It might be the the most fun state to spell, but the river, we learned this week, is not much fun to travel. Still, FREEDOM's journey down the Old Man River still gave me goosebumps and got me a bit teary eyed. Even the Cap'n admitted he never thought he would pilot his own boat down the Mississippi.
We finally left Grafton on Sunday the 21st in the company of 3 other Looper Boats (Nanseann, Pura Vida & Just Us, with Snail Male joining us further down the river). FREEDOM took the lead and with the sun in our eyes it was slow going as we headed toward our first lock at Alton, IL. Although I had called the lockmaster at 6:30 am to check on barge traffic at the lock, and had been told "You should get through pretty easy", when we arrived he told us we had to wait for a tow we had passed 5 miles earlier to catch up and lock through before we could. Grrrrrr. Fortunately he changed his mind ( possibly at the intervention of the professional captain aboard Late Date who had joined our caravan along the way) and we were invited into the lock after just a short wait and well before the tow arrived. Pleasure craft take the way back seat to Federal boats and commercial boats regarding priority in the locks. We have heard of pleasure craft waiting up to 8 hours to lock though while they wait their turn behind higher priority vessels. It also seems that a pleasure craft had upset a tug boat or some other commercial craft that morning ( the details were not clear) and the lockmaster was punishing all pleasure crafts by making them wait extra long to lock through. We were lucky Brad, the professional captain, able to intervene. This was the first time in a lock that we did not tie to the side wall, instead we floated in the middle of the chamber. The water flow in these western locks is much more gentle than the Erie Canal locks, so with minimal use of the thrusters we were able to stay in one place and enjoy the ride,
The Mississippi is the color of mud. No more of the crystal clear lake waters we enjoyed all summer. As Mark Twain said, "Too thick to drink, too thin to plow." And it was full of debris -- huge logs, whole trees, rafts of branches. Yet, the weather was just beautiful as our parade zig zagged south and we had a picture perfect trip past the Gateway Arch on St. Louis.
By early afternoon we were tied up at Hoppies Marina in Kimmswick, MO. Hoppies, run by "Hoppie" Hopkins and his wife Fern is something of a 'must do' on the Loop. It's not your typical marina with boat slips, on shore showers, or a bar/restaurant. It is just a series of barges anchored to shore by cables --one attached to the hook of a pickup truck so it can be adjusted depending on the river level. The Hopkins live on site and they made us feel like family. There is only room for 6 boats a night - making for a very intimate experience. While the other boats waited to fill up with fuel, Fern and her daughter sat on the dock with us, in the shade of the gazebo, and talked about their life on the river and the people they have met.
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| Talking by the river at Hoppies. Steve & Shellie from Pura Vida. Rik and Nancy from Nanseann. That's Fern in the white short on the right. I wish I had a better photo of her -- she has a wonderfully lined face |
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| FREEDOM at Hoppies |
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| Hopppies at sunrise. That is the gathering building where we had our Pot Luck dinner |
One of the highlights of an evening at Hoppies is Fern's nightly talk about what to expect for the next 228 miles when boaters will encounter large tugs and tows, a strong current and no marinas. Unbeknownst to us, Sunday night is Pot Luck night at Hoppies-- and a terrific array of options were prepared for us by the Hopkins family. Just as we were finishing dinner a tow of 18 barges passed by heading up river. We all jumped up from the table to check on our boats. It was a hurried thank you and good-bye to Hoppie and Fern ( who gave me a big hug) but we had to make sure our fenders and lines were where they needed to be. The wake rocked our boats for 30 minutes and we had to wait at least 20 for it to be safe to climb on board.
Next door to Hoppies is the Anheuser Estate and Museum -- a property owned by the Anheuser family of Budweiser beer fame. Tours are offered -- but only on Thursday. Next time......
More barges rocked FREEDOM all night long, as trains rumbled by on the track behind the Hopkins' house. Monday morning we were up early and off the dock at sunrise to continue our trip down the Mississippi. At times it was a wild ride: lots of "swirlies" in the water that were to be avoided at all const lest they were hiding logs, trees wedged on the bottom, or other debris. There were also a few bobbing navigational markers that would be pulled beneath the surface by the current and re-appear seconds or maybe minutes later. At one point we saw a tug pushing 28 barges: 4 across and 7 deep. What a sight!
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| 28 barge tow -- 4 across, 7 long |
Needless to say we were all relieved when after 10 hours and 110 miles of stress we pulled into the calm and scenic Little Diversion Creek. We took a dinghy tour of "the neighborhood" with Steve and Shellie from Pura Vida and then enjoyed cocktails and conversation aboard the Nanseann -- who was one day from crossing her wake* after nearly 2 years of Looping.
*Crossing Her Wake" means getting back to where she started from, ie finishing or closing your Loop
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| Our Loop flag catching the breeze as we head into the misty Mississippi morning |
Tuesday morning found us pulling the anchor before sunrise ( oh what a skyful of stars even at dawn!), It was a misty Mississippi morning and the refection of the sun on the coloring trees was beautiful. We face another 3 1/2 hours of bobbing and weaving down the river until at 9:37 am we turned to port and entered the Ohio River. Just like that, the waters calmed and turned from brown to green. What a relief! The water was high enough at the first lock for the wicket dam #53 to be lowered and there was no need to us to stop and "lock through." This was our third time 'going over the dam' and although it is always a scary ( "we're going over the dam??") you do get a bit accustomed to it. Here is an explanation of a wicket dam:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA7aueKsFdA.
After 11 hours on the river and and locking up in the incredibly pokey lock 52 we headed to our anchorage at Cuba Towhead just past Paducah KY. We were alone that night : Nanseann and Pura Vida motored on to another anchorage, and Just Us fell behind after experiencing engine troubles. Snail Mail traveled at a slower rate of speed and Late Date sped ahead. We found a great spot to anchor way up the channel and away from a blind curve near some abandoned silos, had dinner and were just heading to bed when bright lights appeared at our stern. A tug was steaming past us in the the not very wide channel! I flew open the cockpit door and just stared. The Cap'n grabbed the radio and hailed the tug. Seems those silos weren't so abandoned after all ( we had arrived after quitting time) and the tug was preparing to bring in a barge. Fortunately he came by first -- and knowing we were there made arrangements to enter from the other end of the channel. He was quite good natured about it and despite our offer to move he assured us in his southern drawl that we were fine and he would work around us. We have talked to several other Loopers since then who had a similar experience in the same location. We slept well that night and didn't even hear the barge come in.
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| Sunrise on the silos at Cuba Towhead |
The following morning we linked up with Nanseann and Pura Vida and followed them down the windy and scenic Cumberland River.
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| Gravel operation along the Cumberland River |
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| Eagle in a tree high above the river |
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| Parading down the Cumberland River |
After one more lock we were greeted at the Green Turtle Bay Marina, Grand River, KY by fellow Loopers all sharing our need for a few days of rest and recuperation after all that rockin' and rollin' down the rivers.
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