KIMMSWICK, M
MONDAY
MILES TRAVELED TODAY: 52 KM
We were all fed and ready to travel by 8:30 when Dan pulled away from the Grafton dock. The confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers followed almost immediately and we pondered the importance of these water highways that transport so many commodities.
THE MISSISSIPPI JOINS THE ILLINOIS
The Illinois River ended at her MM 0 and we began charting our progress on Mississippi miles that begin here at MM 218.
The towering rock cliffs loomed over the shore to our port and soon we passed under the Alton New Clark Highway Bridge that Kirt and KelLe drove over to leave Missouri and arrive in Illinois. This was followed closely by the colorful Argosy Casino. As Kirt said, “Just enter, give them all your money and leave”.
IMPOSING CLIFFS
ALTON NEW CLARK HIGHWAY BRIDGE
ALTON'S ARGOSY CASINO
By 10:00 we had been welcomed into the smaller of the two chambers of the Mel Price Lock (200.8 MM). The kind lock master saw us and held up his lock-down of another pleasure craft. He cheerfully and authoritatively reminded us that everyone on deck must have on their life jackets. “Aye, Aye Sir.” We locked through with a flotilla of debris; a sheet of plywood, general trash and bobbing trees. Ugh!
KIRT AND KELLE ALL DECKED OUT
LOG FLOATING WITH US IN LOCK
We ran into churning water when the Missouri River joined us at MM 195.5. Run off and sediment made their way into the Mighty Mississippi. We are now on a constant lookout for the floating debris that sometimes lurks just beneath the water’s surface. Kind of like tiptoeing through a mine field.
At the Chain of Rocks Lock (MM 185) we locked-down with a canoe holding two young men who began their journey 500 miles upstream at the Mississippi headlands and plan on continuing all the way to New Orleans. Hang in there, boys!
ROUGHING IT
Whoa! There she is, the towering St. Louis Arch. She stands shimmering guard over her city and ports. An impressive sight to behold, this renowned 45 year old structure. The Goodyear Blimp passed right at her side for an up close and personal look before moving on to other tourist attractions.
THE GATEWAY TO THE WEST
GOODYEAR BLIMP AND THE ARCH
How appropriate for Kirt and KelLe to be with us during this leg of the journey. As we passed Kirt’s old stomping grounds and former employer, Anheuser-Bush, we snapped a few photos of their world headquarters for old times’ sake.
ANHEUSER-BUSH WORLD HEADQUARTERS
Since there is no dockage near St. Louis, we paid our respects from the water and moved on with our tour, dodging the immense barges both anchored and traveling this huge Mississippi. We saw one big tug pushing a raft of 6 across and 7 deep. That’s a lot of cargo! The huge amounts of trash being pushed along by the barges was amazing.
FLOATING TREES BEING PUSHED ALONG
About 23 miles south of St. Louis we pulled into Kimmswick (MM 158.8) and found our way to Hoppie’s Marine Service where Fern and Charles Hopkins greeted us and took our lines. We are tied to their dock made of a 100- ft. barge. A bit rustic but our kind of place. Fern is a wealth of information that she is more than willing to share with us “Loopers”. Legend has it that the Hopkins men worked on the river for years as lamplighters. Young Charles worked with his father and may be the last living Mississippi lamplighter.
HOPPIE'S MARINA
THIS IS IT FOLKS! WE TIED UP TO THEIR BARGE
WITH THREE OTHER LOOPERS
Kimmswick is the second oldest town in Missouri and has an abundance of historic buildings. Unfortunately, every business in the tiny town is closed on Mondays but it did make for an interesting walk.
KIMMSWICK TOWN BANNERTOO, TOO TACKY!
JUST PLAIN SILLINESSDAN'S NEW FRIEND
There ended up being 4 other Loopers at Hoppie’s for the night Fern got us all together and gave us a comprehensive rundown of what to expect down the rivers and how best to prepare ourselves for the barrage of commercial travel and the swift currents.
FERN SHARING SOME OF HER KNOWLEDGE
OF THE RIVER
Bernie and Myra Kovack drove down from St. Louis for a short visit and we all piled into their car and found a Chinese Restaurant for dinner. They had just returned from New York where Bernie’s daughter had gotten married over the week It was a short visit but we enjoyed getting caught up with their news.
BERNIE AND MYRA VISITING THE QUEST
No comments:
Post a Comment