Mighty Mississippi....221 miles

rlehardt

Oct 1, 20222 min read

We had a wonderful wedding weekend after driving from Grafton, IL to Saugatuck, MI to celebrate the marriage of our nephew Allen to his beautiful bride Erin. It was great to spend time with family and friends. We are now travelling down the Mississippi River. Left Grafton, IL on Tuesday, 9/27 and headed up the Mississippi River a couple of miles to Port Charles Marina to get some boat repairs done. Fortunately we had our heads (toilets) looked at and had some needed repairs done…..hopefully they will last for a while. We left Port Charles on Weds. 9/28 and headed south down the mighty Mississippi River. Traveled thru 2 locks and landed at the looper legendary stop of “Hoppies” - this is the last stop for 228 miles to fuel up. Fortunately, we fueled up in Port Charles and have 400 gallons of fuel……so we should be good to go until Paducah, KY. Traveling 10+ miles per hour, we are averaging 2+ miles a gallon…so should last a while. We tied to the high barge at Hoppies and spent the night there with 7 other loopers. We walked up town to historic Kimmswick, MO and had a great dinner at LaChance Winery. There were many shops to visit, but fortunately for John they were all closed😊 We hoped to have breakfast at the legendary “Blue Owl” restaurant in Kimmswick, but we had to leave the next day before they opened. We also went thru St. Louis this day and right by the Arch. It took my breath away! We did not have a buddy boat with us at that time to take our picture…..but I had a selfie stick so I could get John and I in the picture! It was pretty cool. Due to the boat traffic, we couldn’t slow down for very long. The tow and barge traffic on the Mississippi is much more than I would have thought. We always have to pay attention to what’s happening on the river. After leaving Hoppies, we traveled 40 miles to the Kaskaskia lock and were able to tie up to their wall. Very quiet evening with 6 other loopers. On Friday, we travelled to Little Diversion Channel just south of Cape Girardeau, MO – a 70 mile day. A beautiful and quiet spot to anchor. We are now travelling our last 49 miles on the Mississippi before heading up the Ohio River. One more anchorage tonight then Paducah on Sunday & Monday. Although both of us have really enjoyed anchoring on the rivers, we are looking forward to some time in marinas……we miss walking in the morning and checking the towns out (and wine is getting low 😊).