Dawn came early, breakfast had to wait, as we pulled anchor and headed back into the Mississippi River. Just 43 nautical miles until we turn up the Ohio River.
The sun came out, and the fall colors along the shore were pretty.
This Coast Guard buoy tender was busy with the high water, getting the errant buoys that were off station, back to where they belonged.
The continuing flotsam and lots of logs kept us on our toes. 
At Dog Tooth Bend, these campers had set up tents on the left descending bank. They had arrived by kayak, and we hope they were bound downstream! 
At Cairo, we did a hard left up the Ohio River. Parked barges were stacked up on both sides of the river for the first few miles. This raft of barges holds scrap metal. Here, as we are going upriver. We have lost our 4-knot boost and now have a 2-knot head current, making it slow going. In the short section of the Ohio River we will transit, we will not be in the state of Ohio, but have Illinois on the right descending bank (our port side) and Kentucky on the left descending bank (our starboard side). 
Here, the brand new Olmsted Lock is being constructed. It’s a huge project, with a considerable land-based staging area.
When completed in 2013, this lock will replace two old-style wicket locks that are upstream.
This is one of the wicket locks, and with the high water, the entire dam has been folded down to the riverbed and traffic passes right over it. In the Ohio River, as in the Illinois, these style locks and adjacent dams are common. Their purpose is to keep enough water up the rivers during dry spells to allow unimpeded navigation. So, when there is plenty of water, there is no need for the dam and lock. Then, the dam is lowered, and the lock sometimes isn’t even visible above the water. Buoys keep boaters away from the submerged lock structure. 
We passed Fort Massac State (Illinois) Park on the right descending bank. 
We enjoy seeing the activity along the riverbanks. Here is a barge in drydock for a refit.
We found a perfect place to anchor inshore of Cumberland Towhead Island and well out of the shipping channel. There were two other boats in this spacious anchorage, one that we had seen in Holland, Michigan weeks ago. Ashore, some Kentuckians were having Sunday evening hayrides on wagons drawn by a pickup and a farm tractor. The sunset was beautiful, and we slept peacefully with a 2-knot current to keep us snug on our anchor.To find our location, use this link - http://greatloop.org/mod/aglcalocator/membermap.php?id=1601
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