9/22/11 - 10/1/11 As we entered the Mississippi, the first landmark was the St. Louis Gateway Arch, a monument to westward expansion completed in 1965. I had been up in the arch years before and St. Louis is not easy to visit, so we didn't stop. A little further down the Mississippi is Hoppies Marine Services at Kimmswick, Missouri. I believe I read somewhere that Hoppie Hopkins is descended from one of the last lamp lighters whose job it was to go around and light the navigation lamps on the river. Although it is just a rather haphazard arrangement of floating barges tethered to the river bank, it is a favorite stop for loopers because it is the last fuel stop for a couple of hundred miles and Fern Hopkins gives a daily briefing on the latest river conditions. The next evening we tied up to the lock wall at the Kaskaskia River where there were already 9 other boats tied. Great happy hour! The Mississippi River is extraordinarily turbulent in places and it takes continuous attention to steer the boat. The next couple of days were rainy and foggy so we found an anchorage behind a wing dam and waited it out. Wing dams are rock structures that radiate from the shoreline to keep the channel deep and navigable. The next day we turned into the Ohio river at Cairo, Illinois (Unlike the Egyptian capital it is pronounced kay-row). The Ohio River was even swifter than the Mississippi and since it flows
into the Mississippi we were now going against the current. At one point, as we were passing a dam, the boat actually stopped briefly which means the current was between 6 and 7 miles per hour. A short time on the Ohio and then an even shorter time on the Cumberland brought us into Barkley Lake. The starboard engine was running hot so we took a day at Green Turtle Bay Marina to change a water pump impeller and we were off again and into the Tennessee River.
9/22/11 - 10/1/11 As we entered the Mississippi, the first landmark was the St. Louis Gateway Arch, a monument to westward expansion completed in 1965. I had been up in the arch years before and St. Louis is not easy to visit, so we didn't stop. A little further down the Mississippi is Hoppies Marine Services at Kimmswick, Missouri. I believe I read somewhere that Hoppie Hopkins is descended from one of the last lamp lighters whose job it was to go around and light the navigation lamps on the river. Although it is just a rather haphazard arrangement of floating barges tethered to the river bank, it is a favorite stop for loopers because it is the last fuel stop for a couple of hundred miles and Fern Hopkins gives a daily briefing on the latest river conditions. The next evening we tied up to the lock wall at the Kaskaskia River where there were already 9 other boats tied. Great happy hour! The Mississippi River is extraordinarily turbulent in places and it takes continuous attention to steer the boat. The next couple of days were rainy and foggy so we found an anchorage behind a wing dam and waited it out. Wing dams are rock structures that radiate from the shoreline to keep the channel deep and navigable. The next day we turned into the Ohio river at Cairo, Illinois (Unlike the Egyptian capital it is pronounced kay-row). The Ohio River was even swifter than the Mississippi and since it flows into the Mississippi we were now going against the current. At one point, as we were passing a dam, the boat actually stopped briefly which means the current was between 6 and 7 miles per hour. A short time on the Ohio and then an even shorter time on the Cumberland brought us into Barkley Lake. The starboard engine was running hot so we took a day at Green Turtle Bay Marina to change a water pump impeller and we were off again and into the Tennessee River.
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