Monday August 29: Melting on the Mississippi

After calling the nearby lock, we left Alton marina pretty early and headed toward St. Louis.

Our destination today was Hoppies Marina. It's kind of a strange marina in that it is really a number of barges tied together! But it had power and water so that's all we needed ....

Fern and Hoppie have owned this place for many years. I tried to find the history but was not successful. In my mind, her father (or his) used to go down the river to light the buoys so the tows could find their way in the dark. Good story but I'm questioning if it's really true!

It wasn't long before we could see the arch at St. Louis. I was struck by the suspension bridge abutment (foreground) as it compared to the arch itself. Too much to just be a coincidence. Good architectural design!

















The closer we came the cooler the arch became! We've been to St. Louis several times in the past and thoroughly enjoyed the visitor center (which is underground and has an A+++ movie of the building of the arch) as well as the ride to the top of the arch as well. (Picture from 2000 - do we look younger??)

At the top of the Arch

 At the top (not visible in the picture) are a row of windows from which you can look down - really fun! We were 630 feet above the ground!

Looking back, the sun was shining on the arch and made it look as though it was made of silver - really beautiful :-)


The tows are growing larger! I think this is actually a dredger. These rigs move massive equipment from place to place and are used to clear out the silt that continues to clog parts of the waterway.

Hoppies Marina

It wasn't long before we spotted Hoppies and turned in to dock. Interesting. She gives very good direction for getting in. The current was about 3 knots so to dock we had to go past the marina a bit then turn into the current and travel back to the marina.

With several great dockhands (Steve included!!) we made it in and tied up with no issues. Su Sueno had followed us in.

Steve was up early again - as usual. Su Sueno had already shoved off by the time I rolled out :-)

This would be another 43 mile day to a lock just off of the Mississippi - the Kaskaskia lock.

We didn't want to go up the Kaskaskia - we just wanted to tie to the outside of the lock to spend the night. No problem - the lockmaster said it was fine. Many loopers use this as a first stop after Hoppies Marina.

But it is HOT and first night without power for 3 nights.

The views along the river continue to change. Our speed is typically over 11 mph and we are definitely getting spoiled ....


We passed this really fun rock that sat along along the shore but I can't remember the name of it. Totally surrounded by water!

Fern at Hoppie's holds a meeting every late afternoon to give guidance for traveling the remainder of the Mississippi River. Her suggestion was to anchor next at Little Diversion Channel - about 70 miles downstream. So we did!

Little Diversion

Very quite anchorage (except for a few locals which were headed ???

One stopped by and asked why we were there! So we explained the idea of the loop - they were very surprised that we had left from Florida in late March and how far we had traveled so far.

They probably think we're crazy :-) Sometime I think so too!!

Again VERY hot. We ran the generator so we could use the new air conditioner but eventually shut it down for the night. Still hot ...

The tows are still around - either going our way or the other. Some of them are REALLY intimidating :-)

But crossing paths is always easier than trying to pass them. Once we reached the Ohio River (and going upstream at 6.5 mph if we were lucky) we ended up just following them! In fact one of the tows actually passed us ....

Once we left Diversion Channel Sunday morning, the destination was again an anchorage and again VERY HOT - you know - the 95 degrees feels like 100?

Su Sueno had pulled in behind one of the cells that are used by the tows if they have a need to just hang out - waiting for a lock or if the fog would roll in during the night.

We followed suit and first thing had the generator running for the air conditioning.

So hot.

The Asian carp are so strange - for the past two nights they just kind of begin appearing at the surface of the water - hundreds of them! So weird and kind of spooky.

Steve found a hitchhiker from the Diversion Channel - the cutest little frog! What to do with it though?

Steve ended up putting the little guy into a container and when we anchored at night he sent the frog on it's way toward shore. Hope he made it .....

Monday morning was early - our goal was to NOT be anchored out again in this heat!

The Corps of Army Engineers (they run almost all of the locks we go through) are building a new lock and dam on the Ohio just before it joins the Mississippi. It will replace 2 of the old locks.

Weird thing is that every boat needs to be escorted through the new lock structure (not yet used as a lock per se). Luckily we were permitted to just follow a tow ahead of us - no problems!

HUGE on shore equipment

The equipment being used was crazy large! We decided this was a staging platform that would be used to float some of the dam structures to position but who knows what it really is? Other than huge .....

All was well until we hit the next lock (#52). It had been closed from the previous day because of issues with the wicket dam.

We again were very fortunate as the lockmaster put the two pleasure craft (Su Sueno and us) through before they started with the tows.

We passed numerous tows who had pushed their barges ashore to hold them there until it was their turn to go through the lock.

As we were leaving the lock, the lockmaster was giving the waiting tows their order of approaching the lock. First there would be TWELVE tows locked up and then NINE tows locked down!!

Not sure they all ever made it through that day.

The Kentucky Lock.

But we were on a roll and on a mission -- no anchoring out for us tonight -- we needed a marina to plug in!!!

It was a roll of the dice: take the short route and hope we could go up the Paduca River and through the Kentucky lock (which is notorious for making pleasure boater wait for hours on end) and have enough daylight to get to a marina OR go the longer route up the Cumberland River and anchor out again as there wasn't enough daylight to make it to a marina.




So we went for the Paduca River. Made it to the lock at 4 pm. Waited 3 hours (anchored below the lock) and made it through with just a bit of daylight to spare!

In and tied up by 8pm - air conditioners running all night. Finally - some decent sleep .....

Tomorrow we move to Green Turtle Bay - a mere 5 miles away. We may stay a week ....

Wednesday August 24: Alton IL

We left Havana Saturday morning after breakfast. The great small diner we went to last time was now closed. Sad but then I'm not sure how any of the businesses in these small towns make it.

There just doesn't seem to be industry of any sort and I'm not sure how folks here make a living.  It's not like there is a large city nearby or anything ...

The overcast skies provided Steve the opportunity to continue sanding the railing. He now has most of the entire starboard side sanded.

The barges continue to move with us. Most are now 15 barges - 5 long by 3 wide. So 600 feet long and 90 feet wide.


Usually they are traveling about 5 mph (thanks to the AIS information from the new VHF radio!) and with our current driven 10 mph, it's not too bad trying to pass them - still like a turtle trying to pass another turtle!







Along the shore, most of the homes are built well above the river level.

Apparently well protected against the threat of flooding. I'm thinking experience ....

Our 'dock' for the night was at Beardstown - a barge from which a tow company operates. After passing the barge and turning into the current we were able to spot the pusher to which we were instructed to tie.

It was a pleasant stop although quite warm.


Sunday was a beautiful travel day again. The river is mostly tree lined with a few homes sprinkled every one in a while.


The eagles continue to be visible - mostly juvenile (so no white on the head and tail) but the occasional very visible adults. It takes 5  years for the juvenile  eagles to grow the white feathers of an adult. For more info about the bald eagle, click here.

After 68 miles we stopped at the only dock around. No power or anything - but there was a restaurant!!

Hardin, Illinois. Very, very small community. Seems like everyone came in for Sunday brunch.

But they did have wifi - which was more than we could get on the boat. No 3G or anything. No signal at all!

So Steve went to the restaurant to call Christy and Will who live in St. Louis to make arrangements to see if we could get together in a couple of days.

The night was pleasant enough but quite warm. What's with the weather??

Wednesday morning we were delayed by fog on the river so it was a sleep-in morning :-)

Finally about 9 or so we were able to shove off - next stop: the Mississippi River!

As we made the turn were the Illinois River joins the Mississippi, the cliffs formed by the glaciers were amazing - no wonder the river makes a wide sweeping turn as the waters are simply brushed aside by the massive rock formations in the way.

A lone house stood on the top of the cliffs - with some really fun looking 'caves' below it. Wouldn't those have been fun to play in as a kid?

The current continues to carry us downstream - adding an average of 2 mph to our usual speed of 8. Funny how much difference it makes going 10 mph instead of 8 mph when headed 60 miles downstream!

It wasn't long before we arrived at our place for the next few days - the Alton Marina in Alton, Illinois. Very nice marina and convenient for our planned visit to Christy and Will.

Plus we were able to finally have our mail sent (first time since we left New York). In theory we should never have anything of consequence in the mail but once in a while we have a surprise - like finding out that one of us was to have reported to jury duty!

We rented a car for a couple of days - drove around the area to check it out. It seemed that the downtown is no longer a 'downtown' as may of the businesses are now located at the edge of town in a new large mall area or the like.

Similar to many of the towns we stop at on our travels - both along the rivers and the east coast.

The National Great Rivers Museum was on our list of places to see as well. It''s located at the next lock we go through - the Melvin Price Lock. He was a senator from Illinois that fought relentlessly for this new lock as the old one just couldn't keep up with the barge traffic and was creating a bottleneck on the river.

The old lock could handle 600 feet of barge - so a tow and three barges. The new lock can handle 1200 feet of barge! This allows a tow and it's five barges to pass through in about 30 minutes instead  of the hour and a half needed to unhook and rehook the same 5 barge tow.

The museum itself was pretty well done.  Very informative. There was a guided tour of the lock but sadly the elevator to the top of the dam was broken so that part of the tour wasn't included. It would have been interesting to see the lock from above.

Swallow nests.

It was amazing to learn how much more a barge can carry as compared to a train or a truck.

There were hundreds of swallows flying around - apparently they love the concrete underside of the lock structure for their homes!

Since we had a car there was of course a major shopping trip to Walmart for supplies! Tom and Carolyn from Su Sueno had caught up to us again so it turned into a party :-)

The Magician and his assistant!!

Highlight of the stop here in Alton? A chance to visit with Christy, Will, J.P. and Kaitlyn!!

We saw them in December in DC when Nora, Mary and Christy's families gathered for the holidays. We were there visiting Wendy and Matt so it was perfect timing to see them.

A bonus was to have the chance to see Aaron who is attending Washington University (son of Nora and Mike from N. Carolina).

Another bonus? A well done magic show for after dinner entertainment compliments of J.P. and Kaitlyn :-) These kids are growing up so fast .....

Tomorrow? We'll be passing through St. Louis with a view of the arch from the river!

Friday August 19: Havana Illinois

We left Hennepin early Wednesday morning. Interesting little place – a few stores and that's about it – and a bar of course! Seems like even the smallest of towns have at least a bar :-)

Another picture perfect day to travel. Although quite warm. We were headed for Peoria – largest city around this area. The town offers docks with power at no charge for boats just passing through. Again – perfect for us!

It was easy to spot Peoria when we were getting close. A very welcoming city – complete with a watch tower in the entry square by the port.

A walk a short ways to a place for lunch convinced us air conditioning was going to be greatly appreciated. Maybe when it cools down, Steve will ride to Walmart …. we may be in need of something!

Turns out we definitely needed a new computer for me. And they had a small Acer laptop that I could use to replace the all-in-one desktop that is less than two years old. 

It's not dead but is just not working right and honestly it didn't occur to me when I bought the desktop that it has no battery! Which means that anytime it has no power, it shuts down.

So every time we switch from shore power to inverter power to generator power, my computer shuts down. Not a big deal but when you add together a lot of 'not a big deals' they turn into a big deal!

The free town docks here are amazing. Right near restaurants, Walmart (bike ride) and a hardware store.

We were one of two boats here the whole two days. But then I think we're ahead of most of the Loopers so I'm sure it will be a lot busier in the next month.

One of the advantages of belonging to the Looper group is the Port Captains. These are folks that volunteer to assist anyone in the group with whatever needs a boater might need. 

Blaine and Pam are the port captains for Peoria and were gracious enough to not only receive several packages at their home  but then drove them to us at the dock!

We needed a new VHF radio with AIS along with an antennae and antennae base. After they joined us for lunch, it was time to do some installation. 

Steve did the crawling under the flybridge this time to hook the radio 12 volt connections after he attached the antennae onto the side of the flybridge.

The radio is GREAT!! We can now 'see' the tows within 10 miles of us. No more rounding a turn and coming upon a tow headed toward us!! It's also a big plus to know the name of the tow we're trying to call (to find out on which side the captain would like us to pass). 

We spent a couple of days - a lot of the time inside in the air conditioning with the quite hot weather.

Which, by the way, the rooftop RV air conditioner installed when we were in New York has worked quite well.

It can run at night without the loudness of the water cooled air conditioner that work fine but just not really reasonable if you want to sleep!

Early  leave time on Friday - destination Havana - Illinois that is :-)

The best news of the morning was when Steve called the next lock and found out we were able to just drive right over the dam!

I think these are weir dams but not sure. Regardless they just lay flat on the bottom so the lock isn't necessary. Made our day - even though overall we've had great luck with the locks so far.

A large number of white pelicans lined one of the strips of shallow water we passed by. Always fun to see :-)

Oddest thing we've seen on the river? A couple of guys shooting Asian carp! Nets, yes, but arrows??

Didn't see any success but then that has to be hard, right?

Overall the carp are not nearly as jumpy as they were 6 years ago.

We arrived at Tall Timbers Marina in Havana early as thunderstorms were forecast for later in the day. 

I think we were in the right spot!

Nice small marina. We were docked next to Su Sueno for the night. Saw them several days ago so we seem to be crisscrossing every few days.

There was a small farmers market in town. The cutest little eggplant - for the bargain price of $.25 :-)

Tomorrow - continuing south of the Illinois River. We should be on the Mississippi River in a couple of days!