No question the river is big and muddy.
In our first few miles we almost ran aground. The river looks so big that we did not worry about shallow areas - WRONG! There are many and several man-made like this "wing-dam" that we recognized thanks to the BBQ grill. They extend out from the shore several hundred feet and are often submerged at high water. The US Core of Engineers has constructed these partial dams to keep the main river flow in a channel. We learned our lessen to "stay in the marked channel" and not wander outside.
After leaving Grafton on the Illinois River, we traveled a whole 15 miles to Alton on the Mississippi. We had been getting reports that they were having trouble at a lock on the Ohio River where we were headed and it was confirmed that the lock was down for repairs, with no boats were getting through. Surprisingly, there are few anchorages and no real marinas on this section of the Mississippi. Alton had the last nice marina and they were offering a "pay for 3 nights and stay 6" fall special. The marina is near the right bridge span and we were in a covered slip. They had a pool, 2 hot tubs, and private bathrooms with showers; all on floating structures. The old downtown was only a few minutes walk with many restaurants and antique stores.
Since we were stalled on our voyage, we took the opportunity to go visit my daughter Christine and son-in-law Steve. We rented a car and met them at a campground in Springfield, MO.
They came up from Cassville, MO, a couple hours away in their "new to them" camping trailer. We played bocce, cooked out, and caught up on our life stories. It was a pleasant couple of days off the boat.
While away we learned that Lock 52 was repaired and locking boats through. Although commercial barge traffic was backed up for days, it was reported that pleasure boats could expect to be grouped together and "slipped into the queue after not too much delay". So we skipped using our extra 3 days and left Alton the next morning after getting back from our family visit. There were 1-2 hour delays getting through the next two locks, but the weather was beautiful and we made good time after that. Scenery was mostly commercial, but interesting in its own way.
Later on we were rewarded by an impressive view of the St. Louis arch.
Our destination was Hoppies, the only "marina" in about a 270 mile stretch of river. It is rather rustic (3 grounded old work barges that you tie up to), but a well known Looper stop. The ancient proprietor, Fern, gives an afternoon talk on what to expect on the river ahead of us.
Besides being the last fuel stop for many miles, Hoppies also allows access to a quaint old town of Kimmswick, MO. population 158. Interestingly, the whole town is closed on Mondays (the day of our visit) including restaurants, museums, gift stores, etc.
Occasionally we saw some very nice homes overlooking the river.
We never saw any recreational boating, however we saw and watched out for these numerous and very large tows. It was important to call them when in narrow channels, especially going around bends. They would let you know if it was safe and what side was best for you to pass on.
Mostly what we saw on the Mississippi was WOOD! It was a veritable obstacle course of floating debris constantly swirling around in the ever present current and eddies. Our path down the river looked like we were drunken sailors with constant correction of the wheel. It was impossible to avoid it all, but our thumps were fairly small. Made for a stressful cruise.
One good aspect was the assist we got from going down river. We ran at 1300 rpm which gives us a upper displacement speed of about 10 mph. However, the current was running at an average of 3 mph, so we saw 12 to 15 mph on our gps.
Here is a snapshot of our chart plotter showing the Mississippi where the Ohio comes into it. The screen is set for heading up (and right then we were heading East) so the Ohio is coming in from the top of the screen.
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