Mississippi to the Cumberland River

The longest run will be from Hoppie’s Marine Service in Kimmswick, MO (UMR MM 158) to Green Turtle Bay on Lake Barkley or a marina at Kentucky Dam Village if you take Kentucky Dam vs. Barkley Dam. That’s about 225 miles. You’ll usually have about 3 mph of current in your favor downbound on the Mississippi River, but then you’ll fight a lesser current, generally 1 to 1-1/2 mph for the 70 miles up the Ohio and Cumberland (or Tennessee). While seemingly remote, the upper half of the 450-mile Tenn-Tom has plenty of marinas. Below the halfway point at Demopolis (MM 218), you’ll just have Bobby’s Fish Camp. But it’s ideally located halfway thru the lower half of that section. Once you do arrive in Mobile, you’ll need to make Dog River on the Western Shore of the Bay, or Fairhope on the Eastern Shore for refueling. We got about 25-30% better fuel economy overall on the Miss/Ohio/Cumberland stretch than our norm–as the stronger, favorable current for a longer distance on the Mississippi more than made up for the shorter, weaker upriver section after the turn at Cairo, IL.