Because I'm writing this from memory and since have had significant difficulty on the Mississippi, this trip has been very smooth... other than the fact we could have been "mowed down" by a hyped up, gun tote'n group of casino security guards. Mickey and I shoved off early after a breakfast of Coors Light and sweet rolls. We had not more than gotten around the first bend and just passed President's Island when I looked up and saw the most humongous group of barges I've ever seen. I think you'll see in the picture that it is seven across and nine long. Sixty-three barges, give or take a couple either way is an unbelievable sight.
If you have experience with tows you'll know that the wake they produce is minimal; what you might also know is that the larger the towboat pushing the larger the prop wash. Well get ready, this raft of barges was being pushed by two big towboats each with three big gas turbine, read my lips... jet, engines and worse it was going upstream causing it to kick up a tremendous series of prop wash rollers. Well, I mentioned those of you who know of this prop wash deal. Ole Mickey and I didn't have any idea about prop wash but we were about to experience it first hand. I want to describe the significance of what we were about to encounter but I don't think there is any way I can without sounding like Marco Polo or some other person in your memory who always made the story much more interesting than the actual experience. You'll just have to think what you will but when we fell over the top of the first wave behind the tow and got into the bottom of the wave trough, I couldn't see over the next wave and didn't think Detour would ever be able to climb up and over without pitch polling over backwards. Did you see Perfect Storm? I won't go any farther with the story; you know the issue and obviously we made it through and I am reporting today but we were rocked pretty good and it was the first of a couple of close calls we had on our merry way to Little Rock.
We made better time than I thought on the big river and when our schedule called to overnight just inside the mouth of the White River we decided to push on to Pine Bluff. If you are not familiar with the White/Arkansas confluence with the Mississippi, it is a little interesting. There is a low-head dam at the mouth of the Arkansas that maintains a constant navigable depth upstream. One must enter the White, a few miles north of the Arkansas and traverse the Arkansas Post Canal that connect the White with the Arkansas. This system of canals and locks ensures positive water flow and steady navigable depths. A year or so ago the Corps completed the Montgomery Point lock that is downstream from the Post canal that is used in times of low water depth otherwise it doesn't come into play.
One other little tidbit of advice for those of you planning a trip up the Arkansas, when you steer your boat out of the Mississippi the water dept rises quickly from a little less than 100 ft to about 16 ft in the White and the mouth is in an outside bend. The resulting turbulence is surprising and should be undertaken with sufficient power to make an aggressive turn. Trust me on this one.
There are seven locks on the Arkansas between the Post canal and the Little Rock Yacht Club. We made four which landed us at the Island Harbor marina at Pine Bluff before dark. That's 71.2 upstream miles on the Arkansas after 137 miles on the Mississippi. That's a little over 208 miles and six locks which I would say was a pretty good day for a inland cruise. Everyone writes about the Rob Roy railroad bridge on the Arkansas because it is raised and lowered by a guy in Iowa or Illinois or somewhere far off. He knows you want to get under the bridge when you key your VHF mike about four times on a particular channel, that I can't remember now, and request the bridge to be raised. He raises it and asked you to key again when clear and the bridge mysteriously lowers. Kind of a neat deal.
The other neat deal is the nightclub at the marina at Pine Bluff. I understand the marina is now closed but hopefully the nightclub is still jumping. Me and Mickey never met a country nightclub we didn't like and this one was no exception. Try it when you stop over.
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