More Photos - Oct 11th

Kaskaskia Lock to Little Diversion Channel (69 miles) 10-11-08

We definitely had the promised quiet night’s sleep last night and woke up refreshed to a sunny 60 degree morning with just a hint of low water fog. We pulled back into the Mississippi river channel and “Rose’s Pick” took the lead today. It takes us little boats a long time to warm up to full throttle and “Rose’s Pick” had the opposite problem and needed to go faster to warm up her engines.
There are no big river towns on our trek today. Instead, we are treated to a hillier shoreline on the west shore with a touch of Fall color. We talk to our fellow Loopers on Channel 17 and monitor commercial traffic information on Channel 13 and are often doing both channels. When we came upon the “Potter” pipeline barge, we were advised to pass on the “Ones” and then had an upcoming pusher and barge which we passed on the “Twos” and we coordinated with our fellow boaters to go down through the slot.
River current today is about 4mph and we had a number of turbulent areas around Milepost 92 and 81 complete with eddies, swirls and even a vortex.
The Fountain Bluff area is narrower and we took an AIS reading and did not see any upbound barges approaching but also announced our intention on Channel 13 so the “big boys” know where we are. This area reminds me of the Hudson River with its hilly shoreline and curves and it even has a camping area.
We hit a top speed of 13.4 mph today which is almost 2x our hull speed. It took us a while to throttle back so that we could make a sharp turn to starboard to enter the Little Diversion Channel where we planned to anchor. We entered first as we only draw about 4’ and slowly but surely anchored in 15’ of water in a narrow channel. The other Looper boats entered and dropped anchor and even the newbies got a gold star.
I spoke with a fisherman who told me that the channel cut back about at least 3 miles and Bob and I went for a dinghy ride. He also said that the largest catfish on record, 130 pounds, was caught in this area. We did hear gunfire in the distance and thought maybe we were on the set of ‘Deliverance.”
Rose and Gary on “Rose’s Pick” invited all the Loopers over to their beautiful 50’ Carver for the Captains’ Meeting. We had a great time and on the way back to our boat, I noticed the beautiful moon.

Hoppies to Kaskaskia Lock and Dam (41 miles) 10-10-08

This is the beginning of week 6 for us on our Great Loop adventure. Fern had advised us that if there is fog down the river, do not leave until later in the morning. We took her advice and had a leisurely morning exploring more of Kimmswick. We also talked with Hoppie himself who told us of the river crest of 40 feet in this area in 1993 which put the water up to the roof on the barn. This year a 5 foot section of shore bank that was washed out last year has been silted back in. That’s how the Mighty Mississippi earns her name.
We departed at 12 noon with “Baby Grand” in the lead as we have AIS to let us know where all the barges are. We were fooled a little bit when we had an AIS target named “Adventure” going 14 mph and it turned out to be a 70 foot Nordhaven which passed us as well as the upbound and downbound barges.
We hit areas of turbulence caused by Weir dams under the water which push the river water into the main channel.
We pulled into the Kaskaskia Lock and Dam to tie up for the night at about 4:30. The Kaskaskia River meets the Mississippi at this point but the lock and dam is also used for transient overnight use with the lockmaster’s permission. We radioed ahead on Channel 14 and graciously received permission not only to dock, but also to walk on the jetty which is rigged with pipelines and valves. We all gathered on the jetty to trade stories about our day and all looked forward to a calm and quiet night away from the current and barge traffic.

Alton to Hoppies Marina in Kimmswick, MO (44 miles) 10-9-08

We had so much fun with Tom and his wife, Delores that we asked them to join us today boating down the river to Kimmswick. We passed the Arch in St. Louis on this busy river day. Kimmswick is a charming, small town filled with quaint shops and a great restaurant, the Blue Owl. Our journey today entailed 2 locks which the new crew handled with great skill and definitely earned their “tots.” Fern, the dockmaster at Hoppies, Met with Loopers at 5pm and shared her extensive knowledge of the river system and gave us so many tips for navigating these new waters.

Day of Fun in St. Louis 10-8-08

We were met at the Alton dock by my cousin, Tom Doherty, who arranged a wonderful day of fun in St. Louis for us. We toured the 1904 World’s Fair park which has an Art Institute, Zoo, bike and walking trails, lake, restaurants and we saw it all toolin’ around in Tom’s 1938 Willie Jeep. Tom and Bob are both pilots and Tom even arranged for us to fly over the confluence of the rivers with his friend, Mel in his Beechcraft Bonanza plane. What a thrill especially when we noticed how the river and our boats look so small from above.

Grafton, IL to Alton, IL (20 miles) 10-7-08

We woke up to a rainy and foggy morning with the additional elements of wind, strong current, debris and waves on the Mississippi. In the 5 weeks of our trip, we have not had this combination. We decided to poke out into the river and try it as we have radar and were only going 20 miles to Alton which is the closest marina to St. Louis. We were joined by fellow Loopers, Tom and Debbie, aboard their catamaran, Catrina. We proceeded slowly but surely down the river using all our technology. It was challenging but it also supplied a sense of accomplishment when we arrived safely at Alton and tucked into their dock. So many times when we lived in St. Paul, I would look down the Mississippi and imagine that we would be here, and here we are even if we had to work hard today.

Beardstown to Grafton, IL (88 miles) Oct 6th

A number of you have asked, “Why do you get up so early? Aren’t you supposed to relax when you’re retired?” Now that daylight hours are decreasing, leaving the dock at first light allows us to get to our destination with some hours of light so we still have time to go for a walk and explore. I am happy to report that I am “sleeping in” more easily to 6:15.
Since this is Monday, more barge traffic is apparent on the river. We used AIS to tell us where they were and their speed. The “Donna Rushing” was downbound at 5.6 mph and our speed was 9.0 so Bob asked permission to pass. I expected that we would be told to wait but were directed to pass her on the curve with an oncoming upbound also approaching. These pushers really know their stuff. I think Bob felt a real adrenaline rush from this while I was “doing the beads.”
We passed a river raft of college students who recently left Peru IL on a homemade raft equipped with a motor, crates and tarps bound for the Gulf of Mexico. Are they having a real Huck Finn adventure!!!!
The afternoon produced more wind and waves which slowed our 2.5 to 3 mph bump from the current a bit. We were making really good time on this long mileage day but got stopped at the Hardin RR Bridge for 45 minutes. The clearance is 20 feet and now that we are fully rigged again with mast and antennas, we stack up at 21 feet so we judiciously waited for the lift.
We pulled into the Grafton Harbor Marina at 4:30. We are now at the confluence with the Mississippi and the topography even changes. Grafton has tall limestone cliffs and it is the winter home for bald eagles. It is a delightful town with a number of restaurants and shops. We were told that the area had 3 floods this past year but the resilient locals keep on cleaning up and rebuilding.

Havana to Beardstown (32 mi) - Oct 5th

We departed this lovely little marina at 8am after a pumpout which is free in IL. Since it was a glorious Sunday morning, I decided to make a crustless quiche and bacon underway. Sounds easy enough but there are no stores close by to send Bob to get the extra stuff I always forget. I managed to find enough compatible ingredients while rummaging through the fridge and cubbies. I thought that was the hard part but no. I mixed everything together, set the timer and loaded the non-gimbaled oven. About 10 minutes later, the barges and powerboats started descending upon us with a lot of rock n’roll so in and out of the oven for the quiches to save breakfast, but it was well worth the effort.
We arrived at the Beardstown wall at about 12 noon and were pleased to see other Loopers had the same destination. The town has been hard hit economically but they did have a Wal-Mart 2 miles away, a Laundromat 12 blocks away and a grocery store ½ the distance. A number of us set out with lists for all of the above and had a good time sharing the load. I did not really have enough quarters for the machines and, as usual, the change machine was broken so I had to bring a lot of ½ dry clothes back to the boat to hang outside. I think it proved that I am “shanty Irish” rather than “lace curtain Irish.”
We had a delightful Looper potluck on the dock for Sunday dinner. Even though we have only known each other for 1 week, we have so much in common.
I was up at 3am with the searchlight of a barge and pusher lighting up the V-berth. We had been told earlier that a barge had taken a wrong turn and crashed into the Beardstown wall and the repair job on the wall was evident. I was in vigilant mode and had to check where the barge was. Luckily, they were clear on the other side of the channel and I could sort of go back to sleep.