Crossing the Mississippi River can be challenging in a small boat with lots of commercial traffic, swift currents, locks, bridges and other obstacles. We had heard reports of it taking all day. So we left our comfortable anchorage early to do battle with the River.

We chose Thanksgiving Day to cross, our rationale being that there should be less traffic. And, in fact, it was a very quiet day on the waterway. We went right through the first lock and bridges, then out into the mighty Mississippi (which was only flowing about 1.5 knots) and only had to wait an hour at the second lock. Life was good. We got to an early anchorage in an industrial canal and had Thanksgiving dinner mid-afternoon. In honor of our last night in Louisiana we had Shrimp Etoufee and French bread! Yum.

Tomorrow off to Mississippi...