Day 21

We only needed to travel 50 miles today so we took our time in the morning. Tabbie slept until after we left, which required Grant to bring in all three anchors and get the boat prepared to get underway… Funny how Tabbie woke up 10 minutes after we were on the water… Oh, then she mentioned that she woke up 30 minutes earlier when she heard Grant bringing in the anchors, but was too warm to help… Thanks Tabbie!!

Another decent day for traveling. Grant finally reaized how to use the current more advantageously and we were able to get a couple free miles an hour, and concerve a little fuel. It is about 135 miles to the next fuel stop and 90 of it is upriver. We decided to anchor off the channel in a slough about 7 miles north of the Ohio river. We will finish the Mississippi tomorrow and hopefully make the entire Ohio river trip as well. It should make for a long day of driving, but the weather looks good so far… Grant did some exterior cleaning, and finished fixing the holding tank, while Tabbie worked on her quilt and prepared some dinner.

Grant cleaning the muddy boat!!!!

This is the puzzle we finished.

Whirlpool!

Day 20

Today we needed to get to Cape Gireadeau (70 miles) as it is the last opportunity to get fuel before we get to the Tennessee River. We were up early and departed the lock by 8:00… Finally good weather to be cruising in. Grant drove downstairs for the first couple hours until the temp warmed up outside, and then back upstairs. I to my quilting and Grant to his piloting, we both settled in for a long cruise ahead… (did you catch the night before Christmas reference??) We made excellent time and arrived at the fuel dock at 1:15 in the afternoon. The current was exceptionally strong, and the “fuel dock” ended up being a small dock, not much longer than the boat (maybe it was 40 feet), so it made for a difficult landing, but again, Captain Grant did it without a flaw. He was even able to hold it stead so Tabbie could jump off and tie the lines – pat on the back for Grant!! We topped off the tanks and headed about 5 miles down river to another river where we beached the boat for the night. Grant took a quick nap and Tabbie went off exploring the island – are there any alligators in Missouri??

Day 19

We woke up at 8:30 again, however this time fully rested. It was a very dreary day, but we wanted to get some water behind us so we finally decided to leave at 11:00 eventhough the weather wasn’t the greatest… Again, another stupid decision by Grant, and about 5 miles into the trip it started to rain harder, and the cabin was fogging up so bad we could hardly see (great – only 35 more miles to go!). Grant then decided to go up top and drive from there. I didn’t see him for another 3.5 hours until we reached our destination (an anchorage spot that Hoppie told us about). He weighed about 20 pounds heavier because the jackets, sweatshirts and jeans he was wearing were absolutely soaked! It was the worst weather we have driven in up to this point… We tied up to a lock wall on the Kamasaki river (just off the Mississippi)… When we called the lock to ask permission the guy must have been very bored because Grant had about a 15 minute conversation with the guy over the radio. I guess Grant can make new friends on the radio or a bar stool, doesn’t matter which!! Tabbie has been having trouble sleeping in the lower bedroom because the bumpers keep squeeking against the side of the boat, so we rearranged the living quarters to sleep in the forward stateroom…

The Mississippi from the top

The capitol from the top

View from the top

Space Capsule (This was the little elevator that you took to the top) It was so old and rickety. And teenagers were running the controls. I WAS kind of scared.

Protestors

View from the bottom

The protestors!

Day 18

Grant was up until 2:00 AM last night downloading the charts necessary for our next leg of the trip. Because of that we did not get up until 8:30 and had no ambition to get moving. We still had the rental car and had to take that back plus stop off at Walmart for a few items… The wind was picking up and the head (toilet) has not been working properly so we decided to stay another day so Grant could try to fix the problem. Good thing we stayed because it ends up the toilet paper we had been using was not as quickly biodegradable as we thought, and was clogging up the lines. Grant had to go in the crawl space at the bottom of the boat to the holding take and take it all apart to remove the blockage… That was a shit job, no pun intended!

While Grant was fixing the boat, Tabbie decided it was a good day to take a run through town……..

Day 17

We woke up early today so we could meet our savior of last night (the owner of the marina). Talked with him for awhile about our upcoming challenges and he had significant insight on anchorages, routes, water levels, and barge traffic. We will need to print off the charts from the Internet tonight for the Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee rivers.

We walked into town for breakfast at 10:30 and ate at a charming little homestyle restaurant called “The Blue Owl.” Every person that worked there was female, and the buss girls were in their 20’s while the wait staff was all in their 50-60’s. They wore aprons and outfits that reminded Grant of a Swedish village. Grant also got a bit of a “strange” vibe from the workers, almost as though they came out of a Stephen King movie. The all were acting too nice and had a permanent smile on their faces – nobody is that perfect!! The town is called Kimswick and it is made up of numerous craft shops, similar to some of the towns in Door County, WI. Again, Grant thinks there is some sort of conspiracy going on as he believes all of the Shoppe’s are owned by one or two large corporations. It was odd that when you went to each place they referred you to other competitors (friendly competition – if it was I have never seen anything so friendly!)….

We got back to the marina about 1:00 and called to get a rental car so we could drive into St. Louis and see the arch (“The Gateway to the West”). Louis and Clark began their journey to find a navigable trading route to the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Missouri, which is just north of St. Louis along the Mississippi river. The arch was a very interesting experience, and I would recommend to anyone who is in St. Louis to check it out if you are not claustrophobic. The ride up on the “elevators” was quite interesting. It felt like you were getting into a small escape pod you see in science fiction movies. Tabbie was even a bit frightened, it was almost like a ride at the fair, only you couldn’t see anything outside of your pod! It was another beautiful afternoon/evening and we enjoyed the sunset atop the arch through the small looking glass windows. After walking through the Lewis and Clark exhibits we took a stroll through downtown St. Louis. Grant got to experience his first protest rally, although I still don’t know if we understood exactly what we were protesting… I wonder if that is common with people who attend those rally’s…

Since we had the rental car we stopped for some needed supplies (Water and milk), and then went back to the boat to have dinner, and download the necessary charts for the next week.

Day 16

Today was the most interesting day of the trip so far. It started out at the end of the Dardenne slough at MM 222. We began moving at 8:30 to a brisk and windy November morning… Along the way we enjoyed beautiful bluff views on the Illinois side, who knew Illinois had anything but skyscrapers and farmland?? We were told by the owners of the Lighthouse restaurant that we needed to stop in Alton, IL and eat at Fast Eddies. Alton was about a 20-mile trek from where we spent the night, and we arrived at about 11:00. We stopped at the Alton Marina for fuel and dockage so we could do lunch at Fast Eddies. I spent $200 on fuel and the guy still had the nerve to charge us a $5 docking fee, with noone else around! Honestly people… We walked a mile to Fast Eddies and found out they didn’t open until 1:00, and what do you do with an hour to spare? Got to the dollar store, of course! Interesting neighborhood, we fit in perfectly since we were in jeans and sweatshirts, and haven’t showered for two days!! You know things can get interesting when as one of the customers was leaving the store he yelled to the cashier “I suppose you guys think it is convenient that you have the police station across the street.” The oddest part: He was in the store for 10 minutes and didn’t buy anything… Yet another world’s stupidest criminals got away because it was the world’s worst cashier! And we are not even south of the Mason Dixon line yet!! One hour’s result of the Dollar Store: One puzzle, 6 birthday cards, and one can of whipping cream…

Fast Eddies opened at 1:00; we got there about five minutes to and we were order #32… The senior’s bus beat us!! We stood in line for 20 minutes for a dozen jumbo shrimp, two (1/2 lb) cheeseburgers, and two baskets of fries. Total: $8.25 – and the shrimp was good! The only requirement at this bar is that you have to order an alcoholic drink with the food purchase and there is no carryout! They also support a very interesting cliental: Seniors, Suits, College Students, Fat, Skinny, Mullets, Baldies, Crazies, Sane (us), and the occasional funk smelling soak… All in all the place had great food and a fun atmosphere, we would recommend to anyone traveling through the area. In fact, the bar is known throughout the tristate area…

On the way back to the boat we stopped off at “Rubensteins Dirty Junk Shop”… Of course, Grant had to make a new friend and we heard the owner’s life story… Ends up he was 77 years old and had been buying and selling random items for the past 50 years… Quite the entrepreneur, remind you of anyone (Coleman!! – Grant’s friend) He said he is thinking about retiring and selling the whole lot (Coleman, I can hook you up if you want to get into the porcelain tub and scrap metal business!!)…

Well, back to the boat at 3:00 and decided to get south of Lock #26 and anchor for the night… Got through the lock about 4:00 due to a northbound tow delay. It was a beautiful afternoon and we made the call to try for St. Louis, even though we realized we would probably not pull in until after dark (20 mile trip). We enjoyed a beautiful sunset (the best yet) and headed down. Well, here comes my inexperience…

So, it all started after we got through Lock #27 (the last lock and dam on the Mississippi). The lock is in a narrow canal that is off the primary flow of the river. All boat and barge traffic is required to take the canal due to low water along the primary channel. There is not a conventional dam associated with Lock #27 so they have two lock chambers. Unfortunately for us there was a barge in the adjacent chamber that had a head start, and sure enough got out ahead of us. We attempted to pass him, however it was dark and difficult to see the buoys for the channel. We got about ¼ of the way past him on the Port side and realized he was coming towards us! He was swinging around a corner and pushing us towards the shore! After repeated attempts to contact him over the radio, we backed off realizing that we would have no chance at winning that battle! No problems, we just followed him for the next few miles since we were only 5 miles north of St. Louis anyway… Slight delay.

Once we got into more open water we were able to pass the barge and get a nice look at the St. Louis skyline. Beautiful at night with the arch light up. Under the impression there would be dockage available in downtown St. Louis (Dad!), we kept an eye out for a municipal dock, or at the least a marina… Only one problem… There was nothing!! Only barges, barges, and more barges! Here comes the scary part, it was pitch dark (new moon), the river was moving twice as fast as we were used to, there were trees (yes trees) floating down the river that could tear a gaping hole in the side of the boat at any moment, and the barge traffic was so heavy that the boat was rocking violently constantly. Ok, so Grant may have gotten a little over confident about his piloting ability!! Decision time. Where do we go for the night? We can’t see, and are a 20 miles from the nearest marina, north or south… First choice is to head back north about 6 miles against the heavy current and try to find a place to anchor a mile or so up the main river where the boats are not allowed to traverse (hopefully not going too far as to hit the low water)… Well, we get up to where the main channel and the canal we came from meet and… KLUNK! Oh, God we hit a log in the river! Looking back we see a 6 foot log split into three pieces… With a quick check, we determine there is no apparent damage, and decide that even though the nearest marina is 20 miles downstream, we should try for it. After all, with the stronger current and heavy barge traffic, who knows if the anchor would hold. Best to be safe and get a good night’s sleep. Tabbie heads down below to call ahead to the marina and alert them to our late arrival, and Grant turns around to start heading south again. Well, being a novice, the best plan Grant could come up with was to follow a barge south through all of the industrial hoopla. There were literally 3-4 dozen barges, some with 15 tankers and others with only 1, but they would zig zag across the river without any concern for a foolish pleasure craft… Somehow, our luck stayed by our side and the barge we chose traveled almost the entire distance through the mess, and at a fast pace. Grant finally found the channel that the barges monitor and spoke with the one in front of us, and he helped by letting us know if we were in the way, or needed to move. After the major part of the industrial section, we still had 10 miles of water to cover to get to the marina, in the middle of darkness. Fortunately we were able to use the two spotlights we had to find the channel markers, and made our way slowly but surely, finally arriving at the marina at 10:00, over 12 hours since we left our last overnight spot.


Inside Fast Eddies (he is pointing to the Key West plate)


Ha Ha Grant


Grant making a new friend


Sunset in the canal (Yes it is still COLD!!!!)


Burly man Grant (Can you hardly recognize him?)


A beautiful sunset in the canal


Our 1st lock in the dark


A blurry St Louis, MO


The arch



Fast Eddies (outside)

Day 15

We left the marina at 8:30 this morning after topping off the water tank. Not a bad day to be on the river, we enjoyed the scenery, and Tabbie of course slept. We decided to take an alternate route down a slough that went past a number of marinas and houses along the river that it seems is a vacation spot for people in St. Louis. Talk about run down! It was like the slums of a major city along the river! There were houses that looked like they had been deserted for years (on good property I might add), and marinas that desparetly needed a face lift. If Tampa doesn’t work out, Grant is going to come back and redevelop the area into one large vacation destination – maybe a few waterparks and fudge shoppes!! The Dells for the Mississippi….