Traveling With PRIORITIES

Monday Aug. 26

44 miles Alton, IL to Hoppies, MO

We left Alton at 0640 to a little haze, but it turned out to be a sunny 90+ degree day.

Our first lock of the day was the Mel Price lock. It was only 10 min. away and dropped 22 feet. They let us float thru so we didn’t have to worry about tying to a bollard.

This is one of the bollards you tie on to that lowers or raises in the lock.

Shortly after leaving the lock the Missouri river joined the Mississippi. Here the current picked up a little. We went from 11 to 13 mph.

Missouri river on the left and Miss. river on the right.

After traveling another 15 miles we came to our 2^nd lock called Chain of Rocks lock. In this lock we dropped 12 feet. On the upstream side of the lock instead of the usual swing doors that shut, they had a wall that was raised and lowered once you where in.

Next we came to St. Louis, MO. WOW!!! Tow traffic was every where. This is one busy city. Even here the tow captains were very friendly. We would talk with them on the radio and they would let us know which side to pass them on, the one whistle (port/left) or the two whistle (starboard/right).

While we where staying at the Alton marina we met a tow captain. He told us that the amount of coal in one barge is equal to 100 railroad cars. That puts things in a whole new perspective on barge traffic vs. train cars.

We stopped for the day at 1100 at Hoppie's marina in Missouri. This marina is quite a bit different from the one we just left. It’s basically a couple of barges hooked together. The couple that runs the marina (Hoppie and Fern) have been here for 40 years. Hoppie’s father started the marina. Every evening Fern will sit out on the dock and talk with any one that’s here and give them information about the river south of here. This is the last fuel stop and marina for the next 200 miles. Fern will be able to tell us the best and worst places to anchor at night. This marina is in the town of Kimmswick. (one of the oldest in Missouri) We went and walked thru but the sad thing is the whole town is closed on Mondays. They kept a lot of the older buildings and turned them into shops. It looks like they sell a little of everything.