Alton, IL to Kimmswick, MO (including St. Louis drive-by) to Kaskaskia River, IL

We awoke to another beautiful day and were ready to shove off by 9:00 AM. Because Lock 26, aka the Mel Price Lock, is less than two miles away in Alton, we called the lock master before leaving to check the traffic. He said they were only using one of two chambers, there were a bunch of tows already in the queue and we would have to wait four hours to get through! It ended up being more like five, but we were grateful that we could bide our time at the marina in our covered slip rather than out on the water dodging tow boats. We were significantly behind schedule for the day and began to worry about getting to our planned destination before dark. The next major port we passed was St. Louis, which has zero recreational boating facilities and few good places to anchor on the heavily industrialized riverfront. 

We also had one more lock to pass through, the Chain of Rocks #27. This final lock on the Mississippi is in a 10-mile canal that bypasses a set of rapids in St. Louis. All vessels must heed the simple sign below and enter the canal to avoid the rapids. In 2021, one skipper missed the turn and you can see what happened.

We didn’t miss the turn, and got some payback for our long wait earlier—Lock 27 was ready to take us down the final 12-feet with no wait, and they let us  “float the lock,” where you use your engine to stay in the middle of the lock chamber without taking any lines from the lock master. When we exited the Chain of Rocks Canal and got back in the main channel, the current was ripping along and gave us a 3-4 mph boost. We recalculated our ETA and realized that we could still see St. Louis in the light and make our next stop just after sunset. We called Hoppie’s and they graciously offered to wait for us.

We arrived at dusk, got instructions on the VHF and landed Dragonfly into the heavy current as the staff took our lines, safe and sound after a challenging 41-mile day. Since 1934, Hoppie’s Marine Service has been a part of river history and Looper legend. Hoppie’s is a series of barges tied together and anchored in the river and ashore. Services are basic, but it’s a critical last fuel stop on the Great Loop route before Paducah, KY, a distance of over 200 miles. Hoppie and Fern are behind the scenes now, but their daughter Debbie and her husband Ray continue to offer boaters not only a safe place to stop and gas up, but their considerable knowledge of the river and how to best navigate the last stretch of the Upper Mississippi.

This morning we walked into charming Kimmswick, MO (population 157), had breakfast at the Blue Owl, visited one of the many gift shops in town, returned to Hoppie’s to top off all of our fuel tanks and jerry cans and got back out on the river. 

We throttled down on the Suzuki outboard to conserve fuel, but still averaged 8.5 mph over the 42 miles to our next stop. The strong current can be seen below in the tail of water to the right of the nun buoy. The rock pile in the center right is one of hundreds of wing dams constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers to funnel water into the main channel, which scours out the bottom to keep it as deep as possible. Many wing dams are visible during the current drought, but many are still submerged, and woe betide the careless skipper who leaves the navigation channel and encounters one of these immovable propellor-busters.

The Kaskaskia River is a tributary of the Mississippi and has a lock about one-half mile from its mouth. There is a floating wall that separates the lock (left) and dam (right) and the friendly lock masters will let you tie up for the night, a pleasant respite from the swift current and tow boat wakes on the Mississippi.

Port Charles Harbor, MO to Alton, IL

As Kathleen mentioned yesterday, we are finally on the actual route of the America’s Great Loop, after traveling more than 600 river miles from home. We passed Grafton, IL, where the Illinois River joins the Mississippi, and the location where we’ll “cross our wake” next year.  We went a little further to Alton, IL, to get fuel (outboard and stove) and other provisions. Our next few days will take us to the end of the Upper Mississippi, then we’ll head up the Ohio River, with fewer places to stop.

The scenery is still gorgeous, and it’s hard to believe that we’re so close to St. Louis, with mile after mile of undeveloped riverfront. We passed some interesting bluffs today, with a highway shoe-horned in between the river and the cliff. The weather continues to be amazing and we plan to take advantage of the omega high pressure system parked over the Midwest, which should keep dishing up sunny days and light winds into next week. 

As we approached Alton Marina, we came across our old friend the American Symphony, loading up for another cruise north to St. Paul. Fun fact: the smallest passenger stateroom on this vessel has significantly more living space than our entire boat! 

Herons and Egrets and Owls, Oh My!

Greetings and Salutations from St Charles, MO (a northwest suburb of St Louis).  This is KG - pretty tuckered out from a VERY long day on the water.  We traveled just over 64 miles today. With the two locks we had to go through this day took 8+ hours.  We went through Lock 24 and 25 today - if you’re paying attention you’ll notice we didn’t go through Lock 23 since that one doesn’t exist.  You may ask yourself - Why is there a Lock 13 but not a Lock 23?  Fun fact: The Army Corp of Engineers realized when they were putting their plan into action that they didn’t need a lock at the site planned for Lock 23 and once again didn’t want to renumber the locks (see Lock 5A discussion). 

Despite our long day, we will still just spend one night here and be on our way first thing in the morning to travel to Alton, IL.  Believe it or not, Alton will be the first stop on the official “Great Loop”  since the Mississippi River north of Grafton, IL (the town just before Alton) is considered a Loop side trip.  Another fun fact: the distance we traveled today is about 1% of the total distance we’ll travel on the entire trip.

We’re settling into a pretty good routine onboard the boat.  We’ve adopted Port/Starboard duty days for getting underway and going through the locks (KG is Port and Tony is Stbd in case you’re wondering).  Otherwise we trade off driving so the other can nap, catch up on news and get things done like calling marinas to arrange for our moorings up to a day ahead, knitting, etc.  Our bluetooth speaker has been great for listening to music - same rules as the car apply - whoever is driving gets full control of the music.  We’ve been having story time on the long days, I reading short stories or articles to Tony as he drives to break up the monotony.  And crosswords are a great two-person activity when only one is able to give undivided attention.

Mostly, though, we are in awe of the scenery along the river.  We have been alone except for an occasional tow (and even rarer fishing boat) for the last several days and have been marveling at the great expanse that is the Mississippi River and the interesting flora. We encountered a couple of these trees - does anyone know the name?  Take a look at the crazy roots that stick out of the ground.

The blue heron have now become plentiful in the mix of all of the water birds and this stretch has lots of varying scenery that we can appreciate traveling at 7-8 miles an hour.  Today we had several small winged riders - here are pictures of the dragonfly and the butterfly that both hitched a ride for quite a while

I thought that the slow travel was going to be the worst part of the trip, but I’m loving it.  It gives one time to appreciate what they are seeing, and to grab the binoculars when things are far away.  The other benefit of slow living in general, is that you end up doing away with stuff you did daily that wasn’t really benefiting you since you can’t cram everything into your day.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’ll be happy to get back to my electric coffee grinder and my dishwasher, but taking the time to do things by hand that are important to you can be meditative if you have the right attitude.  

To answer a question we got recently: Once we’re done with our dinner clean-up it’s time to get the boat log updated, and plan the route for the next day.  Tony did extensive planning and research  for this entire trip, but we don’t have every day and stop scheduled because the schedule is dictated by weather and our energy level, in addition to the route. So Tony spends time every evening plotting the next day’s route once we’ve determined our short term travel plan of 1 or 2 days. We have mostly been staying in marinas on the Mississippi, though we do plan to do more anchoring as there is more interesting shoreline to explore in waters that are less commercial.  We have stayed in both municipal and privately owned marinas, but we have always called ahead to arrange for a slip.  Once we were told just take one, since at that marina the slips were first-come-first-served and free.  But, normally the slips cost $1-2/ft and usually come with electricity and water. 

We hope you’re enjoying the blog as much as we’re enjoying recording our adventure. If nothing else, I hope you’re learning some geography.  I know I am since we didn’t have that subject at St Luke’s!

Ta Ta for now.

Hannibal, MO to Rockport, IL

After breakfast at Becky Thatcher’s Diner, we watched the American Queen cruise past our slip, then got underway from Hannibal.

We had to wait about 30 minutes at Lock 22 for a 15-barge tow to reconnect and exit before we locked down. If the next lock is close to our departure point, we will call the lock master and get an estimate before shoving off. If the next lock is farther downriver, we roll the dice and hope for the best. There is a useful tool, called Automatic Identification System (AIS), that removes some of the guess work. AIS transmitters are required on all commercial ships, and are optional on recreational vessels. AIS tells you the name of the vessel, it’s course, speed, destination and other details. One of our handheld VHF radios has an AIS receiver, and we also use an iPhone app, Boat Beacon, that communicates with shore stations to relay the necessary info. When we approach a lock, we’ll check AIS for any commercial traffic in the chamber or approaching the lock, and adjust our speed, then call the lock master on the radio when we’re about a mile away to get in the queue. So far it’s worked, and we only have four more locks to go on the Mississippi.

Today we went 26 miles to Rockport, IL, an unincorporated town across the river from Louisiana, MO. We’re at Two Rivers Marina, a very nice facility that is living up to its great online reviews. We did our laundry, enjoyed hot showers, and Kathleen practiced her fiddle out of the sun in our covered slip. 

Hannibal, MO

We only traveled 19 miles today, but had to stop in Hannibal, Missouri, that All-American river town, boyhood home of Samuel Langhorne Clemens and inspiration for the adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. 

We tied up at another no-frills municipal marina, this one right in town, and were greeted by a calliope concert from the Mark Twain Riverboat as it was loading up passengers for a tour. After lunch in the cockpit on another beautiful sunny day, we headed down Main Street to the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum, a well-restored, informative, multi-building exhibit of the Clemens family’s life in Hannibal. 

Fun fact (and one you won’t learn at the museum): Samuel Clemens joined a Confederate militia early in the Civil War, but served only two weeks before deserting. He went west to Nevada, where he began his career in journalism and adopted his famous pen name. Fun fact (and popular nautical trivia question): “Mark Twain” was a term used on riverboats—it means two fathoms, or 12 feet of water depth, which was safe for navigation. 

Hannibal, MO is also the birthplace of Margaret (Tobin) Brown, better known as “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” who heroically assisted fellow passengers board lifeboats and survived the 1912 sinking of The Titanic.

After getting our fill of Hannibal’s history, we visited the gift shops and general stores that line Main Street, then hiked to the grocery store and back to Dragonfly. There’s a cruise ship due in early tomorrow morning, so we’ll be on our way again.

We’re walking…

Seeing beautiful sunrises never gets old. These two pics were taken 20 minutes apart today:

And here’s a couple of boat pics with our cockpit enclosure up:

We spent most of today on our feet walking around Quincy, IL, which was the third-largest city in Illinois in the 1850s. There are dozens of parks and we saw our fair share. Quincy also has several museums, but they had limited hours and we weren’t really in the mood, so we ended up at the local movie theater to see the new Agatha Christie movie, “A Haunting in Venice.” It’s very dark, in both storyline and cinematography, but is a nice thriller and we enjoyed doing something for a change that wasn’t touristy or boat-related. We walked more than nine miles in 85-degree heat, which we hadn’t planned on doing. Our intel said that there was Lyft service here (no Uber), but we had no luck getting our ride request accepted, and the only taxi service listed in town had a phone number that was out of service. Next time we take the folding bikes.

One park we visited on Quinsippi Island is a recreation of a mid-19th century log cabin village, which began as an Eagle Scout project in the late 1960s. It’s quite interesting, with six cabins, including homesteads, corn crib, smokehouse and chapel. About 100 yards from these structures is a stone monument and plaque, erected in 2003 (also by a Boy Scout), indicating that the land was along the Potawatomi Trail of Death. One of many campaigns that forcibly removed Native Americans from their homes and land, at least 40 perished during this relocation and were buried along the trail. In hindsight, I think that this contrast was partly responsible for not wanting to visit any local museums today. 

Keokuk, IA to Quincy, IL

We said goodbye to Iowa in grand style this morning. We woke up early to leave Keokuk at first light, to beat the worst of today’s expected wind.

Two miles downstream is Lock & Dam 19, which is special in several ways. It has the highest drop on the Mississippi, at 38 feet. It is one of the few dams on the river that has a hydro-electric plant associated with it, and the original lock was privately funded by the power company. The modern lock that we went through today is 1,200 feet long, twice the normal length. It utilizes floating bollards, which move up and down the lock walls with the changing water level. To control your boat, you loop a line around the bollard and ride it to the next pool level. In the other 18 locks that we’ve passed through, the drop has only been 8-10 feet, and you simply hold onto a line that is dropped down by the lock master (second photo).

The river is still mostly wild, but industrial areas are more common here and there are barges lining the riverbanks in every town. We’re seeing a lot of cormorants on the water and in the air, along with pelicans, and we still spot bald eagles every day, and never tire of them. Something else we’ve noticed is a lot of houses on stilts.

We traveled 40 miles today, to Quincy, IL, named after President John Quincy Adams. By late morning, the winds were brisk, as expected, and kicked up quite a nasty chop on our journey south. We never felt unsafe, but got bounced around and took a fair bit of spray over and around the dodger and into the cockpit. We are docked at the municipal marina on Quinsippi Island, and our dear readers will be pleased to know that it is quiet and peaceful here, far away from any trains. Rain showers and thunderstorms are rolling through as I write this, while Kathleen knits in the cockpit under our canvas and vinyl enclosure. We plan to provision in Quincy tomorrow and do some sightseeing. 

Train!!

We’ve been on the move for six consecutive days. One reason is that we’ve had excellent weather, and want to take advantage of it. A second reason is getting ahead of the pack of Loopers that are now stacked up on Lake Michigan. Two of the locks on the Illinois River are closed for scheduled maintenance through the end of September. There are at least 175 Looper boats, plus other recreational and commercial vessels that are waiting for the locks to open and we want to be off the Upper Mississippi before this massive flotilla pours in at Grafton, IL.

But being underway requires daily planning and activity and is tiring, so we’ve been looking for a place to take a day off and rest. Burlington, IA looked promising, but the water level was so low in the marina that they couldn’t even accommodate our shallow-draft MacGregor. Our next choice was Fort Madison, IA, 41 miles from our anchorage, and they had room for us. When we arrived, we knew that it wasn’t going to be a place where we would rest. The marina is undergoing a major renovation. The docks are modern and beautiful, but everything else is in the early stages of rebuilding. The only amenity was a Porta-Potti on the build site that was shared with the construction workers. And of course, there were train tracks next to the marina. We accept that the railroad and the river go hand-in-hand, but still haven’t figured out how to sleep through train whistles. What’s worse in Fort Madison is that the tracks curve near  a bridge and the screeching and squealing of the wheels as the trains slow and turn was deafening. The trains also ran so regularly (in both directions) that we were genuinely curious at how they avoid colliding with one another. The combination of train and construction noise was unbearable, and we left first thing this morning.

Fort Madison was a pleasant town otherwise. We took a nice walk along the river and through town and had a fantastic dinner at Simple Table, a Japanese-Colorado fusion restaurant run by a delightful couple. 

We traveled 18 miles downriver to Keokuk, the southernmost city in Iowa and our last stop in this state. We’re on a wall at the Keokuk Yacht Club, which is preparing for a wedding tomorrow morning, so we’ll probably head out for Day 7 in a row. We both got to take a shower and the club is letting us use their washer and dryer, so all is well. The weather continues to be lovely, with 83F and light-to moderate south winds. So far most of the rain we’ve received has fallen at night. Fun fact: Keokuk is mentioned among funny place names by Krusty the Clown in the Simpsons. Other fun fact: There are train tracks next to this marina too!

Drop the Anchor!

 KG at the quill tonight: I have spent countless mornings on the Mississippi River over the period of sunrise getting ready to row, or out for a run along the river, but this morning was the most peaceful.  We were awakened by the very talkative blue heron that was hanging around our marina before dawn.  I prepared my usual cup of coffee: hand grinding the beans while the water heated and then making my single cup with my Aero Press.  I sat in the cockpit watching a flock of ducks come alive, mingling & chattering to each other and then heading out onto the river in groups of 2 or 4, some singly.  I couldn’t help comparing it to mornings at the boathouse, people coming together, sleepily greeting each other and getting equipment ready and then heading out on the water for a sunrise row. I do miss rowing but I would still rather be here. Once this beautiful sunrise appeared:

I headed out for my morning run, since I didn’t bring a rowing shell along for this journey.  One advantage of river travel so far has been that in every town we’ve docked, there has been a riverwalk to run along.  The riverwalk in Muscatine was up on the levee and running up there brought me back my runs on the levee in New Orleans when my ship was in the shipyard there.  Luckily it’s far less humid here.

We had a very late underway this morning because I wanted to see the National Pearl Button Museum.  Back in the early 1900’s, Muscatine was known as the pearl button capital of the world - they turned out well over one billion buttons a year; buttons that were punched from shells of the river mussels that had lined the midwest rivers, including the Mississippi.  It definitely was worth the delay in the day!

Since we left the Quad Cities, the river has really changed.  Gone are the broad wetlands. We are now seeing much more industrial machinery along the river and the foliage in the unpopulated areas is heavily wooded.  We are seeing more herons and egrets mixed with the pelicans and gulls This is once such industrial area we passed on the Iowa side.

We had seen only one other pleasure craft on the waters over the past couple of days and were wondering if that would be the norm, but today we were passed by a larger power boat from Stillwater, MN and another one with no name.  We caught up to them at lock 17, however, since we all had to wait for a large tow to lock up.  This was our first time being in a lock with multiple watercraft.  There were the three of us power boats and a two person-kayak that pulled into the lock behind us.  The kayak had started in Itasca, MN and the paddlers were planning to travel all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

We traveled 30 miles today and decided that was enough, so we pulled off into a side channel of the Mississippi to anchor for the night.  We have stumbled into a paradise.  It is as if we are in the wilderness with no humans for miles around.  We pulled out the inflatable kayak to check out this side channel of the river (the Iowa slough).  

After our paddle we used our grill for the first time on this trip and had a lovely dinner in the cockpit of the boat listening to the myriad bird calls and watching fish trails in the water.  After our nightly round of cribbage and a cockpit Sun Shower (you fill a bladder with water and let the sun heat it up as you travel and then hang it and voila - you have a hot shower) as the  sun set it was time to retire to the cabin before we were eaten alive by bugs.

Davenport to Muscatine, IA

This morning we woke up to rain showers, and while waiting for them to clear out, we met a local couple on the dock who are preparing to start the Great Loop next month. Not only did they tell us the gate code so we could leave the property (and come back), but they offered to drive us on any errands before we got underway. We have been told that Loopers are friendly, generous people, and we are seeing that first hand! 

We called Lock 15, which is visible from the marina, to get an approximate wait time, departed after the 45 minutes that they estimated, and waited another 30 minutes on the water before passing through the auxiliary lock. Running over this lock is this interesting double-decker bridge, with cars on the lower level and trains on the upper.

We got held up again at Lock 16 for over an hour, waiting for a large tow to split and reform. There was another tow waiting to enter when we exited, and the lock master said that things didn’t get really busy until harvest season. We really can’t complain about delays—we had a much better day than these two sailboats we saw along the way:

We went 31 miles today to Muscatine, IA, which was incorporated in 1839 as Bloomington. Because there were already Bloomingtons in Illinois and Indiana, the new town had problems with misrouted mail, and changed the name to eliminate confusion. Fun fact: there is no other place on Earth called Muscatine. 

We dragged our rudders through the mud to get into the shallow slip at the Municipal Marina, tied up, then walked to Hy-Vee for provisions before enjoying dinner at Guadalajara Restaurant. We were both craving Mexican food and ate our fill, with leftovers for tomorrow. 

Are we getting any better at selfies?

Sabula to Davenport, IA

Today we achieved three new milestones: our first 50-mile day on the water; our first covered marina slip; and we finished our first bag of Jolly Ranchers (the best travel candy ever). It was 50.5 miles and 7 hours down to the Quad Cities (Bettendorf & Davenport, IA, Moline & Rock Island, IL), on another day that started out foggy, then turned gorgeous—75F and light south winds. We breezed through Lock 13, but had to wait at Lock 14 for the American Symphony cruise ship to pass through on it’s way back up to St. Paul.

As we turned into our slip at 1700 hours, the Rock Island Army Arsenal across the river began playing Retreat, the traditional bugle call signaling the end of the workday. We both smiled at the coincidence, and pretended that it was for us. We’re docked at the Lindsay Park Yacht Club in Davenport, IA, under a metal roof. Rain is expected overnight, so the cover should be a nice feature. What was unexpected is that we are literally trapped inside the marina. The docks are gated, and we didn’t receive the code we need to get out of or back onto the property. They’re closed on Mondays and the on-duty manager hasn’t gotten back to us yet. Oh well, stuff happens—all part of the adventure! We did find the (unlocked) bathrooms, gas grills and a very nice deck where we cooked supper. After our cribbage game (Kathleen won a close game) we were treated to a lovely sunset.

Dubuque to Sabula, IA

As we headed south from Dubuque we said goodbye to Wisconsin, which is no longer on our port side—Illinois is our new companion. We plan to visit the Badger State again next year, when we come down Lake Michigan from Mackinaw Island to Chicago. We left Port of Dubuque Marina with our new friends Chris and Kathy close behind, but their smaller outboard couldn’t keep up, so we slowly pulled ahead. We passed quite a few barges today, a couple of idle dredges (they get Sundays off), and the Twilight, a 140-passenger, riverboat cruise ship that was waiting to enter Lock 12 as we exited. We went 45 miles downriver to Sabula, the easternmost city in Iowa, in perfect 70F weather with a light breeze at our backs, cooked dinner onboard, toured the island hamlet on foot, then relaxed until bed time. Tomorrow we’re continuing on to the Quad Cities.

Today’s navigation lesson is on daymarks. Similar to buoys, they indicate the edge of a channel, but daymarks are fixed on shore or to the river bottom, while buoys are floating. Green daymarks are square (like a can buoy, see below), while red daymarks are triangular (like a nun buoy).

There are special daymarkers called crossing marks, which indicate when the main navigation channel shifts to the opposite side of the river. For example, the crossing mark below that we passed today is doing triple duty: it acts as a red buoy, showing the eastern edge of the channel; it tells you that the channel is shifting over to the west side of the river; and it acts as a signpost, telling you what river mile you are passing (572.6).

For mileage and location purposes, the Mississippi River is divided into Upper and Lower segments. The Upper Mississippi begins at Mile 866 in Minneapolis and ends at Mile 0 in Cairo, IL, where the Ohio River joins in. The Lower Mississippi begins there and counts down until Mile 0 again in Louisiana below New Orleans. Fun fact: Rivers in the U.S. are measured in statute miles, same as on the roads, while nautical miles (about 15% longer) are used in coastal and ocean areas.

We are still traveling through beautiful, mostly wild river valleys and wetlands, although we’ve learned a lot in the last two weeks about the impact of modern humans in their efforts to tame the river to suit their needs. We regularly see things along the way that are impressive feats of engineering, creators of jobs and opportunity, but also reminders that the river has been changed forever.