Our trip to Hoppies was eventful; we had determined we would leave Alton around 7:30am, after we had spoken to another boat that was leaving on the same day. They said they were leaving at 7am, and I proposed 7:30am as a compromise as we were thinking more like 8am. We only had to go about 37 miles, and with the current, shouldn’t take too long. We really wanted to go with another boat so we could get our picture in front of the St. Louis Arch- We needed someone else to take the pictures! The trip only took about four hours, even going through a lock and stopping for pictures.
We pulled out at 7:30am and with two other boats (Manifest and Heartbeat) and headed south. We had to go through a lock right away outside of Alton. The lock itself was uneventful as we pulled up, requested a lock through, and was granted permission. We were directed to the small lock and we all pulled in, maneuvering around a lot of debris that had piled up in front of the lock doors. Once in, we went to the wall and tied off. The other boats floated in the middle of the lock. During the drop, more debris piled up right in front of the doors letting us out. We all waited to see who would be brave enough to break through this. Eventually the boat ‘Heartbeat’ decided they would break through. They nosed through cautiously and made a path for us to follow. Once we all were through, we continued down the Mississippi River toward St. Louis. A picture in front of the arch is a must-have. We all communicated via VHF and took turns doing circles in front of the arch so everyone could get pictures. Pivoting on the Mississippi is more difficult than it sounds. The river is about 8 knots, pushing you down stream. I could be in neutral, and still do 8 knots- more on this later…
Once our pictures were taken, we all went on to our separate speeds. We are the slowest, so we took up the rear. Heartbeat moved ahead, and ‘Manifest’ was in the middle. Manifest was going to the same place we were- Hoppies Marina. I have mentioned this marina previously, and it is a must-do stop for loopers. It is the oldest family owned marina on the route through, and the information given during the evening ‘talk’ is worth listening to. Fern, the owner, recently had a stroke, so her daughter now gives ‘the talk’. She told us good anchoring spots and what to watch for from here to Mobile Bay. It was good information, even though I felt she was trying to scare us a bit.
The rest of the trip was just dodging logs, large barges and staying in the channel. The channel markers were not all where they should be, and sometimes the current would pull them under water and they would pop up for a few moments, and submerge again. We really didn’t want to run one of these over- it could cause a lot of damage! Once we got to the marina we had to turn up river to dock, so our bow was into the current to fend off whatever was floating down river. The 8 knot current was hell to run against. This means I had to do 8 knots just to stay still and not float on down the river, and give even more throttle to try to move forward against it. Manifest had tied up on the down river side of the dock, and I had to get past them to get to the dock. There were a couple of guys ready to assist us, and they knew what I didn’t know- there is an eddy that flows the water in reverse along the dock. How this happens, I don’t know, but as soon as I got into it, it shot me past the dock! Partially because I was giving so much throttle to fight the current, once out of it- hold on! They raced to the end of the dock and Lauren was yelling at me to slow down; I had to now try to stop with the current pushing me. I was confused and startled; I threw it into reverse and did everything I could to try to stop. Lauren had tossed a line to one of the guys and he was holding on for dear life, yelling at me to “stop!”. “I’m Trying!” I yelled back! Eventually we were able to get control and stop the forward progress. The guys tied us up and asked me to stay at the helm in case there was an issue. I had already told Lauren to shut it down, so as soon as I got back to the helm, the engine was shut off. “How are you going to steer with no engine!?” the guy yelled at me… “Sorry- I didn’t shut it off!” I threw Lauren right under that double wide bus! We were secure at this point, so I wasn’t too worried about it, and it was clear they had to be in control. No worries, we’ll let them do their thing, and we will do ours once they leave. Now they were happy with their job, and I went in to pay. Once done with that, they left and I went to work adjusting fenders and lines for my piece of mind. We conversed with the guys from Manifest for a bit and took Frank for his walk. It was still early in the day, so we were going to go into town- Kimmswick- which is a destination town for St. Louis get-away’s. The tiny river town of Kimmswick – founded in 1859 by German immigrants – stands as a living museum stocked with homemade crafts, antiques, historic structures and simple charms. Just 25 miles south of St. Louis, this charming slice of Americana boasts a history museum, the historic estate of Fred and Mabel Ruth Anheuser, riverboat cruises and a handful of seasonal festivals. Population: 157
Lunch was on our mind, so we walked into town and headed for the popular restaurant: The Blue Owl. This has been featured on the food network by many for the food, and the “Levee High Apple Pie”. It is a ridiculously piled high apple pie. We had lunch- and a piece of pie- then walked around the town. We also got some of their famous apple butter to enjoy on toast on the way back. We chatted with Manifest for a bit and walked Frank again, waiting for ‘the talk’. Eventually we got the talk and had dinner on the boat. We were relaxing when Tom from Manifest came over and said there was a tree coming down river and toward our boats. There had been plenty of crap floating down, but when it gets caught in the eddy, it gets pulled toward the docks (us) and then heads back up stream, sometimes getting caught in a cycle until it either goes down river or disappears under our boats and hopefully the dock. The docks are actually a few metal barges tied together- and the marina is still hurting because they had more but it was all destroyed in the spring floods. They do not have fuel because of this as well, but we are fine as we filled up at the last marina. I looked down stream and sure enough a huge tree- actually two huge trees crossed on each other were floating towards us. They had already fended it off once, but it was circling back now directly at us! They passed me a large boat stick, which I used to try to fend it off. It was so heavy and had so much momentum it pushed me right back; I was toward the aft on the starboard side. The force pushed the pole back and through the side canvas. It then was braced by the dock box on the mid level, and I was able to send it past us without getting hung up on or under us. I was mad about the torn canvas, but now had to focus on the return of it. I had pushed it hard enough it didn’t look like it was going to hit us, but it was going to come very close again. I quickly decided I was going to try to lasso it and control it, so it wouldn’t come back around again. I grabbed a line and fashioned a knot eyeing up a branch stump sticking up from it. The guys on Manifest had a spotlight on it so we could follow it. Two of the guys came around the side of Klondike and were ready to help. The trees came close enough I was able to reach out and slip the knotted line around one of the trees. I then hustled the line down to the others and they wrapped it to a cleat on the dock. It was not easy, as this was several hundred pounds of tree being pulled by the current. The line worked, but now we had a couple of trees flowing in the water behind the dock. We figured we would leave it there for the night, and tomorrow before we leave I will switch the line and take mine back. At least it was secure and not going to damage us. We spent another hour watching the river, then called it a night. We would hear a bump in the night, but had to hope for the best. We were told during the talk about how to make sure our propellers were clear before we leave, and we were definitely going to follow this advice.
Wow that pie sounds awesome!! Loved your pictures from the arch!