Heading Upriver

Tall posts on the Paducah Transient dock

Our last blog left us on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River, just below the Olmsted Lock. We were about 15 miles into our travels up the Ohio River. Yes, I said UP. Since we left Chicago, we've been travelling downstream and had a little bit of current in our favour, increasing our speed by about a knot, on average. On the Ohio River, that current is against us, reducing our speed by about a knot, for an overall drop in speed of about 2 knots since leaving the Mississippi River. In addition to having our speed reduced, any locks will be raising us instead of lowering us, which is a little harder to manage.

Olmsted Lock to Paducah, Kentucky

We contacted the Olmsted lock in the morning and they told us to come over right away. We were through the lock, which raised us by 10-12 feet, and on the Illinois side by 8:20 AM. It was a short travel day and we were in Paducah, Kentucky by mid-day. As we approached the Paducah transient dock, all we could see from a distance was very tall posts that almost looked like smoke stacks. It turns out that the docks are floating and the posts are so high because the river has been known to rise over 60 feet so the docks need to be able to float quite high! In the photo of Cam, taken as

we are walking back to the boat, you can see the posts over his head and we hadn't even gone down the steep ramp yet.

We could see lots of familiar boats as we got closer to the transient dock, and friends were there to catch our lines. We didn't even have the boat properly tied, or power connected, when Pam from Out of the Blue came by and whisked Heather off to the Farmer's Market before it would close at noon. Once the boat was secure, Cam was able to join us as well. There was a strong Amish presence at the market and they were selling lots of crafts, baking, produce, and meats. We had a healthy drink of some kind that tasted a bit like Kombucha, enjoyed the busker music, and bought some produce and meat. One of the vendors was half packed up, but they let us buy some tomatoes out of the back of their truck. After a quick trip back to the boat, to drop off our purchases, we headed back into town.

Paducah is an amazing town. It has a Performing Arts Centre, the National Quilt Museum, a train museum, many theatres, a symphony, lots of artsy shops, and 89 restaurants, yet the population is only about 27,000! It reminded us a bit of Stratford, Ontario. It is located at the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers, and is close by car to St Louis, Missouri and Nashville, Tennessee. There

are also three railway lines servicing the area bringing in folks from all directions. It is very central to many places so they can draw in lots of people to the keep the town thriving. The whole town is surrounded by a huge 14 foot concrete flood wall and you can see the flood heights from past floods marked high up on these walls. When the river starts rising to dangerous levels, the flood gates are put in place and there are also 12 pump stations. The flood wall was commissioned after a record high flood in 1937 where the town had to be completely evacuated. There is a plaque about the history of the floods that reads as follows:

While the river has usually been Paducah's best friend, flood waters turned it into the community's enemy in 1884, 1913, and again in 1937. The area's most devastating event of the twentieth century was the flood of 1937 when 90% of Paducah was covered with flood waters. Over 27,000 residents were evacuated. After six weeks of rain in the Ohio River Valley, the river crested at 60.8 feet, nearly 11 feet above the elevation of this present sidewalk. National Geographic featured a photo of a cow on the second story porch of a Lower Town neighborhood home. Following the flood, a 12.5 mile flood wall was erected to protect the city.

The town has beautified the flood wall with a series of murals depicting the history of the town. We spent a couple of hours just walking along the walls, enjoying the murals, and learning about the town's past. It was very interesting! Near the end of all the murals is an historic old train engine, train car, and caboose that sits across from the train museum. When we walked back to the boat, we saw a riverboat cruise that

happened to be in town. It was so picturesque! Buses travel on land to each cruise stop and then transport the passengers to the local attractions. We would see this riverboat cruise ship a few more times on the Tennessee River.

We enjoyed the shops in the town and went out to the Freight House, which is a farm to table restaurant, with the crew of

Off Leash, Out of the Blue and Sea Clef. We noticed a Kentucky Silver Fish on the menu and learned that it is actually Asian Carp. Apparently, it's a very popular item on the menu and people really enjoy it. That's one way to get rid of them. On Sunday morning, Cam and Rob (Off Leash) rose early to help Pam and Bob from Out of the Blue get off the dock. Out of the Blue had lost their starboard engine and were not in a good position to get off the dock, especially with a pile of rocks in front of their boat. Cam and Rob took a dinghy and towed the bow of the PDQ Catamaran off the dock and they were safely away.

Later, we were off to the National Quilt Museum. We were expecting more of a historical progression of quilting over the years, but it was truly more of an art gallery and it was amazing. We saw many different styles of quilting and artistic expressions in quilts. The detail, colours, and textures were exquisite. We have included photographs of many of the quilts below. There was a very moving section on the Civil Rights movement, all in quilts. We highly recommend that if you ever get the chance, you should stop by to the Quilt Museum in Paducah.

We wrapped up our second day with a huge docktails on the dock with thirteen Looper boats. Up next, we headed to Grand Rivers, Kentucky and take a road trip to Nashville!