Skylarking

We Woke up to some light fog and prepared for our voyage. We filled the water tanks and made our way to the fuel dock for a pump out. Since we knew we were going to be anchoring, and we had been told the power and electric was iffy at the next docks as well, we needed to be prepared to be self sufficient for a few days. Once we were emptied of waste and filled with fresh water, we made our way out to the river. We were travelling about fifty miles today, and didn’t have to fight too much current, just a little bit. This trip was going to take us about seven hours at seven knots. Since we didn’t actually get going until 9:30am, our arrival was planned on around 4:30pm. This gives us enough time to find the anchorage and get settled in before it gets dark.

The trip itself was another uneventful day. It was cold, so we debated about driving from the lower helm. We have done this during some rain storms. I had on an extra layer of sweatshirts and soon realized it wasn’t too bad. The wind was coming from behind, and I left the door zipped shut so it blocked it pretty well. The trip itself was pretty uneventful. We can see tow boats coming up so we are prepared for safe passing. If unsure, we just call them on the radio by name and they always answer back right away. We have been told they like the contact, as it makes it much easier to communicate what they want us to do, as they cannot see our name and it is easier than them just calling out “pleasure boat heading south…”- that can be anyone coming down the river. Lauren relieved me a few times and we made our way toward the anchorage.

When we arrived to the anchorage, we saw there were a couple of other boats there already. The anchorage was behind an island in the river. The channel runs up and down one side, and there is deep enough water on the other side to anchor out of traffic. The boats we saw were at either end of the island. We approached and creeped by the lower boat as we turned up toward the anchorage and into the current. We went about a hundred and fifty yards past the first boat and dropped anchor. Now you may know from past experiences anchoring has been a hit and miss for us. We had looked at the overnight weather and was relieved to see it was going to be a very calm night. No winds to speak of at less than two knots and dropping to what the Weather Channel just lists as ‘calm’. We dropped the anchor and watched our position for about an hour. We eventually would swing a bit as the anchor settled in and we were pushed to face the current, but we were not moving from this position. Once we felt secure, I took Frank in the dinghy to shore. We walked around a bit and explored some of the area then made our way back to the boat for the night. Lauren prepared dinner as I ran the generator to make sure we were charged up and we retired to a peaceful evening. We heard another boat come in after dark and anchor as well, but they were closer to the farthest boat, so we couldn’t make out the boat or name.Tomorrow we are heading to Clarksville, Tennessee and plan to get an early start.

Green Turtle Bay- Voted the Great Loopers “Best Stop” by cruisers from the Great Lakes to Florida and holds the 5 Anchor designation from Quimby’s Cruising Guide. There are actually two ways to get here: Kentucky Lake or Cumberland River. They both end up at the same-ish spot, but one is heavily traveled by barges, the other is the ‘route less traveled’ as it is twenty miles longer. There is a lock at the end of both, and the Cumberland lock is closed for maintenance from 6am to 6pm. The Kentucky lock is open, but we’ve heard from others they’ve had to wait up to seven hours to get through! We departed with another boat and we both went our own way. We took the route less traveled. We were not disappointed in the lack of traffic and were delighted with the wildlife and scenery presented to us.

The trip itself was uneventful, which is what I like to type about. Mechanically the boat has been sound and seems to be running well. No issues here to speak of. We made it to the lock somewhat early. We mis-planned this arrival. We know it doesn’t open until 6pm, and I called the lockmaster the day before to confirm this. He did tell me they sometime wrap up work early, so sometimes they open early. Our arrival was around 4:30pm. Way too early. I called on the VHF and was told they wouldn’t be open until 6pm, with a caution from this person that sometimes they go later. This is opposite what I was told yesterday on the phone, but what can I do about it? We turned around and let the current take us back down river for a few miles. As we were heading back toward the lock, they called me on the radio to let me know they were opening. Early. We had drifted quite a bit and told him I was on my way. By the time we got there, a small fishing boat had requested a lock through, so we had to wait for him to go up, then wait for the lock to empty to allow us to enter. At this point it was dusk. We entered the lock and started the lift as it was getting dark. We were let out in complete darkness. This is not what we wanted to happen. We had been briefed over the phone about arrival, and how important it is to follow the channel markers, and to pass the resort before turning back up to it due to very shallow spots. Lauren was using our spotlight searching for the channel markers, as I was driving blind using the GPS as a guide. We were going very slow, and eventually Lauren would locate the markers, and we followed them in without incident. We found our slip and tied up, making sure all was secure. As we were completing this, we saw the other boat that had left with us in the morning- they had to wait at the lock for almost six hours! They had just arrived about thirty minutes before us! The facilities were nice and our dock location was excellent as far as land access for Frank was concerned and proximity to the facilities. We retired for the night quite tired form our long day.

Day two- We woke up to quite a chilly day and raining. The weather was forecast to be in the low 60’s and rain all day. We had to check in as they were all gone upon our arrival last night. After that was done we hung out and relaxed in the afternoon. I had made a reservation for the courtesy car the next day, which they allow people to use as long as you put gas in it. The town isn’t far, and they have a free shuttle that takes you to the town or restaurant/bars they have on property. We decided to check out the happy hour at one of their bars. It was a fun time, with us meeting a few cruisers and people heading south for the winter on their boats. We met some ‘carnies’ that have a few trailers and are taking their boat south…they have been stuck here for a couple of weeks doing some repairs- they were fun to chat with! We went back to the boat for dinner and finished up with our nightly Frank walk.

Day Three- We woke up and it was cold! It was about forty degrees outside! Good thing we have lots of blankets to keep warm. When we make dinner or cook anything, it warms up the boat nicely, so we don’t notice it so much when we go to bed. Coffee is the first thing to get started in the morning, so that helps take the chill off as well. We had decided we don’t need the courtesy car after all, so I went in and cancelled the reservation. We later took the shuttle into town and walked around. There was a festival going on: Hunter’s Moon Festival. There were a bunch of vendors and tents set up in the park which we strolled around. We also explored the town a bit and walked up to a bakery: Lite-Side. The sweets were delicious- well worth the walk! After awhile we hailed the shuttle to take us back to the marina. We were there when a few other boats were arriving. One of the incoming boats was Trinity, our ‘buddy boat’ which we have made friends with and have traveled a bit together. They had some terrible luck when they hit a log in a lock and had to get towed back to a marina and get hauled out to fix everything. It is amazing they are catching up as they were delayed about a week. We helped them in to the dock and got them tied up and secure- it sure is nice to see some new friends again. Once they were docked, we chatted a bit with them and some of the other cruisers that just arrived. Afterwards we made dinner on the boat and looked at where we were going to next. We are only about 14 stops from Mobile Bay, in the Gulf of Mexico, if we follow the direct route. The problem is we do not want to get there before the end of November, so we have some time to kill. This brings us to our discussion: where to go? Nashville or Chattanooga? Ultimately we decided to go to Nashville. This will take us about three days to get there from Green Turtle Bay; then another three days back. So we are going to take a week or more and head to Nashville, Tennessee. This will be a fun side trip and we will have to anchor a bit on the way as there are not many marinas on the route but we will have to deal with another lock.

Since we had been awake on and off throughout the night, we decided to get a really early start. We awoke around 6:15am and prepared for departure by 7am. We pulled anchor and were on our way by 7:15am. We had decided we would make the long trip to Paducah, about 85 nautical miles.

The other boats anchored with us had decided on the same. We all wanted to get there, and it looked like a good travel day. The rain had stopped and it was warming up nicely. Everyone passed us on the way out, and we had about forty miles on the Mississippi until we got to the turn off, then another forty five on the Ohio River. The trip itself was fairly uneventful, just watching for barges and debris, while navigating inside the channel markers. Lots of wildlife around, and we enjoyed the trip. Lauren was at the helm and said she saw a fresh water dolphin! I did not see it, and didn’t believe it, until she googled it and there are indeed fresh water dolphins around!

Around noon we took the turn off to the Ohio River. We were now doing about five knots. I increased the throttle a bit, so we were at least doing 5.5 to 6 knots. The others were well ahead of us and we could no longer see them. Such is the life in the slow lane. We wound our way around the river and took turns driving. This gave me a much needed break to stretch my legs, get a beverage, and just relax for a bit. Lauren is awesome about giving me breaks, and she does a great job keeping us on track and in the channel. We wound our way forward for another five hours. We were coming close and it was nice to know we were soon going to be secured to a dock with power, and were planning on staying here for a few days.

We approached the dock and saw there were six other boats tied up. The ones we had left with this morning were here, as well as a few others that we had met at other stops along the way. The boat ‘Heartbeat’ was here, and they were about to ‘cross their wake’ at the next marina, so they were super excited! They have their gold burgee ready, which will replace the white one we all fly signalling we are on the journey. The gold one signifies you have completed the journey. We hope to have the gold one in about ten months or so… Our approach was easy, seeing as there were no less than a dozen people there ready to grab a line and assist with docking. There’s nothing like an audience while trying to dock! We docked like we know what we’re doing and secured the ship. We were greeted with hugs and welcomes by all and eventually everyone dispersed to their boats and other chores that needed to be tended to.

Now that we were secure and Frank had his walk, we were thawing some shrimp to make a nice dinner. We were relaxing on the aft deck, enjoying each others company while watching the sun get lower in the sky. I was retrieving some beverages and Lauren was coming in to start dinner, when we noticed a couple of shrimp tails on the couch. WTF?! Apparently the cats had helped themselves to some shrimp and dined on the couch while we were relaxing out back. The cats were not very forthcoming with details, but we do have the evidence. Dinner was made and we enjoyed a quiet evening, another day of successful travel. Tomorrow we will explore town and see what Kentucky has to offer here.

Day two: We had a nice morning with good weather. It was getting hot again, and it was nice to have warm weather. Lauren went on a bike ride to explore, while I did an oil change. Maintenance is a big deal, and we have to make sure we’re on top of it. We have learned, and are still learning how to do it ourselves. Now that this was completed, we hung out for a bit, then decided to go our for a bike ride and see more of the town. Lauren had read about a brewery in an old Coca-Cola factory, which we started for until I realized it was 3 miles away! Ummm…we passed a distillery and another local brewery on the way, and I vetoed the long ride for turning around and staying within a mile. We visited the Moonshine Company distillery and had free samples, then went on to the brewery. The bartender was awesome, giving us lots of information about bourbons. They are about to open a place with the largest bourbon collection in the state of Kentucky, and will soon after hold one of the largest collections in the country. We tried a couple we had never heard of and partook in some bar trivia. We came in a respectable place, but but no lower than fifth. Afterwards we made our way back to the boat and had dinner. Another night coming to a close, we retired for the night.

Day three: We spent the morning cleaning the boat and preparing for tomorrows departure. We walked up to the Quilt Museum (which Lauren visited the first day) and waited for a taxi we called. We waited and waited. About an hour or so later, it finally showed up. We wanted to get some grocery shopping done as we didn’t know when we would have another chance in the next week. We were dropped off at a Kroger, and shopping we went! We stocked up on the necessities and called a Lyft for the ride back. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait as long for them as we did for the cab. Now that we were stocked up, we lounged around the boat for the rest of the evening and made dinner. Tomorrow we will be heading for Green Turtle Bay. It is about fifty miles from Paducah going against the current the whole way, so it will probably take us about nine hours or so…Here’s to an early start!

We got up and wanted to get an early start. We were going about 60 miles today, but we are still being pushed by a strong current. We are planning on doing about 10 knots, so this will only be a 5.5 hour day. After this anchorage, there is not another stop for another 30 miles. Then we will be taking a turn up the Ohio River, and fighting a current once again. The anchorages after Little Diversion we are hearing are not so good; especially after rain. The forecast today is rain later in the day, so we do not want to travel too far and push our luck. It was raining when we woke up, so we waited a little while for it to stop before we started our departure. In the mean time, I had walked down and spoken to the others and told them our intention. A few wanted to go further, and they could with the speed they travel, but ultimately decided to stop at Little Diversion as well. One went on to a further anchorage.

We tossed our lines and pulled out. Everyone else was fairly close behind, and it didn’t take long for them all to pass us. We all were monitoring two radios, one we had on channel 72 for our communication between boats, and one was scanning the other channels for emergency and work boat/barge radio chatter. We recently discovered we have an AIS system, which is a receiver that shows other boats transponding their boat information, including boat name, speed, direction, etc… Our radio does not transpond, only receives, but we had to get an MMSI number from the government. We were able to do this through BoatUS, which sells these systems. Ours is built into a radio we have on the flybridge and coupled to our GPS chart plotter. This new information now allows us to see around the corner (and miles out) and identify any ships coming our way, and with their name, we can call them directly on the VHF and communicate with them. All commercial vessels are required by law to have these (on) and operating while underway. This gives us a big advantage navigating the rivers.

As we were about an hour and half away from our destination, we could see it was raining ahead of us. We closed up the flybridge and moved downstairs to steer from the lower helm. This is nice- being dry and warm, and still making way. The rain was heavy at times, and we had the windshield wipers on. We couldn’t actually sit and steer as the wipers don’t reach that low- who designed that! We stood at the helm keeping a sharp eye on the channel markers, with Lauren next to me keeping an eye out for debris and disappearing channel markers too! This was definitely a team effort!

About thirty minutes before arrival, the rain stopped. We knew we were getting close, so we resumed driving from the flybridge. We rounded a corner and saw one of the other boats we left with (Fratt House) turning into the channel. We had been told to be careful with the current- it will push you toward the bank quickly and strong. We were also surprised we had caught up! We turned up stream into the current and I had to give it a lot of throttle to make it out of the river. Once we cleared the downstream current, there was none. We moved forward toward the other boats anchoring, which was in front of a low train bridge. The channel is about two hundred yards deep and about 20 yards across. Since they had gone all of the way back, we went back about half way and dropped our anchor. The winds were picking up, and a storm was a brewin’. I decided to try a stern anchor, as we had let out a lot of rode since we were in thirty feet of water. I didn’t want to swing and end up on land. We were now anchored and spent our time inside the boat while the weather started to get nasty outside.

Dinner time came around and the winds had picked up to about 15 mph. our stern was facing the wind because the stern anchor was keeping us this way. I wasn’t happy with this, as we usually want our bow into the wind. I was messing with the stern anchor, when I felt us moving. Oh shit. The wind had grabbed the bow and was spinning us around. Lauren poked her head out and exclaimed “We’re moving!? We’re dragging!” I tried to explain I had done this, but it was scary to be moving. We were now facing the wind, but kind of dragging toward the other boats anchored by the bridge. I let out a little more rode, and we seemed to have stopped moving backwards. I quickly dropped the stern anchor again, and tried to make sure it was holding. We seemed to be stationary again, so we ate dinner, watching intently out the window to see if we were moving again. The winds started to die down, but the rain continued. I decided I would sleep on the couch in the salon so I could keep an eye on our location throughout the night. The rest of the night was uneventful, we didn’t move and the winds had died down.

Tomorrow is up in the air- It is almost 85 miles to get to Paducah, Kentucky. Typically people anchor somewhere in between, as this is a long trip going against the current. Today we were making almost 11 knots, tomorrow we will be making 5 knots. We are leaning toward the long jump after tonight’s anchor scare…

We woke up at Hoppie’s hoping we were clear of debris. After a check around, it looked like we were clear. The trees we had wrangled last night were still tied to the dock, and there wasn’t anything obvious under the boat or swim platform. The guys on Manifest were preparing to leave, so I assisted them off the dock. We weren’t in a hurry to leave, so we had our coffee and made our preparations for departure. Today we had to go about 37 miles with our next stop being a lock wall. We have read that this lock allows Loopers (and anyone else) to tie up to their wall for a safe place to moor for the night. There are not many safe spots to stop along this stretch of the Mississippi. You certainly don’t want to try to drop anchor anywhere, what with the currents and amount of barge traffic. The lockmaster does expect you to ‘check in’ and call ahead of time for permission, but they always allow it. 37 miles is easy with this current pushing us.

We made the trip in 3.5 hours, averaging over 10 knots! We barely had to use much fuel, just enough to steer. We will be pay for this however, when we turn up the Ohio River and have to fight the current. We were half way to the lock when I called the lockmaster; I asked for permission to tie up, and he said it would be fine, just radio in when we get there. We continued to dodge debris and barges, and soon were very close according to our charts. I was looking back and forth, trying to see where we should be, when I realized we were passing the turn off! Crap! We turned hard port, and were immediately faced with the swift 8 knot current pushing us down river, backwards. I pushed the throttle and was going more and more to try to gain some headway. I had a moment where it was a complete optical illusion to me, and had to ask Lauren which way we were going and if we were moving forward? At this intersection I had three different visuals: one part of land was moving sideways (steering) one part of land was moving backwards, then slooowly forward (throttle) and all the water around us was moving backwards (current). I truly couldn’t tell if we were moving forward, backward, sideways…which we were all at once, it seemed. Once we got to the channel, out of the Mississippi, the current disappeared and we were moving forward toward the lock. I radio’d in and was told to tie up along the wall between two pillars. Since we were just staying the night and continuing on down the Mississippi, we did not have to actually go through the lock. We tied up around 2pm, and prepared to relax for the afternoon. We were the only ones here. After awhile, we spotted another boat heading in to the wall. I went out to assist with lines, and we met the couple on ‘Fratt House’ who are also Looping. Eventually a few more boats came in, and there were four of us tied to the wall for the night.

All of the excitement was over for the day. I took Frank for a dinghy ride to a park across the way and we walked around and he did his business. We returned to the boat and I fired up the generator, both to charge the batteries and to make dinner. We spoke to some of the other boats and three of us were going to go to the same anchorage next. There aren’t many options and we all will have to anchor somewhere. The weather tomorrow also is calling for rain, so hopefully we can make it before the weather turns for the worst.

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.

Our trip from Grafton to Alton was a little under two hours. The trip itself was uneventful, as there were no locks or anything else to slow us down. We left around 11am since there was no rush, and with the current we made good timing, traveling a little over 8 knots at low throttle. I understand the current will get to be much more once we get further down the mighty Mississippi.

We called Alton marina as we were on the way. We had reached out earlier in the week, but there were issues with water levels and shoaling, so they were not allowing anyone with 4 foot draft or more in. We are about 4′-4.5′ in draft depending on how much fuel we have. Five hundred gallons of fuel will drop us several inches. ON this phone call, they told us we could come on in, and they were currently dredging the entrance as well, so we should be fine. When we arrived we went straight to the fuel dock and filled up as well as got the waste tanks pumped out. We are preparing for the long journey south with no fuel or pump out stops. Once filled with fuel and waste taken care of, we went to our dock. They have covered docks here like the last marina, and again we had to ask for a slip with no roof because we would not fit under it. We tied up and did the usual Lauren/Frank walk while I did the post trip walk around and made sure all was secured.

Our first order of business was getting to the pool. It has been hot! It was in the mid-90’s on arrival. We spent the afternoon lounging in and around the pool ’cause this is what we do. A little about Alton: It is famous for its limestone bluffs along the river north of the city, for its role preceding and during the American Civil War, and as the home town of jazz musician Miles Davis and Robert Wadlow, the tallest known person in history. It was the site of the last Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debate in October 1858. The former state penitentiary in Alton was used during the Civil War to hold up to 12,000 Confederate prisoners of war. Alton has a few places to check out, and steep streets lead up the hill from the Alton riverfront to the business district presiding over the river town. Evening time came and we decided to walk to a local place, Fast Eddie’s: it is a cash only bar with a few food items available. We were not aware of the cash only policy and I was a little upset because we didn’t have much cash on hand, but not to worry- beer was $3.50 for a giant 24 oz goblet, and peel-and-eat shrimp was .35 cents each. We had enough cash for a few beers each and about 20 shrimp plus tip. They also have live music every night, which we enjoyed as we ate and drank on the patio. The walk here was a bit long. Almost everything we passed on our walk was closed and it was a little iffy of an area. A police car passed us and Lauren saw him give us a second look, then he returned about 10 minutes later and parked in a lot which we passed on the way. At this point we were happy he was there as a shady character kind of started following us, but we were a block ahead and made it to our destination and past the cop before he could catch up to us. Later we Ubered back to the marina and called it a night.

Tuesday we had another pool day. Nothing much else to report. We hung out and made dinner on the boat and walked Frank a few times around a small park that was next to the marina. We made reservation for a rental car for tomorrow so we could explore St. Louis.

Wednesday morning Enterprise picked us up at the marina and took us to their office so we could get the car. Once the paperwork was done off we went to downtown St. Louis. Our first stop was Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals. We found out they do tours every day, so we made the first morning tour at 9:30am. This took us around the stadium, in the press box, down through the dugout and onto the field. They were getting ready for the playoffs, so there was a lot of activity going on around us. The funniest story I heard was when Mr.Busch bought the team and field. He wanted to name it after a beer. MLB said no way. He named the stadium after his family, Busch Field. The next year, they made a new beer: Busch beer. I’m not sure if this story is 100% accurate, but this man was a genius if it is! After the tour, we went to the St. Louis Cardinals museum located across the street and enjoyed some more baseball history. Our next stop was going to be the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, but we figured we should eat first. We went across town to an area called The Delmar Loop. We found a Thai restaurant to get a quick bite, then continued on to the brewery. We made perfect timing, as the next tour was starting within five minutes of our arrival, so not much down time. We took the tour and saw the Clydesdale horses and their stables, the brewery and packaging facility as well. We were given a couple of beers on the tour, as well as one when we were done. They also gave us each a ‘fresh’ beer just bottled the same day as our tour. Once the tour was over and we were drinking our complimentary beer, they came around and gave everyone in the beer garden a small beer for their daily toast. What a cool concept.

Next on the list of to-do’s was The Arch. The Gateway Arch is a 630-foot monument in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Clad in stainless steel it is the world’s tallest arch, the tallest man-made monument in the Western Hemisphere, and Missouri’s tallest accessible building. We just made it for one of the last rides to the top. It takes four minutes going up, and only three minutes to come down. They let you off on the top and you can stay as long as you like. We stayed for about 20 minutes taking pictures and admiring the view, then took the ride down. Next.

After the Arch we went back across town. A long-time Latin American area, Cherokee Street is known for its established taquerias and exuberant Cinco de Mayo celebrations, as well as its eclectic global eateries and hip bars. Vintage stores, antiques shops and contemporary art galleries showing local work also line the street. It’s funny to us we keep crossing the city, from one side to the other. We were looking for Earthbound Brewery, which is a brewery with a different attitude. The beers were delicious, and we had a musubi as well. The ‘sandwich’ consisted of marinated tofu, sushi rice, pineapple, sweet chili sauce, pickled ginger, furikake, wrapped in nori like a sandwich. Simple and delicious. This was the opposite of Budweiser- weird and funky, and some weren’t even beers: The Space Dream.  This braggot (barley and honey beverage) is brewed with copious amounts of wildflower honey and lavender, then fermented on blackberries. Yum! Next.

We left and went back to downtown, looking for a pizza place that is supposedly President Obama’s favorite pizza. The musubi did not fill us up. We found Pi Pizza right across from the National Blues Museum. We had ‘smashed scallion’ pizza, which had white sauce, mozz, smashed scallion, goat cheese, mike’s hot honey on it. It was good, but it is no Citizen Pie in Cleveland. Nothing can compare and we are spoiled. Now that our bellies were full, we figured we should be heading back to take the car back and relieve Frank. Next.

Of course we had to have dessert, so we went back across town and south to an ice cream shop: Ted Drewes. He “has been selling frozen custard for over 80 years and Christmas trees for over 50 years. His attention to quality has set the standard for frozen custard and Christmas trees in St. Louis.” It was well worth the trip.

At this point we’ve been out for almost twelve hours and it was time to get back. We took the car to the rental shop and got an Uber back to the marina. Frank was happy to see us, and was even more happy to get to some grass. We were not happy when we realized we left the ‘fresh’ beers in the rental car. It had been a long day and we retired soon after for a peaceful night.

Thursday we slept in a bit and hung out on the boat. We got some maintenance and cleaning done, and decided to ride the bikes around town and to a small lock museum up the river. The museum was located at the next lock we will be going through. We went there first, and saw the conservation and flooding efforts they are doing along the river. I also played with a video barge, which simulated me driving it; I hit the first boat I was supposed to pass and successfully passed the second one, but the machine told me I should have waited-I’m not sure why- I didn’t hit anything this time! Afterward we rode to town and saw some civil war relics and tallest man in the world statue. We of course were getting thirsty, so we found the Old Bakery Brewery: “The Old Bakery Beer Company was born in early 2015 after we were introduced to the beautiful old Colonial Bakery building in downtown Alton, IL.  Part of the building started its life as a bakery in the late 1800’s.  After a fire in 1929 and a series of remodels, additions, and changes in ownership, the building remained a bakery until the early 1980’s when it shut down.  We have tried our best to keep the building’s history alive, and our name is just a small piece of that endeavor. ” There was a special tonight: $20 pitcher and pizza, so we took them up on the deal. Oktoberfest beer and a burrata pizza. Again, no citizen pie here, but it will do.

We went back to the boat and walked Frank again. We also decided tomorrow we will depart for Hoppie’s, the must-do on the Looper trail, to at least say you’ve been there. Stay tuned!

Since we were only going about 20 miles, we weren’t in a hurry to leave in the morning. We slept in a bit, which is kind of hard to do. The cats apparently are on a routine now, and meow and cause a fuss to wake us up, if we’re not awake by 7am. They expect a can of food first thing in the morning. This is the only time they get canned food, and we keep a bowl of dry kibble for them the rest of the day, if Frank doesn’t get to it. We usually keep it up on the front window ledge, but sometimes put it on the floor if cleaning, which is when Frank strikes. Before we left I took Frank for his walk, and he found a dead fish on the bank of the river to roll on. Gross. Now he will need a bath.

Grafton is one of two stops, with Alton being the second, just before the long journey with no fuel until we get to Paducah, Kentucky. There is a somewhat famous Looper place between Alton and Paducah: Hoppies Marina, which used to have fuel, but they were also negatively affected by the floods, so they do not have fuel this year. Even with no fuel, it is a ‘must stop’ to at least say you’ve been there, and get valuable river information from one of the longest surviving family owned marinas on the Mississippi. At this point in our trip we do need to plan a little farther out due to it being so desolate. There are anchorages, but some are not good when there is high water levels and the river is rising according to our sources.

We had called ahead and reserved a spot in Grafton. Approaching the harbor, like most around here means you have to pass it, then turn back upstream to enter. Shoaling tends to develop which will make it shallow, but they dredge the entrances clear following the flow of the river. Most of the docks here are covered, but there are a few at the ends which are not. We could not fit under the covered dock due to the mast, so we were assigned an end slip; we were good with this as it made it easier to dock. Another interesting fact about this marina is everything is floating: The docks, the office, the restaurant, the pool- all built on floating cement pads, with huge poles 30 feet tall and anchored in for them to raise and sink in place. When we looked on Nebo, there were several Looper’s here, and some had been here for up to a week or more. The marina has a deal for Looper’s: pay for three nights, get one free. Pay for four nights, get two free. We hadn’t decided if we were going to stay four nights or six. So far everyone had been good and easy going about deciding, except maybe IVY, which ended up working out anyway. On approach, we passed a few boats that we knew for other marinas, as far back as Joliet and the fateful lock incidents. There was a dock hand ready to grab our lines and we docked with no issues. Once secure the usual routine was had and I waited for Lauren and Frank to return.

I mentioned it has been hot and Grafton has a pool. Lauren went there and I hung out on the dock, giving Frank a bath and the boat a wash down, as well as getting the blog caught up. Almost there. Once done cleaning the boat I moved to the shade and a small bar was set up with chairs around it, sans alcohol. It was someone’s set up in front of their boat slip right next to us. The slip was empty, so I made myself comfortable in the shade. Eventually we were hungry and made our way to the restaurant on site, The Grafton Oyster Bar. We had some dinner and retired for the evening.

The next morning we took the bikes for a ride around town. We had lunch at a roadside fish stand and had Buffalo Fish, which we’ve seen on the menu at Mel’s but wasn’t sure what it was. According to this guy, Craig Phillips, “If you’ve eaten the baked fish in one of the common buffet-style cafeterias in America, you’ve probably eaten buffalo fish. In fact, the smallmouth buffalo is the most commonly sold commercial fish in America. Buffalo can be very difficult to catch, as most species feed primarily on vegetative matter like algae. But when you do hook one, they can be great fighters. They also grow very large, so if you can find some buffalo that are willing to bite, you could tangle with a 20-pound fish. Obviously, most buffalo are good eating fish, or they wouldn’t be commercially harvested. As members of the sucker family, they are rather bony. Some people pressure cook and can them, others fillet and score them to allow the oil to soften any small bones when deep frying, and they are pretty good smoked.” Some people actually use bow and arrow to ‘catch’ them. The fish was tasty. We eventually returned to the boat and I continued working on this blog and Lauren went back to the pool. As I was sitting there some people next to the empty slip between us arrived and was preparing their boat. We spoke and I asked if it was okay for me to use? He responded yes, and we got to chatting. Dave and his wife Karen were awesome. Dave is a musician on the side and I had noticed the musical notes on the boat. I had also noticed a flyer hanging around the marina about a ‘Harbor-Q’ scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday, with live music and covered dishes. He was going to be playing at the party. The day passed on and . Lauren and I walked to a winery close by: Aeries. It is located on top of a hill and is supposedly the best view in the Midwest. It overlooks the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers and is quite a spectacular view. I mentioned we walked, and the walk was a trek a quarter mile almost straight up. We had brought Frank along as well. There is a sign at the base that says 1/4 mile to winery- half way up there was another sign saying 1/4 mile to winery. This was a trick! We eventually made it, out of breath and sweating dripping off of us. We earned our wine today. We hung out for a couple of hours drinking and eating and listening to the live music enjoying the view, then made the walk down. This was much easier. Later I found myself hanging out with Dave, Karen and their friends who showed up and docked right behind us. They have a 45 foot boat, and we moved forward a bit to try to accommodate them so they didn’t hang out in the fairway too much. We ended up staying up late and having a good time until early morning hours.

Saturday we slept in a bit as we had nothing planned. We did nothing all day and it was as wonderful as it sounds. Later it was ‘Harbor-Q’ time, so we wandered up to the area and had some food. There was also a ceremony taking place with a flag raising of the largest flag on the Mississippi. It was quite a ceremony, with speakers and honoring of veterans. The ceremony concluded with the flag raising and fireworks, We listened to the band for a while and drank some beers. It wasn’t a late night, and we retired peacefully.

Sunday we had put our reservation in for their courtesy car. It was a van I had been told from other loopers we’ve spoken to, and was handed a set of keys to a pick up truck. I thought maybe they have a couple of courtesy cars, so I found the truck and wasn’t sure what to think. It was a work truck, and the bed was filled with large gas cans and empty beer case boxes. I pulled the truck to the end of our dock, and threw out the beer cases. One of the gas cans was tipped over and a stream of fuel was filling the truck bed. I retrieved Lauren, and once inside, we were overwhelmed with the smell of gas. This was not something we wanted to drive 20 minutes in to a store, so I went back to the office to ask for the van if it was available. The receptionist looked at me and said “what did I give you?” I explained about the truck, and she looked horrified. She had given me the wrong set of keys. Now that we had the van keys, we located it and started off. The check engine light was on, the headliner was falling down and it made strange grinding sounds, but we carried on anyway. No a/c and it was hot already. We went to a Walmart, through back country roads and cornfields, and stocked up on items needed such as dog/cat food, engine oil, and miscellaneous food and supplies. We were working against the clock as we wanted to get back to watch the Cleveland Browns game. We are an hour behind so it started at 12 noon here. We’re still on Chicago time. We made it back to the boat around 12:15 or so, fired up the a/c and watched the game. What a game! Later we wandered down to another bar, The Loading Dock, according to the website: Once the area’s best kept secret, The Loading Dock has become known as a top St. Louis destination.  Featuring stunning river views, outdoor dining, live music, monthly flea markets, overnight accommodations, and seasonal ice skating, The Loading Dock guarantees a fun time for all.” There was live music and we did have a good time with a great sunset.

We had decided we will be departing tomorrow for Alton. It is the last stop before the long stretch, but we hear they have great facilities, a pool, and we can rent a car to get to St. Louis from there. We want to tour The Arch, visit Anheuser Busch brewery and maybe the stadium, and explore some of the city. There were no car rental places near Grafton, so Alton it is. Again it is a short trip, about 14 miles and they also have buy three day, get one or two free deals and cheap fuel. They have been affected in a different way. They are very shallow right now, and it will be close to see if we can get in and out without grounding.

We are now caught up (kind of) with where we are and what we’ve done. I am posting this from Alton, which we are secured at a dock and heading to the pool, as it is 90 degrees at 11am. We will be in Alton for a few days and will post updates on a regular basis.

Thanks for following along and please leave comments and tell others about the blog!

We started the day fairly early as we had a long trek ahead of us. We took Frank for his morning walk and had our cups of coffee to get us going. There wasn’t much to do for departure, as there are no electric or water hooked up. All we have to do is release the lines and go. This is our second night with no electric, so here we go again with holding our breath when we start the engine. I turned the key and…It started. No hesitation, started right up. Whew.

We pulled off the barge and turned downstream. Our destination is a restaurant called Mel’s River Dock. It is a known Looper stop along the way as it is a nice relief after traveling sixty miles of nothing except river, bald eagles and birds, trees and other wildlife along the banks. Occasionally we would see another pleasure boat, a fishing boat and we passed a barge or two, but otherwise nothing for much else for seven hours. We would slow down so not to wake the fisherman and anchored pleasure craft, but mostly maintained our speed around 8 knot or so. It was a pleasant meander down the river and I was listening to music as well as monitoring the VHF radio, while Lauren would relieve me for a while to relax and hang out in the shade and breeze. I’ve mentioned it’s been hot this week, and we are traveling in 80-85 degree heat. Thankfully we have a small fan on the flybridge to keep a breeze blowing, and it’s hilarious when Lauren or I forget about it and get our hand caught in the blades- they’re plastic so it doesn’t hurt, but it always startles us and makes us jump and swear at forgetting it’s there! I’m definitely not complaining, as I hope to not see snow at all this year and have an endless summer. We also realized today is exactly two months since we left on 7/25/19. Happy two month trip anniversary!

Eventually we reached our destination, and saw the floating dock on the downstream side. We pulled up and noticed a small houseboat docked at the near end. I wanted to be a bit further down, so we made toward the middle of the dock. With the approach, we had the current pushing us, so I could only slow down so much. We came in bow first and I was trying to get the rear end of the boat around. It was no match for the current. The gentleman in the houseboat had come out to assist with docking. Lauren had tossed him a line, but as I was having difficulty, I asked him to release us and I would make another attempt. Now I know what to expect and came in on the second attempt much better. I was not too thrilled we had our stern facing the current, but felt a little better he was in front of us upstream, and I had turned the dinghy sideways to help deflect anything floating downstream. We did our normal post trip Frank walk and mechanical walk through and hung out on the boat a bit.

The town has a population of around 900, and there wasn’t much to see or explore. The town also had just been devastated by floods this spring, and “Floodwaters were blocking the main route out of town, and people who live there feared that could be the case for months.” The restaurant and neighboring houses had a sandbag walls around them at the time, and remnants were still around and they were still cleaning up from this. The restaurant fared well and was open for business. We could see waterlines on buildings and signs of how high the flood waters were. It is difficult to imagine having to deal with something like this. We met the couple on the houseboat, Marcus and Mary Jo, as they were walking their dog. They were not Looper’s, but traveling south a little for experience and seeing if this is something they may want to do. We ate dinner at Mel’s and paid for our slip. They only charge $25 regardless of size for overnight docking. Day docking is free if you eat there. Looking at their website they not only have docks for boats, but also landing for helicopters! The restaurant was nice and clean, and the food was delicious. We shared a fish sandwich and a pizza, and Looper’s have raved about the brisket. The hospitality being shown to Looper’s down the Illinois River has been a very nice highlight of the trip.

We retired back to the boat and took Frank for another walk. There is no power or water here again, so we ran the generator for the hour and half, and eventually called it a night. Our next trip from Hardin to Grafton, which is only about twenty miles. There is no hurry, so we won’t have to depart at an early hour, and can take our time. Grafton also is a known Looper stop, and supposedly the facilities there are nice. This will also be one of our last chances to get fuel before we have to travel almost two hundred miles before there is another fuel stop.

Thanks for the comments and keep them coming! We enjoy hearing from everyone and Lauren is posting pictures on Instagram. One day I will figure out how to upload them here.

We woke up early and prepared to depart. We held our breath while I turned the key to start the engine. It fired right up! Whew! Now we feel we’re back on track, and can breathe a little easier now that we understand ‘power management’. There is still work to do to understand this completely, but I won’t bore you with it right now.

We left on a warm morning, pulling out of the dock and turned down river. We have to pay close attention to the channel markers and ensure we’re staying inside of these, as well as watching out for floating and submerged logs/trees or other debris. Our trip was uneventful, passing a barge coming up river, and other than that, not much else traffic. There were a couple of train bridges we had to call on the radio for a lift, but they were polite and immediate in their openings.

Around 2:30pm we passed our last draw bridge. According to our charts and notes, there is a place to dock around here at the Logsdon Tug Company. We passed a small shipyard with barges and tugs, but continued past it a bit not sure if this was the spot or not. We went about a quarter mile before turning around. I was confused, as this did not look like a place to tie off a pleasure boat. We found a phone number and called them. They told us they were indeed just past the draw bridge, and she would let me know where to tie up at. In the mean time, we are now working our way back up river, against the current. What was an 8 knot trip down was under 5 knots trying to go against it. The woman on the phone told me to tie off of the ‘material barge’ at the end. I clarified where she meant and we worked our way there.

Upon approach, there was a large tug boat and barges rafted out into the river. We found the end barge, and again approached with our bow upstream. There was about 50 feet of space in front of the parked tug to get into the spot they wanted us to tie up. Going upstream helped, as this slows our progress yet I still have control. We came in and docked without incident. Frank is usually quick to want off, but here he might have been intimidated by the barge and couldn’t actually see land. Once secure, I had to go across a few barges, filled with equipment, a crane, lines and tools everywhere, literally hopping from one barge to another, to a steep, open slotted set of metal stairs leading from a work barge to land. Here I found the office, which I had to pay a dollar a foot cash or check only. The office ladies also gave me a map of town and some recommendations for dining.

Paperwork out of the way, I returned back to retrieve Frank. We took him across the barges and up the stairs. He wasn’t too thrilled with the ascent, but did it anyway. He was rewarded with lots of grass to explore and mark. We returned him to the boat and I took the bikes up one by one. We had researched and found out this is where President Lincoln spent some time, and there is a courthouse and museum dedicated to this. Before he was president, the town was the sight of the Lincoln/Douglas debates, as well as “The Almanac Trial”, in which Lincoln was the defending attorney.

The trial resulted from a nighttime brawl, and the resourceful Lincoln produced an 1857 almanac, which was the year the incident occurred, to argue that the state’s witness could not have seen Armstrong kill the victim. There was no moonlight at the time and he was a long distance from Armstrong, so theoretically he could not see that far in the dark. Lincoln also produced a witness who helped acquit Armstrong. On August 12, 1858, a few months after the trial, Lincoln appeared in Beardstown to speak as the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. He spoke on a platform in the city park, a site marked by a plaque across from the courthouse. His opponent, Stephen Douglas, spoke the next day, and later that month they officially began their famous series of debates. The jail is still there as well as the courtroom where the trial took place. A judge holds court there once a week, so it is still an active courtroom.

After we had done the tour, we rode around and stopped at a Mexican bakery for some treats, as well as a Mexican restaurant which we shared a bucket of beers and some burritos. We continued around town a bit, then went back to the boat. We got to see the tugs moving barges up close with guys working around us. We brought Frank out again and let him have some more land time, then retired back to the boat. We fired up the generator and let it run for an hour and half, as there is no power or water available tied to a barge. We are still keenly aware of power management and want to make sure we are doing everything we’re supposed to be doing.

Tomorrow we have another long stretch, as well as another wicket lock and dam to pass through. We will be going another 60 miles to Hardin, Illinois and making our way farther south. Hardin is one of the last stops before we hit the Mississippi River! The marinas and fuel stops are getting farther and farther apart, and soon we will not have any options but to anchor out once we get past the next couple of stops.