it a couple of times, and changed our course without me having to move the wheel. The power of the river was immediate and unmistaken; it convinced me within the first few seconds that it was truly the most demanding body of water I had ever cruised. Cairo, IL is the town closest to the confluence of the Ohio and the Mississippi and when I realized I was in Illinois, I knew I was a long way from home. The mile marker on the Mississippi indicated it was 953.8 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. I wasn't going all the way on this trip but I would have been more at home in the Gulf at that moment than in Illinois. I didn't have much time to dwell on my place on earth because a very large raft of barges was moving slowly up the river which quickly captured my attention. It was the first view from river level of the immense size of these floating warehouses. I knew they were big and this one, I would soon come to realize, was one of the smaller ones. We gave it a wide berth and our trip down the Mississippi had begun... whether we liked it or not. Bo, I think was the most excited or maybe concerned is a better word. He has a cautious kind of personality but when he makes up his mind to do something he seldome retreats. He had duck hunted on the backwaters of the Mississippi and had experienced some of the power of the river from that perspective and knew how unpredictable it could become. Now he was in a much larger boat and it took a few miles to realize, that while the river was still unprecictable, we were well prepared to handle the trip. Thinking of Bo's independence and determination, brings to mind an instance in our past that illustrates it clearly. During Bo's junior year in high school, I was working at Mississippi State University as Director of Development and had the opportunity to take the same position at the University of Pittsburgh. I knew it would be difficult for Bo to move to Pittsburgh for his senior year but for a number of reasons I needed to accept the position. I took Bo fishing to tell him of my decision to leave Mississippi, where he had grown up and where he decided to stay when his mother moved away. Bo and I had been together through some difficult times and had no idea his response would be, "I understand why you have to go to Pittsburgh and I'm happy for you, I just hope you'll understand why I don't go with you". And, he didn't. We worked out an arrangement with one of his good friends to spend the next year with his family. It allowed Bo to finish high school with his class and maintain his life in as close to an normal setting as possible. As it turned out he made a good decision as the position at Pitt was not a good fit and I left after the first year to have similiar positions at two other schools within a five year period of time before returning to Jackson for a four year stint as Special Assistant to the State Superintendant of Education. My responsibilities were focused on advocating for positive legislative initiatives in the Mississippi legislature. Probably, the most personally gratifying position I've ever held. This was a difficult period of life personally for me but the multiple positions and experiences allowed me to develop skills I would have never developed if I had not gone to Pittsburgh. It was a difficult period for Bo also and I hope the experiences he had helped him as much as mine did me. This was really the first time Bo and I had the opportunity to spend time with each other in some sort of noteworth manner and even though the time was short, it meant a great deal to me to be able to have it with him. I had arranged to have an oil distributer bring gas to a boat ramp in New Madrid, Missouri and to also spend the night there. I had miscalculated the time it would take to navigate the locks on the Ohio and the speed we could travel on the Mississippi so we took on our gas and shoved off for Caruthersville.