Port #25:Rockin' and Rollin' at Hoppies...

Great Loop II Date: 9/24/2014

Day #55 (Wednesday): 58 miles (1410 total miles)

Locks: 2 (10 total locks)

Port #25: Kimmswick, MO

Excited to get underway once again, OB’s crew was more than ready for the early morning departure from Grafton Harbor.  We had 3 other boats traveling with us, Infinite Sea, Last Mango, Senior Moments and Top Cat (who was at Alton Marina and we had not met).  We had two locks to go through, Mel Price and Chain of Rocks (or Lock 27, which they seem to prefer).  We saw Canadian Flyer, a trawler, leave ahead of us from Grafton.  We caught up with them at Mel Price and passed them as we approached Chain of Rocks.

We arose to a beautiful sunrise!

After the Mel Price Lock we entered the Chain of Rocks Canal.  Can you tell where it is?

Not to worry...they have signs to direct you.

Once in the Chain of Rocks Canal, Canadian Flyer was in front of us.  Barge traffic is ever present, however this one set up our passage in the Chain of Rocks Lock (Lock 27).

As we moved through the canal, we kept hearing 'THUMP...THUMP, THUMP'.  I kept looking to see if we had hit something.  Infinite Sea caught this picture of all the jumping Asian Carp behind us.  They were the culprits making the noise.

Infinite Sea on her bollard waiting for the lock to empty.

Canadian Flyer was behind us on a bollard.  The lock doors actually came up from the bottom of the lock.

St. Louis lay ahead of us as we exited the Chain of Rocks.  Travel was a lot less stressful during this trip to Hoppies than our trip in 2010.  We had so much debris to navigate through in 2010 we barely had time to take pictures as we passed the famous arch in St. Louis.  This time we were able to take pictures of Infinite Sea as she passed the arch and her crew did the same for us.

Coming into the downtown area of St. Louis.

The Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

There's OB passing the Arch.  Many thanks to Infinite Sea for the pictures.

Past the downtown area of St. Louis is a huge staging area for barges.  Thankfully none of these were moving.  Only a few work tows were running back and forth across the river.

We passed this big metal recycling area.  They were loading barges with the recycled metal.

Big new homes have sprung up on the hilltops south of St. Louis.

We arrived at Hoppies with plenty of time to walk into Kimmswick and get lunch at the Blue Owl Restaurant, a treat we missed on the last adventure.  After our delicious lunch, we walked through town from shop to shop until we got a call from Fern telling us it was time for her afternoon update on river conditions from Hoppies to the Cumberland or Tennessee Rivers.

OB docking at Hoppies in Kimmswick, MO.

OB laying up alongside Hoppies system of barges.

Fern giving her afternoon briefing on what to expect from her dock all the way down the Mississippi and up the Ohio Rivers.  She IS the Mother of the Mississippi.  She knows most of the tow Captains, Lock Operators and significant resources along both rivers.  Her updates are imperative for the 250 miles following mariners stop at Hoppies.

The briefing was pretty close to everything I had in my notes from 2010.  Our plan remained unchanged for the two anchorages that lay ahead of us until we would reach the Land Between the Lakes region.  We did have an alternate anchorage should we be lucky enough to get through Lock 52 before sunset on the second day of travel.

Just as bedtime was rolling around, an upstream barge passed leaving a ferocious wake that rocked all of the boats wildly.  Everyone except the crew from OB jumped off their boats to survey the situation.  I guess our crew just figured it was par for the course staying on the river in close proximity to the barge traffic.  No other barges rocked us as badly during the night.