The Dirty Dozen or Why I am TIRED of locks!!

Thursday, October 31, 2013

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Yesterday was a day of frustration mainly due to another boater.  We had 3 locks to get through before our marina.  The weather was fast deterorating and night was coming up on us too fast.  A 3 hour wait at the first lock, due to maintenance, and it was finally a green light.  There were 4 of us locking through and all of us had been treading water and waiting together.  It was 1:30, just barely enough time to get through the next 2 locks and safely docked at Midway Marina.  3 of us motored up and into the lock.  Boat #4, who we shall call SLOW BOAT from now on took his time pulling up his anchor and idling into the lock.  CLEARLY making all of us wait.  This was how it was to be for the rest of the day.  It was not a trawler but a Carver so he was going slow by choice. The locks ahead know we are coming and since its near days end they make all of us lock through together.  SLOW BOAT poked down the river and cost us at least 1 1/2 hour of precious daylight.   During this slow ride John called us to make sure we knew there was bad weather approaching!  I knew it all too well.  I tend to get a bit excitable.  No, really.  Dave takes all this in stride like some kind of boating idiot savant or something.  I could really use some tranquilizers on days like this.

We made it to the marina just before dark and SLOW BOAT did not join us there but went beyond to an anchorage.  I'm glad because my mouth probably would have taken over once we saw them.

Today we left in pelting rain and have been waiting behind a barge to get through the locks.  They have priority and that's that.  Dave is holding the boat in place in the wind and rain while we wait.
This is lock # 72 since we  left Point Breeze.  There will be 78 total once we arrive in Mobile and this is #6 of the "Dirty Dozen" on the Tom Bigbee.  It would be an understatement to say that I do not like locks!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chattanooga to Grand Harbour

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Blue Moon spent the last three days traveling down the Tennessee River from Chattanooga back to Grand Harbour.  The leaves changed quite a bit in the last week since our trip up the river.  By the weekend they should be near peak.  The river is a delight.  The slower pace and laid back lifestyle is really appealing.  Adorable river homes but unfortunately it is a bit too far north for us to consider as a snow bird place.  Too BAD.

On the way back we passed a bat cave.  It's actually a bat sanctuary and at times there are around 60,000 gray bats using it as a maternity cave.  The Tennessee Valley has the most significant gray bat population in the USA.  This is one of 12 bat caves in the area.  That little bat in the boat back in Georgian Bay was enough bat for me for a lifetime.

 

 

Here are some pix of things we saw along the way: 

 

Floating docks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back at Grand Harbour it was pretty quiet.  Seems a bunch of loopers left Sunday so there was no one for us to talk to.  We borrowed the courtesy van and went to WalMart.  We were looking pretty river worn and Dave said he hoped no one took pictures of US for the Walmartion web page! ha!

 

We had dinner on the back deck which was nice because it had been so cold in Chattanooga we had to be  inside the whole time.

 

Today we got some happy family news.  Crissy and Clint got engaged over the weekend!  We are so happy for them and looking forward to a wedding celebration out west sometime soon.  Clint had asked Dave's permission while home for Bobby and Kristin's wedding so we kinda knew it was coming.  Nice job Clint!

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Chattanooga...a real inspiration!

Saturday, October 26, 2013

We were so torn as to whether a side trip of roughly 400 miles and a week of our time to Chattanooga would be worth it ?  IT WAS!   Dave and I are both having a city crush on this place.  The last two days have been spent riding around town and riverside on the extensive and beautiful bike paths the city put together back in the 1980's.  Some deep pockets got together back then and put together a Master Plan for the revitalization of the city and waterfront.  They have done an excellent job.  People with vision can do amazing things when they put their minds to it.  This is so not what we expected of a western Tennessee town. 

Yesterday we enjoyed the aquarium.

 

Jelly fish are so magical.

 

 

Sharks!

 

In the afternoon we rode to  "Warehouse Row"  that someone recommended.  We expected the usual old warehouse turned flea market atmosphere.  Wrong!  This old warehouse has been transformed into an ultra chic collection of upscale clothing stores,furniture stores, restaurants and office  space. Well done Chattanooga!

 

In the evening we went to a comedy club and sat through 3 so-so comedians.  Of course there was a bachelorette party going on and they were pretty rowdy.  Good time.

 

There was a scheduled paddle board race of about 130 people due to start just up river and pass by our boat at 8:00a.m. this morning.  We were ready with camera in hand but the fog was so thick still at 9:30 they started and we never even saw them go past the boat!  Could not believe we missed them!  There were racers in this pretty new sport from all over the country.  The were going 30 miles down river with the current.  Legs of steel!

 

In the morning we walked across a refurbished pedestrian bridge.  A few years back a new traffic bridge was built and the plan was to tear down the old one.  Some citizens with a better idea got together and had a "save the bridge" campaign.  With private donations they did save the bridge and turned it into a wonderful pedestrian/bike bridge. It was full of people doing a charity walk for Altzheimers.   I love the spirit in this town! 

 

This afternoon we went to the Hunter Museum of Art.  The main museum is in an old mansion. 

 

There were lively exhibits and I spotted this:

 

 

An old cigarette machine.  I started to get all pissed thinking it was a candy cigarette machine but at a closer look it dispenses art objects!  Dave was happy to dodge that bullet.  These criminal dispensers of death used to be everywhere! 

 

There was also a little exhibit on Black Americana.  Since I have put together quite a collection myself through the years I found that really interesting. 

 

 

Later we took a long bike ride along the river on the gorgeous bike path.  Both of us thinking of some way we could MOVE HERE but alas, children and work, friends and family keep us in western NY.

Those things are waaay more important than progressive cities.

 

In a little while we are walking up to the movie theater to see the Tom Hanks movie about pirates.  Not so sure that will be good for me to see.  I am so impressionable and all that.

 

Tomorrow we leave here and take the 4 day trip back down river to the turn off to head south on the Tom-Bigbee waterway to our next destination (Demopolis, Mississippi) to leave the boat for a week while we go home again.  After that it's on to Mobile Bay for about a week while we have some work done on the boat and a satellite tv installed!  Need those Seinfeld re-runs!!  For the first time since we left Pt. Breeze we got a calendar out today and started to get real about where we are going when we get to Florida.  Looks like we will be in Long Boat Key and Sarasota at least through February and not sure after that.  Sure like Tennessee though!



 

 

 

Smoke on the water

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Last night at the Huntsville marina we docked next to a couple who invited us aboard their boat.  They showed us some pictures of a marina they were in a few years back where there was a horrific fire on the docks.  It was in the cold months down south and rather than spend the bucks to winterize his boat, someone left a space heater running in the engine room.  A gas engine room.  Yep, it sparked and there was a huge explosion in the middle of the night.  This couple had arrived at their boat late so no one knew they were aboard.  The wife heard a noise and looked out the window and there were boats on fire all around them.  Luckily for them they were able to get out.  Just 3 boats beyond them some 30 boats were  incinerated!

On a lighter note, our travels up the Tennessee River has been really pretty and the scenery is getting more dramatic as we go. It has been unseasonably cold but that just makes for nice cuddling. I am going to look for some flannel sheets though! 

Here are some pix of what we've seen along the way:

 

 

 

Gotta' build them up high here for the inevitable flood.

 

 

 

Thursday October 24, 2013

 

Blue Moon docked at the city dock in Chattanooga right in front of the aquarium.  We bought aquarium tix for Friday and walked around town.  What a nice surprise this upscale southern city is!  We went to an IMAX 3D Shark movie. It was O.K. but kinda old and not 3D enough! Found a Thai restaurant and enjoyed that.

 

Chattanooga has a nice vibe to it.  It seems really progressive and there's that feeling of city pride there that is lacking in so many places we have visited.  One of those places you are proud to say you're from.  Friday we hope to ride bikes around town and look at the fishies and shop. Time for some retail therapy!

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going up the Tennesse River to Chattanoga

Monday, October 21, 2013

Yesterday we borrowed the marina's courtesy van and drove to Shiloh National Military Park.  Benji hopped up onto one of the cannons.

The 45 minute movie about the battle showed us that 151 years ago on a rainy April day in 1862, some 23,372 young Americans died for a cause they believed in.  Family vs family and town vs town.  In the end the confederate army was seriously weakened and Ulysses S. Grant was free to launch his relentless nine month campaign to capture Vicksburg and the all important control of the Mississippi River.

The cemetery was along side the Tennessee River in a beautiful rolling hill setting where the battle took place.  It was rather shabby as compared to the American Cemetery in Normandy.  The still grateful French people maintain our cemetery there and it is manicured.  See, the French aren't all bad!

Back at the marina we sat around for docktails (boaters do that a lot) and told and re-told more boating adventure stories.  Most are headed south to places like Sarasota, Ft. Myers, Marathon, Key West and later in the season to the Bahamas.  Some are on their second trip around the loop.  Many have sold their homes and their boat is now their only home and some bought a looper boat with plans on selling it when the trip is done.

We've seen every boat imaginable on this trip.  Many Sea Rays, Carvers, Mainships, Grand Banks, and a few cute little Ranger Tugs.  Few sailboats though. 

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Yesterday Blue Moon landed in Florence, Alabama.  For all you "Sunny" fans it seems some of the McPoyles live here! haha  It's across the river from Muscle Shoals where I think Lynrd Skynrd was created.  Sweet Home Alabama and all that. 

We wanted to take the courtesy car (2 hour maximum) into town to see the Frank Lloyd Wright house but some rude person took the keys the day before, kept them overnight and took off with the car early in the morning.  Jerk!  So we rode our bikes up some big big hills and crossed unfriendly roads to get to town.  While waiting for a light I heard a whoosh sound.  Dave's back tire died.  So we walked the bikes back down the big hills to the marina and he changed his tire.  While waiting for him I was playing on the ipad and noticed that the Frank Lloyd Wright house is closed on Mondays.  Nuts again!  So we still rode our bikes back up the big hills into town.   We rode around the University of Northern Alabama campus and some cute little neighborhood full of Sears kit houses from the 1920's-30 's.  So cute and all of them had front porches.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

The Wilson lock was our first hurdle. A TVA project,  at 137 feet high and 4,541 feet long it is the most significant structure on the Tennessee River.  We were the only boat locking through and it took us 35 minutes to lift.

The next lock was the Joe Wheeler Lock at 72' high.

We saw a ballsack  of eagles today.  IT IS A WORD!  Look it up or google it!

The scenery is ever improving and tonight we are at a marina near Huntsville, Alabama.
We just had docktails with some loopers we haven't run into since the  North Channel in Canada a few months back.

Diggin' Tennessee

Friday, October 18th, 2013

Wednesday we left Green Turtle Bay Marina as planned and travelled in the rain all day.  First time since we left home that it has rained all day.  Not bad.  It was grey out but the scenery is getting better. 

We arrived at the very curly entrance to Pebble Isle Marina in Johnsonville, Tenn.  Another covered slip river marina.  The owners, Randy and Tammy, and their crew are awesome. We fueled up ($3.87/gallon/diesel!  best price in years), pumped out and checked in.

Pebble Isle is an unassuming  little marina and the southern hospitality there is the best we've run into so far.  They have a little restaurant on site that is more like Mom's kitchen.  We sat around and had dinner with the owners, crew and other travelling boaters.  We swapped boat stories.  It seems the boat stories boaters like to share are all tales of horror and near misses on the water.  If a non-boater listened to these sessions they may never want to step foot on a boat.  There may be a bit of exaggerating going on.

The next day we wanted to go to Nashville the easy way (would have been 400 miles round trip via boat) in a rental car so Randy's crew drove us 45 minutes to an Enterprise store.  We got a car and drove into town.  We parked right in the center of honky tonks and country and western stores.  We have been to Nashville before so we skipped the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry.  We bought a bluegrass cd and a book by Willie Nelson called, "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die".  How appropriate for that old pot head :).  We had lunch at Jacks BBQ.  There was a line out the door and for good reason.  Best beef brisket and ribs ever. 

 

 

 

After lunch we found a honky tonk where the music was more slanted to blues than CW and stayed there for awhile.  We returned to the Enterprise store to return the car and one of the marina guys picked us up and took us back to the boat.  They said it was free (!) but we tipped them anyway.

 

Had dinner with them all again and in the mornings they MAKE you eat these giant, frosted cinnamon rolls.  There is a couple living on their boat there who have done the loop twice and they gave us advice and print outs for the journey down the Tom Bigbee that is coming up. 

 

I hated to leave there the next morning but time to move on.  The fog delayed us a couple of hours.  We like to leave at 8 but didn't get off until 10:00. 

 

We are toying with the idea of taking a 7-8 day side trip to Chatanooga.  Other boaters have recommended the trip and we are getting too far south too quick.

 

Friday afternoon we arrived at Clifton City Marina somewhere in Tennessee.  Another mom and pop friendly little marina with a kitchen.  We ate there and talked to other Loopers.  We really enjoy these small, friendly marinas more than the big glitzy ones.  We retired early and watched a couple more Breaking Bad episodes.  Incredible writing and acting.

 

Saturday we left Clifton Marina and made the run to Pickwick Lake.  We got behind a very slow trawler and we were all headed to the same lock so felt it would be rude to pass him and then meet up with him at the lock.  It was painfully slow but we held out.  There were 6 of us locking through the Pickwick Lock.   The lock was a 57' lift and the wind was blowing pretty hard.  It was tough holding the boat still but we managed.  The ALGCA rendezvous just ended not far from here so there are 50-60 loopers coming down the river roughly at the same time.  Another reason we want to side trip to Chatanooga, to avoid that traffic jam of boats.

 

We arrived at Grand Harbor Marina just on the other side of the lock on gorgeous Pickwick Lake.  Beautiful estates on the water.  We planned on staying only one night but here it is Sunday morning and we decided to stay another night.  Last night we went into town with some other looper couples to a restaurant and had a good time.  We keep running into the same people and like them all!  Loopers in general are very active and motivated people and have great stories to tell. 

 

Today the plan is to take the marina courtesy car and go to Shiloh National Battle Field Park.  23,000 soldiers died there early in the Civil War, 1862. 

 

 





Take me to the river..

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

After a productive visit home getting the cottage and yard ready for winter, planning work ahead for the guys, catching up on Carmen's 4 year old antics and family birthdays, we met Hollis, Joy, Dean and Betty for brunch on Sunday and then left for the trip back to Kentucky.  Our plan was to just drive 7 of the 13 hour trip and spend the night somewhere.  We were so amped to get back to Blue Moon we drove all the way back.  We got to the security gate around 1:00 a.m. We left the boat in a nice secure, gated marina but failed to get the code for the gate before we left.  Of course there was no one on duty.  Nuts!  So Dave inched the car around the gate leaving no scratches on the rental car!  We got to the boat and crashed.

Monday - Dave installed some new cleats on the boat while I took a road trip into Paducah.  I am really digging Kentucky.  It's so pretty and well kept.  They actually mow the roadways here like  New York State used to do!  I did the old lady thing and went to the Quilt Museum. My Mom and aunts in West Virginia were very talented quilters.  All hand stiching-- no machine stitches!  They hung the quilt frames from the ceiling and they would sit around the quilt and laugh and gossip while they worked on it and I loved being with them.  I was around 7 years old and wanted to quilt too of course.  My Mom would thread a needle for me but leave off the knot and later remove my messy stitches.  Miss you Mom.

The quilts at the museum were exquisite works of art. Quite impressive.  Makes the quilts in my life seem quite primitive but I wouldn't trade one of them for one of the museum pieces.

The town of Paducah is on the river and has been wonderfully restored.  I had lunch in a pre-civil war storefront restaurant.  Pimento cheese sandwiches were on the menu.  Delicious and very southern.  The farther south we get it feels like I'm having a real nostalgia fest!

The flood walls around the city have beautiful murals painted on them.  Floods are still a way of life here.

 

 

 

 

Still taking advantage of the rental car, I found a Kroger and stocked up for the trip down the Tennessee River.

Meanwhile back at the boat, Dave was changing the oil and other maintenance stuff.  He took a little fishing break but so far fish do not like him.

For dinner we went to the famous (at least around here) Patti's 1880's Settlement.  It was nice but a bit too touristy and what I imagine what Branson must be like.  Very predictable and stores full of tacky chachkies.  Their restaurant boasted a 2" pork chop and a sky high lemon meringue pie.  We ate both and felt like slugs later. 

 

Note to self...  If it looks too touristy stay away!!

 

After dinner it was World War 2 movie night on the boat. My favorite.   Once a week or so Dave indulges my WW2 obsession and watches a movie on the subject with me.   We watched a 1940 Hitchcock production called "Foreign Correspondent".  It was made before we entered the war and full of "join the fight" propaganda, as many Hollywood creations were then.  The country was still in bitter conflict over what to do.  Of course Pearl Harbor took care of the indecision.  Pretty sappy movie but I enjoyed it.

 

Tuesday, today, I took the rental car back to the Paducah Airport and Dave stayed on the boat to repair the freshwater pump that just quit working.  At least we are somewhere where we can get parts!  He had it repaired by the time I got back.  Our friend Dick back in Pt. Breeze just replaced a sea water wash down pump for that was still under warranty.  We give these little pumps a real work out!

 

With the punishment that was the Mississippi River behind us we are so looking forward to this next chapter.  Tomorrow the plan is to have better weather and head down the river about 75 miles to another nice marina.  No locks for the next 200 miles or so!  yaaay!  Fewer barges, more marinas for awhile, prettier scenery and cleaner water.  Take me to the river!

 

Home At Last

Sunday, October 6, 2013

After a 3 hour wait to get through the Barkley lock (57' lift) on Friday we left the Cumberland River, which was far prettier than the uninspired Mississippi, to enter Lake Barkley where the Green Turtle Bay Marina is located.  After 3 days of anchoring out and playing Frogger with barges it seemed like a true Oasis when we tied up in our slip and stepped off onto land.  It is a marina complex.  Boaters lounge, pools, a spa, fitness center, 2 restaurants, golf carts and very nice grounds. This is where Blue Moon will stay while we are home for a week.

There were lots of fellow Loopers there and we missed the BBQ the Marina hosted for the Loopers the night before.  Many of the Loopers are heading to the ALGCA rendezvous in Alabama next weekend.  We opted to go home instead but would have liked to join them. Plenty of boating stories there for sure.

Saturday we got the rental car and  did errands for what else, the boat.  We went to a store called Shop-A-Rama.  I have a hardware store fetish so I loved it.  Lots of junk.

We passed a little restaurant/shack called Catfish Kitchen and the parking lot was packed so we had to eat there.  The catfish was good if not a bit too much cornmeal.

Gas prices there in Grand River, Kentucky were $2.98 per gallon. I love NY.

So this morning we left Kentucky at 5:30a.m. in the dark pouring rain but with 13 hours to drive it was a good time to go.  I am sitting in my little cottage now and it seems so large after being on the boat but it really isn't.  There was a nice surprise waiting for us in our fridge.  Karen makes this wonderful pumpkin roll that I love so she gave us some.  Thanks Karen!

We have office work to catch up on, much needed Carmen time and family birthdays to celebrate this week.  

The trips home are, of course, taking longer and we may fly home the next time.  The logistics are challenging when you are out in the sticks on a boat but the more Loopers we talk to the more we realize that they run back and forth home frequently too.  Except for the ones who sold their land homes and now their boat IS their home. 

The next chapter of the trip should be pretty interesting.  Fewer barges and locks and prettier anchorages.  So stay tuned. 

Mississippi Highlights

Thursday,  October 3, 2013

Today  we left the Mississippi River and entered the Ohio River.  The Big Muddy was a challenge but it had its moments:

  Mississippi Paddleboat

 

 

Passing a barge on two whistles

 

 

 

Twists and Turns

 

 

 

A pretty anchorage in the morning.

 

 

 

Bald Eagles

 

 

 

Brave canoeists among the barges.

 

 

Tonight we are at our 3rd night of anchoring out.  It is at the junction of the Ohio River and the Cumberland River.  Tomorrow we have one huge 57' lock to get through and only about 30 miles to the marina.  Today we came upon a lock and got through it in a record 45 minutes.  The two pleasure craft in front of us had been waiting over 3 hours!  Guess we got lucky.

 



The Mississippi seems to be thriving with commercial traffic and lucky for us the federally operated locks were still open the past 3 days.  We talked to one lockmaster today and he said he was there without pay and didn't really have to show up but most of the lockmasters are on the job.  Wish I could say that about Congress. 

 

 

 



 



 

 

 

 

Mississippi Ho Hum

Wednesday October 2, 2013

We anchored out at mile 78 per Fern's advice.  I felt much safer here as we were in a little cove created by one of the hundreds of weir dams the Army Corp have placed on the river.  Blue Noser and a large Sea Ray that left Hoppie's when we did were there for the night too.

The huge carp (not Asian this time-just regular) were jumping all around the boat.  Dave tried many lures and even some ham and still they wouldn't bite.  I told him to not feel like a loser because he couldn't even catch a carp just to make him feel like a loser!  The fish taunted us all evening.

We made a yummy pork tenderloin dinner and watched a couple episodes of Breaking Bad.  I have all 6 seasons aboard, have got Dave hooked on the series and I am happy to watch it again.  Still have not watched the final season, am waiting for Dave to catch up.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

We woke up to this:

 

 

 

 

 

May fly attack!  They are hideous.  You squirt them with the hose and they just fly around and come back.

 

So, so far we have had fire (boat burst into flames on the Trent Severn) crazy thunderstorms (East Chicago) dense fog, bums lurking around the boat in Joliet, show stopping lake conditions, freaked out fish trying to jump into the boat, narrow passes with barges, wacked out taxi drivers, untranslatable southern accents, pestilence (May flies) and a little bit of home sickness thrown in

 

BUT, we did just pass a flock of 7 American Bald Eagles on the shore!  :)

 

We are heading to an anchorage called Angelos Tow Head at mile 1.5 and the end of the Mississippi River and the beginning of the Ohio River. We are on the Ohio for only about 58 miles then we come to the Cumberland River and a famous (to loopers anyway) marina called Green Turtle Bay. Hopefully we will be there Friday afternoon.  After all these nights at anchor it will be nice to wash the boat down with clean water, do a mountain of laundry, go to a restaurant and arrange for a rental car home.  Ganny needs a Carmen fix and Dave has some work to do at the office to keep the guys busy.  Somehow we are keeping it all together and juggling two worlds and  despite all the hurdles we have to jump I wouldn't have missed this trip for the world!

 

 

 



 

the Real Mississippi Queen

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Yesterday was such a difficult day I couldn't bring myself to write my blog. We woke up to may flies plastered all over the boat.  This is our first encounter with these bugs who live only 24 hours.  What's the point?  Very gross.

We wanted to leave early because it was going to be a long day with 2 locks to get through.
About 10 miles into the trip a very dense fog rolled in.  Lake Michigan deja vu.  You could see the end of the bow and that was it.  Again our radar and some good luck got us through until we neared the first lock. It emerged out of the mist and Dave had little time maneuver or else bump into the wall.  Again good luck came through because the Mississippi River locks have 2 chambers.  The lockmaster directed us to the smaller chamber with a strobe light.  His southern accent and mouth full of chewing tobacco (again gross!!) made it impossible to understand him.  I had to ask him 3 times to repeat himself.  Being from WVA I used to be able to translate southern drawl into English but I guess I'm loosing my skill.

The lockmaster let us hang out in the lock for a couple of hours until the tow captains on the radio said the fog had lifted.  When the big lock gates opened for us to exit there was a huge traffic jam of barges in front of us who had also been waiting out the fog.

Dave is becoming quite skillful and patient (no really!) in maneuvering with and talking to the tow captains.  Again the AIS is worth every penny spent on it.

The current in the river was about 4 1/2 knots which pushed us along about 3 knots faster than we normally travel.  Certainly would not want to head north and fight the current.  You must be very careful when you pass tows to not get caught up in their massive wake.  So with the current and the wake and some wind thrown in you better know what you're doing.

It was one barge after the other and these barges were extremely wide and long, until we reached the 2nd and final lock on the Mississippi (yaay!--locks are real time killers).  We had to wait nearly 2 hours just hanging out while the tows jockeyed their barges around. 

We finally got into the lock and we were the first of 3 pleasure boats locking through.  We moved all the way forward, me with line in hand ready to lasso the floating bollard (I'm getting quite good at this but I do miss Jim and Lin!) and there was no bollard where it was clearly supposed to be!! Son of a...!  I almost lost it there.  Cool hand Dave said not to worry that we would just float in the lock (it was only a 12' lock) so we did.  When the big lock doors opened up we headed out to do more battle with the barges down past St. Louis.

 

 

 

 

St. Louis is not pleasure boat friendly and a disappointment.  There is no waterfront and they park on the beach near the Arch.  We passed Rams stadium (sorry you aren't here Toby).  To visit St. Louis you have to go 20 miles south and rent a car.  Not this trip.

 

 

The barge traffic calmed down a little and the scenery got a little nicer.  There were nice green levees that famously don't hold sometimes in major floods.  Absolutely no houses though.

 

We arrived at the legendary Hoppie's Marina.  This is the last marina for 228 miles.  To call it a marina would be an overstatement.  It is quite a dump. It is actually 3 100' barges tied to a high  stone wall cliff with cables.  Hoppie is a real person and an original Mississippi River lamplighter.  His wife Fern is the real attraction.  She is for sure the real Mississippi Queen and I think she has river water running through her veins.  Dave called her "Large Marge".  This is a favorite stop for loopers because every evening Queen Fern holds court and does a river briefing.  There were five of us loopers there furiously taking notes on everything she said.

 

 

 

 

 

She told us how to safely pass barges.  Never on the outside of a curve because you could get pushed ashore by the wake, always on the inside of the curve.   Where to anchor safely behind weir dams (no more marinas coming up for 3-4 days), remember that the buoys reverse from red/green to green/red when you come to the Ohio River, etc. etc.  She is a real piece of Americana and the History Channel should do a piece on her because I'm sure she has endless stories and I, for one, and tired of American Pickers!  She is doing battle with the Army Corp of Engineers because they built a weir dam directly south of her little marina and it is causing shoaling on her property.  Very bad for loopers.  My bet is that Fern will win and they will relocate the dam.  She is a real pit bull.  Good Luck Fern!

 

It was one of those days that you are glad when it's over.  The Mississippi is quite disappointing.  I've read previous looper's blogs and that seems to be the general opinion.

The beautiful plantations, paddle wheel boats and willow tree line banks are just not happening.  It's more like West Henrietta Road on a Saturday afternoon.  Kind of like Route 1 into Key West.  I must look for the beauty that IS here.  The history of the river and the bustling commerce.  

 

 I walked up the hill at Hoppie's and took this picture this morning.

 

 

 



Today is shaping up much better than yesterday.  There are no locks to get bogged down in and we are going to an anchorage that Fern recommended.  No more marinas for 3-4 days.  The barge traffic is much lighter and hey, no FOG!