#10
Leaving the marina about noon with no problems AND a full crew, we waited for a tow to pass the inlet & away we went. We ponied up the remainder of the $500 + to the parts pirate and I had the generator back up. Restored & repaired. The debris was not as thick as it had been up river. All we had to do was steer a course.
Things alternated between boring & interesting. We passed a turtle out in the channel, we couldn't tell if he was heading to, or leaving Arkansas. 1 fellow in an orange kayak was picking his way along the Arkansas bank & a few times we saw fishermen in bass boats blasting to a favorite spot. For the 1st. time we encountered dredges keeping the channel open.
In searching for anchorage in the evenings we found the mighty Miss. to be very misleading. A mile + wide, you will be tempted to treat it like a lake. Don't! You can be in 50' of water o1 minute & 2' of water the next Sand & silt form willy-nilly & what looks deep isn't. As you approach the banks you need to watch that sonar! Sometimes you can thread a channel & follow it to get where you want. Sometimes you won't find a way over to the spot that looks perfect.
The Arkansas bank was (for us) the most interesting stretch. Even zone man said he wished we had time to explore & fish for a couple days. I tell you, after Memphis, he was a changed man. We still found plenty of safe spots along the Ark banks. For the most part it was high & rocky with less mosquitoes.
A day and a half below Memphis we started seeing the "jumping" grass carp. What a hoot! Not so funny if you were in a boat with lesser freeboard I suspect. Some were HUGE, I can see how they hurt people. One night we moored in a protected cove of a beautiful "Gilligans" island Very soothing & spiritual stay. Things were going good.
I, (yes ME) had done a stupid thing that would scare the heck out of us all, but it would not reveal its self for a few days more & at present was unknown to us.
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