9/8/2015
Four “Looper” boats have left Alton Marina, and two
others have arrived. We, however, have
taken time to catch up on our writing projects: composing and sending out our
blog with pictures, getting our presentation ready for the AGLCA Rendezvous in
Rogersville, Alabama, and up-dating the information in “Waterway Guide” for its
Chicago to Mobile section of the 2016 Great Lakes/ Great Loop edition. We also were pleased to hear from Randy and Cindy
that they would indeed be able to meet us in Alton on Wednesday. The weather here was quite overcast with occasional
rain, so we were not really missing out on any excellent travel conditions.
9/9/2015
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| "I Think I Can . . ." arriving in Alton, IL
“Looper” boats, “It’s About Time”, and “Chester B.” left the
marina today for Hoppie’s Marine Services in Kimmswick, MO on the Mississippi River, and
we knew that we would most likely see them there tomorrow, when we get there
ourselves. Pat did the laundry again
this morning, while George did more boat chores, and when Randy and Cindy
arrived in the afternoon, we were all able to go shopping together with our
rental car at the huge Schnuck’s Supermarket in Godfrey, Illinois. After dropping off the ladies back at our
respective boats, Randy and George made additional stops at several hardware
and automotive stores. Later on, George
dropped off our rental car, but our day was not over! We had to take Randy and Cindy to “Fast
Eddie’s”, so that they, too, could enjoy the ambiance and dining
experience! We called a taxi to pick us
up, and were there in a few minutes. It
was definitely a lot quieter than it was last Sunday night, but the food and
fun was still great, and George purchased a “Fast Eddie’s” Tee Shirt, as a souvenir
of our visit to Alton.
9/10/2015
         
At 7 a.m. “Reflection” and “I Think I Can…” left Alton for a
44 mile trip down the Mississippi River to Hoppie’s Marine Services in
Kimmswick, Missouri. This journey also
included our traveling through two locks:
the Melvin Price Lock, and the Chain of Rocks Lock. We did very well, and arrived at 12 noon,
thanks to the Mississippi River currents which were going our way. Hoppie’s is a very well known spot for
boaters in this area, because there is no fuel available for some 250 miles
after this location! It is actually a series of old barges that are tied
together on the right descending bank of the river, and it is the only place to
tie up for some 85 miles between Alton and the Kaskaskia Lock. Unfortunately, we did not get to see Fern
Hoppie today because she was with her husband who had surgery at a local
hospital today. Under normal
circumstances, Fern has a late afternoon “meeting” with travelling boaters each
day to up-date them about river conditions, further down the way. After getting secured, we, as well as Randy
and Cindy, and their dogs, Gigit and Cricket, all walked into the “City” of
Kimmswick, which would really be considered a small town in most
circumstances. Our first stop was an ice
cream and candy shop, and when we went outside to enjoy our purchases, there was
a flurry of activity at the restaurant next door regarding a special
“announcement “ that was going to be made that afternoon. TV cameras were set up, on-camera interviewed
were being given, and musicians were setting up, etc. Later, we found out that
the famous wooden Mississippi riverboat, “The Delta Queen”, which had been
moved to Chattanooga, was being brought back to the St. Louis area, and would
now be doing trips that would include Kimmswick as a stop on a regular basis.
This move would also bring 170 jobs, as well as $35,000,000. to the area
annually. This would be quite an undertaking,
since much government red-tape would be involved in making this vessel
sea-worth by today’s fire and safety standards.
After a short walk around, we then returned to our boats as quickly as
we could because ominous rain clouds accompanied by thunder and lightning were
headed our way, and we just got back in the nick of time. A little while later, there was a knock on
our door, and the dockmaster asked both of our boats to move, so that a 75’
boat could tie up, because it required immediate repairs to be made by a
diver. We quickly cooperated, and then
settle in for a quiet evening with some additional rain over-night.
9/11/2015
Kaskaskia Lock Wall
“Reflection”, “I Think I Can…”, “Chester B.”, and “It’s
About Time” left “Hoppie’s” at 7:15 a.m. for the Kaskaskia Lock wall, which was
a distance of 41 miles. We led the way
for our group down the winding curves of the “Mighty” Mississippi because not
only had we made this trip before, but also because we had AIS aboard which
identifies vessels ahead of us, as well as their speeds, locations, distances,
and destinations, in addition to our radar.
This became of particular importance as we approached tugs and barges
going up and down the river, and especially around blind curves. We would call these vessels ahead and discuss
with the captains on which side it would be best to pass them whether they were
on-coming up-stream, or going with us down-stream. The Tow captains are very gracious, but many
of them are difficult to understand to our northeast ears, since they seem to
use some version of “Tug-Speech”, a sort
of southern, slurred, language dialect that only they seem to understand. The lock-tender at the Kaskaskia Lock (which
is actually at the Kaskaskia River entrance – off of the Mississippi River)
kindly allowed all of us to safely tie up to the wall, and we even had some
electric service. Randy and Cindy joined
us for a steak dinner aboard, along with their adorable Yorkies, Gigit and
Cricket, who absolutely love cocktail ice to nibble on!
9/12/2015
Mississippi River Views
  
One of thousands of "Wing" dams steering the flow of the Mississippi
Little Diversion Channel anchorage
Randy and Cindy tied to us stern to stern
We all left the lock wall at 6:15 a.m. for our continuing
journey down the Mississippi River for 69 miles to a small anchorage just past
Cape Girardeau, Missouri. We, again, led
the group, and in some areas we had 5 knots of current over our hull-speed pushing
us swiftly down the river. Things got a
little hectic as we passed a tow and barge at Cape Girardeau, and the others
got stuck behind it. In addition, there
was a large cloud of sand being blown from a beach across the river which
didn’t help the visibility, and then George had to make a expert maneuver to
enable us to go down-stream of our anchorage, then turn around into the
down-stream current which tried to push us side-ways into the extremely narrow
entrance into Little Diversion Channel. Once
there, we had some issues getting anchored because the current we had expected
to occur was not there. Instead, the wind had increased causing an effect on
our position, as well as a minor problem with the anchor chain. Finally, “I Think I Can…” came up behind us,
and anchored stern to stern with us, and we both got straightened out. The other two boats following us anchored
separately with both bow and stern anchors, and two more boats came in a few
hours later. Cindy made a wonderful Pork
Loin with potatoes for dinner, along with Pat’s favorite, Caprese Salad, which
we all enjoyed together on “Reflection”.
9/13/2015
Sea smoke on the Mississippi
 
Wing Dams
Eddys on the Mississippi
Confluence of the Mississippi (left) and Ohio Rivers (right)
Ohio River
Olmstead Lock still under construction after many years of delays
Our escort vessel through the lock and over the Lock 53 dam
   
Sunset at Little Chain Bar Anchorage
We and Randy and Cindy picked up our anchors at 6:15 a.m.,
and immediately after clearing the Little Diversion Channel entrance we not
only encountered sea smoke (fog which comes up from the water), but also a tug
with barges coming our way in the poor visibility. “Chester B.” and “It’s About Time” had
encountered some problems when pulling up their stern anchors at the anchorage,
so they were a distance behind us, and we made sure to warn them about the
conditions ahead on the river. Luckily,
as the sun rose higher in the sky over the next hour and a half, the sea smoke
finally cleared. All of us continued to
make great speed as we headed down the river, but this all changed as we made
our way into the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers at Cairo,
Illinois. As we turned into the Ohio
River, the current now turned against us at about 1.5 knots. George had called ahead to the dreaded
Olmstead Lock, which is still under construction, and where “Loopers” ahead of
us have waited for hours to get through.
Today, however, the lockmaster told us to come on ahead, and we only
waited five minutes until an escort tug took us through the locket and OVER the
wicket dam - which was something we had never done before! We then headed for Little Chain Bar Anchorage
and anchored with “I think I Can…” tied up to us, and the other two boats did
the same behind us. We invited everyone
to our boat for cocktails and munchies to celebrate our quick lock transit, and
the crew of the other boats dinghied over to us. We had a great get-together, and near sunset
they returned to their vessels, while we enjoyed a Meatball Parmesan and Caesar
Salad dinner on board our boat with Randy and Cindy, and their doggies as our
guests.
9/14/2015
Locking through Lock 52 at last!
 
Cricket after a rough day at sea
Gigit waiting for an ice cube laced with gin
George called the lockmaster at lock 52 at 6 a.m. and asked
how the tow situation was moving at this infamous spot, where pleasure craft
have to often wait for hours before being allowed to lock through. She told him that it would be about 5 hours,
but that we should come on up, and that we should anchor near a red buoy off to
the starboard side of the lock near the dam, and then wait there out of the way
of the commercial traffic until she called us.
We decided that we might as well get started, since the lock was 10
miles away, and we arrived there around 9 a.m.
We also found out that after three southbound commercial transits, and
three northbound transits, they would have to let a group of pleasure craft
through. Our group of boats at anchor
had eventually increased during the morning to six powerboats, and one sailboat
with no mast. Finally at about 12:30
p.m., she called us to get ready to move, and by about 1:30 p.m. we finally
made our way though the lock. Now our
band of boats moved up the Ohio to the Cumberland River, which also had current
against us. After sixteen miles, five of us headed to the Cumberland Towhead,
where we had also anchored six years ago.
Because of our speed, we went ahead and set our anchor before the
others, and then Randy and Cindy tied up to us.
Cindy treated us to wonderful Cheese-Burgers and Bratwurst with all the
“fix-ins” cooked on the grill for dinner,
while Pat supplied the Cocktail munchies, Coleslaw, and cookies and assorted chocolates for
dessert. We were not exactly “roughing
it” on this voyage!
9/15/2015
Cumberland River
Barkley Lock
Lock doors in front
Lock doors behind
 
Looking up the lock wall about to start our 57 foot lift
After a peaceful night at anchor, we left at 7:45 a.m. for a
32 mile trip to Green Turtle Bay Resort and Marina in Grand Rivers,
Kentucky. The Cumberland River is narrow
and winding with rock ledge walls, and tall trees on its embankments where
eagles can often be seen flying aloft.
As usual, about an hour before we approached the huge Barkley Lock,
which was only a mile from our destination, George called ahead to the
lockmaster inquiring about transit conditions there. He told us to keep on coming, however, with
our AIS we could see that a tow was sitting there at the lock, but we did not
know if there were any barges with it.
However, as we got closer, we could now see several boats waiting, and
we knew that the commercial vessel would have priority over the pleasure
craft. Eventually seven of us put down
anchors outside the lock, in order not to use any more fuel on this
transit. Finally, after about an hour we
saw the huge lock doors open, so we lifted our anchor and led our little armada
into the lock with its 57’ lift. We went
up rapidly, and a short time later, the giant doors opened and we were on our way
to Green Turtle Bay Marina which was only around the corner from the lock on
beautiful Barkley Lake. As we entered
the marina, we immediately spotted “Knot Home” tied up at one of the “T” docks
and we made our way to our assigned slip near the marina’s offices and fuel
dock. After getting settled in, we
decided to make a dinner reservation at “Patti’s 1880’s Settlement”, a
well-known restaurant in the area with an interesting décor, and wonderful
food. Later that evening, the
restaurant sent their shuttle bus to pick us up along with Randy and Cindy, and
they also returned us back to the marina after dinner. Our meal was great, and
both Gorge and randy partook of the restaurant’s 2” thick Pork Chops. The restaurant also has some small shops
inside with food and specialty items available, as well as gifts and
novelties. It was just as we remembered
it from our last visit, and we enjoyed our evening here immensely.
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