The Great Mississippi

Thurs-Wed Sept 21-27

Look what I found with the camera! Yes a bald eagle.

Technically Grafton Marina is still on the Illinois River, but you can look around the island and see the Mississippi River. We met Resolute and Mother Ocean in the restaurant for dinner. Nice air conditioning and excellent food-they have a cajun chef!! We are glad to be finishing the Illinois River and the low water levels, but we have heard the water in the Mississippi is low also. 

Our Lady of the Rivers

The next day we moved to the Alton Marina. It is on the Mississippi River and only 2 hours from Grafton, but much closer to the lock we need to go through next. Alton has nice covered slips to escape the hot sun. On Saturday Kim from Sweet Liberty and I walked to the farmers market. It was dog day, so lots of pets, pet products and some very nice vegetables!

Kelly and I took an uber to the Mel Price lock and dam for a tour and to visit their museum. The uber even stopped at the store so we could get a few supplies.

A barge entering the Mel Price lock

                                   

                                           Looking up the Mississippi River to Alton IL

That night we went to the Argosy Casino with Pat and Pete on Resolute. No gambling for us, we had a very nice dinner in their restaurant. The casino even picked us up then drove us back to the marina.

Before sunrise we departed for the lock, but the lock has us wait about an hour for several other boats to arrive. It was a hot sunny day-excellent for our first leg down the Mississippi. Wow, what a push from the current!! We were going 12 mph most of the 4 hour cruise to Hoppie's.

All the wing dams in the river are showing because the water is so low.

We could see the arch in St. Louis quite a few miles away! We took turns with Resolute posing in front of the arch for these gorgeous pictures!

In Deep Ship at the St. Louis Arch

Hoppie's is a living legend--it is the last remaining marina on this 200 mile section of the Mississippi River. Hoppie and Fern are in their 80's and still want to be at the marina. Hoppie caught our lines and tied up the boat. Daily at 4:30 Fern gives a river update on where to safely anchor the rest of the way down the Mississippi and up the Ohio River to Paducah.

And another phone booth!!!

We were ready to depart when Fern radioed that Lock 53 was closed. After a couple hours, the announcement was that a log was jammed in the dam but should be cleared later today. We have 2 days before we can get there, so we untie our lines again and go on down river.

The Mississippi River is so wide that these barges were moored in the middle of the river!

It was only about 40 miles to the Kaskaskia River Lock to tie up for the night. Resolute started their generator and air conditioning and invited us all (6 more people) in their boat to cool off. A couple of cool beverages, chips and dip and we discussed tomorrow's plan.

Tied to the Kaskaskia Lock wall

A 70 mile run down to Little Diversion Channel at 12 mph--we feel like we are flying! Sweet Liberty provided the snacks for docktails, but it was a gourmet meal!! Kim says she loves cooking hor d'ouvres and we could taste the love! Their boat is a beautiful old Chris Craft Roamer. Plenty of room for 7 guests for docktails. After eating and talking, it was back to our own boat to prepare for tomorrow.

Kim and Tom on their dinghy

We will finish the Mississippi River and head on up the Ohio River! We enjoyed the next 50 miles of the Mississippi at 12 miles per hour! But as soon as we turned the corner into the Ohio River our speed went down to 6.5 mph.