Days 121

Alton IL - Kimmswick, MO (Hoppie's Marina)

• Start 6:10 AM
• End 2"20 AM
• Underway 800 Hours
• Distance 37 miles
• Total Miles on Trip 2167
• Av Speed 6.6 knots
• Locks 2
• Weather Sunny, 70 Degrees, Wind 6Kn W

Our plan was to leave the dock at 6:15 with Kay Dee, Crimson Tug, and Wine & Roses. At 5:55 Karen knocked on our boat, say that we were leaving in 5 minutes. Mark had called the lock and they told him if we were there by 6:30, he would be able to lock us through. We made it to the Mel Price Lock & Dam by 6:30, and we were told to standby that they had a tow coming through, and we would be right after them. They did not let us in the lock until 8:00am. We could have waited at the marina.

After going through the lock we had 15 miles to the Chain Of Rocks Lock. This lock is on a canal that by passes the Chain Of Rocks section of the Mississippi River. During Jeremy's briefing on running the river, he emphasized do not miss the canal and the locks, the main river looks like you can travel it, but you will end up on the rocks. When we got to the lock we had about a 20 minute wait to get in the lock. We were tied up in the lock waiting for them to close the gates when one of the lockmaster's yells over the lock wall we have to untie and move forward, all seven of the pleasure boats, had to be in front of the 600' mark. They were bringing a tow into the lock with us. There were no more bollards left for us to tie off of, and the lockmaster said if we had bow thrusters we could float free in the lock. (We do not). We ended up rafting off of Kay Dee. Kay Dee was so far forward in the lock, when the water level was lowered and they were ready to open the lock, we had to move backwards or the gate would have hit them.

As you exit the Chain of Rocks Lock, you can see the Gateway Arch of St Louis. Unfortunately St. Louis has no docks, so there was no way to stop and visit the city, but one of the classic photos that loopers aim for is a picture of their boat, with the Arch in the background. We took Kay Dee's Crimson Tug and Wine & Roses photos as they passed, the Kay Dee took ours. Now we just need good enough cell service to share them! The next few days we will have very poor to no cell service. (Blog updates may have to wait a few days)

After passing St Louis are next stop is Hoppie's Marina in Kimmswicks MO, Hoppie's has been in business since 1934, and is owned by Fern and Hoppie. When you dock at Hoppie's you tie to barges that make up their docks. Hoppie and Fern are 84 and 85 and the marina is run by their daughter Debbie and son-in-law Rob. Unfortunately they lost most of their docks, during floods in 2018 and 2019. A salvage company was able to remove the sunken barges, and clear the waterway, so that they can start rebuilding. They currently can only dock 8 to 10 boats a night. Each night Debbie gives a briefing on what to expect going down river, pointing out places to dock and anchor. Depending on water levels some marinas or anchorages can be too shallow to enter. While were are Kimmswick we went out to eat at The Blue Owl. The Blue Owl is a world family run restaurant and bakery. It has been featured in and on The Travel Channel, Oprah's O Magazine, The Oprah Show, The 'Today Show' The Food Network Magazine, Midwest Living, Bon Appetit, The Wall Street Journal and many more. They are famous for their Levee High Carmel Apple Pie. Sadly the pie had already sold by the time we got there.

Tomorrow we will be tying off to the Kaskaskia River Lock wall. While normally you are not allowed to tie off to the federal locks, the Kaskaskia lock has been very kind to loopers. We are allowed to tie up, but we cannot get anywhere from the lockwall.