September 20-24, 2013 - The Mighty Mississippi River

Shortly after we pulled out of Grafton, the Illinois River merged with the mighty Mississippi.  Boating down the Mississippi was another of our expected highlights of the trip.  Who hasn’t dreamed of being a part of the Tom Sawyer / Huck Finn adventures?  The first leg of the trip got off to an impressive start – tall bluffs, bald eagles, Our Lady of the Rivers Shrine, and the Piasa bird.

Junction with the Mississippi River

 

 

 

Bluffs over which the eagles soar

 

 

Our Lady of the Rivers Shrine built in after Portage des Sioux was spared the flood of 1951.

She now blesses river travelers as they pass by. 

 

 

The Piasa Bird – a restored image of a Native American giant mythical creature

 purportedly painted to frighten away European invaders. 

The original site became a quarry and the image was destroyed.

We had a short jaunt down to Alton Marina as we wanted to stage our trip down the Mississippi from there.  Our buddies from Bucket List and Barefoot’n drove down and picked us up by van for a tour of town.

 Coming into Alton

 

Two of Alton’s claims to fame are Fast Eddie’s Bon Air and the Robert Wadlow Memorial. Fast Eddie’s was originally an Anheuser Busch drinking establishment built in 1921, but a law change prohibited breweries from owning taverns. After it came under private ownership, cheap but good food was added as was entertainment. Now Fast Eddie’s claims to be the #1 volume bar in the world; so, we had to duck our heads in and find out what all the excitement was about.  

Fast Eddie's 

 

Robert Wadlow was the tallest man in history and was known as the Gentle Giant.  He stood at 8’11” tall.  There is a memorial downtown with a life-sized statue of both Wadlow and his favorite chair. 

Robert Wadlow Memorial 

We returned to the marina in time for a dusk-time walk with Amos on his harness.  He enjoys exploring new territory at night.  We were just in time for a beautiful sunset.

Our infamous Amos

 Sunset over Alton

 The next morning we were off to an early start as we called the Mel Price lock.  The lock was ready for us right away; so, we threw off our lines and made way toward St. Louis along the way passing riverboats, bald eagles, and tow staging areas.  We also had the pleasure of traveling with Carina, a sailboat, whose crew me met in Grafton. 

  Riverboats, eagles,

 

 tow staging areas, and Carina

Coming into St. Louis we were met with quite a scene – about 40 john boats all heading toward us on a river cleanup mission – plus tows and barges, heavy current and turbulence, along with a lot of debris – it was quite a sensory overload - at least for me...  As usual, the Captain took it all in  stride and navigated right through the middle of it without flinching.

 

We found out later that after passing us this barge ran aground and

the barges broke loose causing the waterway to be shut down.

We dodged yet another bullet on this trip...

The next few shots are motoring through St. Louis

 

When learning about the Great Loop one of the first things you learn about this leg of the trip is that you must stop at Hoppies marina, a Mississippi River landmark.  “Marina” may be something of a stretch as you really just tie-up to some old barges purchased from sand and gravel companies.  Traditional docks cannot withstand the flooding or currents in the Mississippi; so, the barges are the perfect solution.

Then the second thing you learn about this leg of the loop, is to do whatever Fern Hopkins tells you to do.  Fern and her husband Charles own Hoppies Marina originally started by Charles's father in 1934. Along the way, we heard stories of how folks have been made to leave the marina if they don’t do as Fern instructs – a tough penalty to pay as there are no marinas anywhere nearby.  So, for this “rock star of the rivers,” its Fern’s way or no way.  With her tough reputation preceding her, I was somewhat anxious and apprehensive about meeting her – not sure if we would pass the test.

All my fears were alleviated as we pulled up to the barges in windy conditions and tied up with the welcoming comment from Fern saying, “Now that’s how you do it!”   My Captain is awesome!  We then spent the next 30-45 minutes talking with Fern and getting the history of the place and learning of her struggles to keep the marina open – battling the Corps of Engineers and the placement of a wing dam just down river that is silting in the marina.  It seems as though it’s just a matter of time before this landmark is history – and it will be a striking blow to recreational boating on the Mississippi as there will be nowhere to overnight and get fuel.

Coming into Hoppies Marina 

Fern's Place

 

 

The silting in of Hoppies.  The COE built this wingdam just south

of the marina, as a result, this landmark is getting silted in.  Efforts

are underway to get the COE to reconsider before its too late to save Hoppies.

 

After getting settled into Hoppies, we walked to downtown Kimmswick along with Carina.  We heard about having lunch at The Blue Owl restaurant and feasting on the “levee high pie.”  Little did we know the treat that awaited us.  Not only was lunch delicious, but we were also lucky enough to meet The Blue Owl’s owner, Mary Hostetter.  She has been visited many times by Paula Dean and Sons, she and her levee high pie has been featured on The Food Network, The Travel Channel, The Today Show, and O Magazine.  Mary took time away from her busy restaurant duties and spent at least 20 minutes talking to Jane and I telling us her inspirational story and how she grew her business. 

 

Walking to Kimmswick

 

Mary Hostetter's Blue Owl Restaurant

 

and famous levee high pie -

apple pie with or without caramel and pecans

 

 

After lunch we had just enough time for a quick tour of Kimmswick before getting back to Hoppies for Fern’s famous 4:00 meeting. During Looper season, Fern holds a meeting to give updates on the latest river conditions and instructions for navigating the river safely. This meeting is the third thing you learn to do on this leg of the trip.

Kimmswick is a very quaint small town with a population of 150. Town square is made up of small homes many of which are shops and restaurants drawing lots of tourists especially on the weekends.

Downtown Kimmswick

 

 

The famous Fern's 4:00 "Don't Miss" Meeting

 

 Me and my newest hero, Fern Hopkins.

So much respect for this woman of the rivers.

  



Fern and her daughter, Debbie

Later in the evening, we were lucky enough to join a group of locals at their weekly bonfire.  

The next morning as we waited for the fog to subside, I enjoyed watching all the barn swallows dancing in mid air then landing on the railing to preen themselves in the morning sun.  Such fun, social little birds.

As the fog lifted, we threw off our lines feeling confident in our ability to navigate this beautiful, magnificent river thanks to Fern’s sage advice.  Our final stop today will be the wall at Kaskaskia Lock in Chester, Illinois – home of Popeye!  In route we passed Herculaneum – quite an impressive name for such a small place.  The name was derived from the limestone cliffs resembling a Roman amphitheater.   

 Back on the Mississippi

Herculaneum 

Silt – a major problem in the river

Lots of quarries along the way with barges waiting to be filled – trains too!

 

trains too 

 

 

Junction of the Mississippi and the Kaskaskia River.

As we turned up the Kaskaskia, we were met with a

 chorus of cicadas and a dredging operation.

It was a short trip, however, as we tied up to the

lock wall along with Carina. 

The next morning we awoke to more fog and

 something left a yummy breakfast for Amos.

Thankfully, Amos wasn't very interested...

As we pulled away, our buddy boat, Carina, took pictures of SeaGlide gliding through the water. They thought that’s where we got the name –we explained that Jeff rides a Harley Road Glide and I ride a Harley Street Glide; so, SeaGlide just seemed a logical name 

 

SeaGlide gliding

 

 

As we entered the Mississippi from Kaskaskia there was a lot of barge traffic moving in both directions – it’s really an astounding site. I’ve really developed an affinity for tows, and our portfolio of photographs runneth over. Jeff says we have at least one picture of every tow we’ve passed on this entire trip. Thinking about it, I guess I can’t dispute that fact… They’re fascinating to me…

 

Equally fascinating is all the other excitement going on around us – such as, the quarry and coal operations, the dredging operations, the silting problems, the wing dams, the underwater bent weir turbulence, the wildlife… People wonder why loopers go to bed so early (9:00 pm is known as Looper Midnight) – it’s because every day is filled with excitement of one type or another, plus the fact that you’re constantly processing chart and navigational information – so by the time you stop for the day, you’re spent.

Coal barges
 

Dredging operation

 Silt beach

 



 Wildlife - bald eagles

 

We met the Bruce Hahn, a tow with 20 barges, in an area known for its shoaling and turbulence due to underwater weir dams. We held back and let him come on through.  



Then we made way to the anchorage at mile marker 78 – a Fern recommendation.  We ducked in behind a weir dam and were pretty well protected from tows and currents; so, we settled in to enjoy watching the wildlife while getting serenaded by cicadas.  It was an unbelievably peaceful evening sitting at anchor in the middle of the Mississippi River – who "woulda thunk" this was even possible! 

 Our protected anchorage behind a wing dam

 

 From here we could sit and watch the traffic go by,

as the butterflies fluttered around us,

and the herons searched for their evening meals.

 

All the while the hardy Asian carp swam all around us enjoying the calm pool of water.

At times they would hit the boat swimming around, and at other times

 they would line up in rows next to one another filtering the water for plankton.

They're really quite fascinating to watch. 

 

The anchorage turned out to be a busy spot as four other boats came in to join SeaGlide and Carina.  We pulled up the anchor at dawn to try to make good progress.  We heard reports of long waits at the locks downstream.  So, we wanted to get to a good staging area to begin our journey in the Ohio River.  This was to be our last day on the Mississippi…

Sunrise over the Mississippi 

The colors of fall just beginning to show in the golden sunlight

 

Note the green day mark on shore indicative of the low water

 Bluffs

 

The distant mountains were a reminder of home 

We passed the Trail of Tears Bluffs where the Cherokee

 were made to cross the Mississippi on the trek west.

We were also treated to flocks of

White Pelicans migrating to their winter grounds. 

And then before we knew it, we were passing Cape Girardeau’s flood wall. The wall was constructed in 1964 and has protected the town many times including in 1993 when the river rose to over 17 feet above flood stage. 

Soon thereafter, the rain set in – raining so hard at one point it was coming into the pilothouse.  It was short-lived, however, and in no time we were back up to the flybridge.  At last our towhead was in sight, and we pulled behind it and set the anchor.  This time there was no wing dam to protect us from the passing tows and barges or current.  As luck would have it, there was a tow parked not far downstream so we called the Captain of the C. Michael Reeves, who said that we looked good from a tow standpoint. 

 The usual Mississippi traffic abounded once again today.

Rainy day

Tucked behind Angelo's towhead

Not much separating us from the passing traffic. Tows run all night long up and down the river constantly panning the river with their ka-trillion watt lights.

Not too far behind us were Tour de Loop, Free At Last, and Carina – all following suit and anchoring near us.  After we were all set, a bad thunder storm rolled through.  Our anchors all held fast in the Mississippi mud; so, we settled in for a night at anchor literally in the middle of the Mississippi River.  We both slept like babies as the Mississippi rocked us to sleep… What an adventure!  We can hardly believe that this leg of the trip has drawn to a close.  Initially, the river caused us so many anxious moments anticipating the challenges that it presented, but we did it!  Thanks, Fern!  You are truly the rock star of the river…