Breakfast out, Laundry and Tiki-touring.

Sundays are our usual breakfast out, days. Other Loopers in the marina had made arrangements to go to the Lodge at Pere Marquette Park, but we couldn't wait until 9.30am to join them, so made the decision, after putting the second load of washing on, downstairs, to go early. We had too much to do at the boat and wanted to get ahead of the game.

The lodge is lovely. Everything you think of with a Lodge. Huge great room with HUGE fireplace, smokey smell, huge open beams etc. The grounds are lovely....trees everywhere and it has a country lodge feel to it. Lots of little chalets for accommodation, as well as the Lodge itself.

 Mother Nature Sculpture near the entry.

 Sorry for the poor photo...my camera just didn't want to take a better one:( Inside the Living room on the lodge.

 The lovely fabric sculptures hanging from the rafters.

 This corner was delightful..I felt like sitting here to read the morning paper...if we had one:)

 

 

Following a Buffet Breakfast($7.99 ea) which we shouldn't have eaten...it was mostly cold!....we really wanted to order the Eggs Benedict, but didn't. Oh well! The surroundings were  lovely and we enjoyed them.

 

We went back to the boat and did yet another load of laundry...towels, sheets, clothes and rags...all needed washing! We had them hanging on the line above the Cockpit, per usual, and the warm breeze was drying them well.

We decided to go back to Alton to see if the cake shop was open...it wasn't! Bummer, or not. A good thing, one might argue:) Good for our waistlines, anyway, lol.

We found a place to eat lunch, and ordered. We needed to get to another JoAnn's store, down the river, to see if they had the last piece of fabric for me to make the dinghy cover. The last store only had 7 yards. We needed 3 more.

 

I forgot to tell you that we went to the Lewis and Clark museum after going to the Lock and Dam on Saturday.

 

 

 

 The Lewis and Clark story is fascinating. Sent by the President himself, to make a trade route to the West Coast of the USA, Lewis and Clark endured much hardship in their travels and they documented it all very well.

This is a cut-away model of a Pirogue boat that they built to go up the  Missouri.

 This is the cutaway half of the Pirogue, detailing the captains quarters...the captain being Lewis or Clark.

 This shows how the Pirogue was packed for the journey.

 Salt Pork.

 

All very fascinating!

 

Outside was a reproduction of Camp Du Bois which the Lewis and Clark expedition built, on the Mississippi River. They spent two years in this camp, preparing for the big trip up the Missouri River.This is not the exact location of the Camp, just a recreation of it.

 

 Things were pretty basic! and probably COOOOLD in winter.

 The explorers enjoyed some comforts...Lewis and Clark that is. Not so  the men, however.

The Levee is behind the little cottage.

 

 

 

Back to regular programming...Sunday!

 

After our lunch, we put the GPS to use to find a JoAnn's store to buy the extra fabric. I am making this dinghy cover because we cannot buy one. Never mine, I like doing these things:)

 

Finally found the store, and yes, they had exactly what we needed. We also went to Lowes to find Waz some plastic bins. His old ones are broken.

 

Following that, we decided to get some Chinese Buffet for dinner. We have had good experiences with these places and this one proved to be the best we have had so far.  Ok, so it was three meals out, today. Not good. My body doesn't like all this food. We did eat lots of veg for dinner, which is one reason for going to such a place. We have missed a good Chinese restaurant for some time.

 

We hit the road home with the help of the GPS and watched the sun set, all the way home. We wanted to get back to the boat while the sun was still up, but didn't quite make it. We had gone further than we anticipated. So far, in fact, that our mileage allowance for the weekend was compromised. Bother! We still hadn't been to downtown St Louis. Another day!

 

Wehad the car on Monday morning too, but had to return it by 11.30am. We were up early and off to the grocery store this morning. WE didn't need a whole lot, and arrived at the Car rental office early. It took another hour for us to get a ride from Jerseyville back to Grafton.

 

Putting away all the groceries is more of a chore than choosing them:( It takes time, I guess.

 

Our afternoon was spent cleaning. We did the normal pre-journey checks, maintenance etc, and I did a very thorough vacuum. Lots of dust in Grafton! I was going to wash the outside of the boat again, but was too tired. I got rid of the obvious spider marks and did some rag wipes on the outside. She was cleaned a week ago, so she wasn't too bad.

 

Monday,late afternoon, the Pinta and Nina arrived at the Marina. They parked on the outside of the pontoon separating us from the Mississippi. They both entered the marina to refuel.

 

 It was necessary for the dinghy they carry to assist them in docking at the fuel dock. The Mississippi runs pretty fast, and it was dangerous coming around the pontoon to the marina.

 The dinghy had to assist them getting around the poles and back out into the current.

 Late in the afternoon the fisherman came around.  He was very successful. We watched as he swallowed the little 4 inch fish.

 Another lovely sunset.

We went over to F dock to meet with all the other Loopers who are leaving on Tuesday morning. They wanted to discuss how early to leave, how to get in touch with the lock and what else to do for the day.

 

Leaving at 7am was agreed to.

 

We were interrupted in our preparation on Tuesday morning, by a tow. Nevertheless, we took off!

Sunrise at Grafton Marina

 

 All is still! but not for long.

 We dropped our lines and made our way down river, just before 7am.

 Followed by 5 other boats. All going to the same place...except one.

 Getting out into the River itself was challenging because of the swift current. The river has gone down at least 6 feet and there is a sand bank to the right of this boat...we didn't want to start our day by grounding there! We had to turn around the pontoon quickly and speed out into the river.

We passed the tow and he went on his way up the Illinois River. The rest of our flotilla exited the Marina.

 It was about 45F this morning. That is Fog on the water! We ended up wearing our down jackets and I even put my winter hat on, so cold was my head....feet went into the sheekskin slippers and hands into pockets.

 The Clark bridge at Alton loomed large. Such a lovely sight first thing with that early morning light on it. Another tow going our way was under the bridge already, and that meant we would be held up at the Melvin Price Lock, which he went in first.

 The Argosy Casino in Alton, from the river.

 Once under the bridge, the Lock came into view. The auxiliary chamber on the far left was closed to allow them to remove some of the log jam. We waited for about an hour while they did this. We six boats marked time in the channel, and had to move over while another 15 pack went into the large chamber to lock through with the smaller tow ahead of us.

 The distance between the bridge and the Lock isn't great. We were all strung out between the two, waiting for the gate to open and let us in.

 The bollards were low, so it created a problem for those of us with tall boats.

 The gates closing behind one of our boats. You can see the debris in the water, still.

 As we exited, I took this photo to show the little  tug boat and the size of the lock walls in comparison. Those are spare gates in this chamber.

 This cloud formation was amazing!

Barge Dry Dock, on the side of the Mississippi. St Louis and its environs are so industrial as to be unattractive. We come through so many of these areas, of course, but I have to say that St Louis is one of the least attractive waterfronts we have encountered.

 Coming into the Chain of Rocks Canal. It is a bit of a misnomer, apart from the rocks lining the man-made banks of this canal. The chain of rocks is actually a Rapids on the right hand canal, which we didn't want to , nor could take. As the sign says....Enter here...left side.

 That is one of our flotilla entering the Chain of Rocks canal. We were told it is very narrow, but there was plenty of room  and for boats to pass. Being 19 feet deep to the banks, it was quite impressive!

 The green Levees everywhere are a constant reminder of the flooding that takes place every year, on this waterway.

 You can see how wide the canal is, and plenty of passing room. That is the Spirit of Peoria, coming back from St Louis, on the right.

 We took photos of her, and her occupants took photos of us:) We all waved at each other, as you do!

 The next lock was at the bottom of this canal, and we had to wait an hour in a holding pattern at a busy barge fleeting area. One of the barges that had followed us at speed, down the Miss, and the canal, offloaded three of its 12 barges there. It is always fascinating to watch the tows working. Here we are waiting for a tow in the lock, to lock through before we were called into the chamber.

 We came around a corner, and there before us was the City of St Louis. Our first glimpse of THE ARCH. Isnt this what ST Louis is famous for? or MOST famous for?

 First we had to go under yet another stunning bridge.

 The simplicity of this design is fantastic.

We found out that this is a Casino and Hotel...That didn't detract from the originality of the design though:)

 Workers trying to clear some of the debris washed down the river, that had been collected on the banks, just below the bridge.

 The Arch is fantastic. There is an egg shaped elevator that takes 5 people (all hunched up, we are told) up the arch to the very top where we could see little windows that you can look out of.

 We finally arrived, (after two hours of delays at Locks) at Hoppies Marina...such as it is. Fern Hopkins is Legend on the River and  does a 'briefing' daily for the boaters going on down the river. She covers all 700 remaining miles to get to Mobile, Alabama. This is one of the more difficult stretches of water (rivers and lakes) because of the long distances between anchorages and marinas. She has wise words to impart and it is good to listen!
The marina itself is dubious. These are barges  that have been  connected (and the pump on one of them goes 24/7, to keep it afloat, lol. The boats on THIS side of the barges are more permanent residents, while the transients, such as ourselves tie up on the river side. It is challenging getting into the marina, especially when high water, because of the at least 3 knot (5 mph, approx.) current running in the Mississippi. That also doesn't take into account the horrendous debris that is floating down, constantly. Great rafts of it!

 We were first in, being the largest of the flotilla, so we are at the head of the last barge, behind a house boat...which is fortunate, given the amount of debris that could be caught up under us. Fern gave usthe advice to start our engines and put them in reverse first, so that any debris caught under the boat is thrown back out, rather than sucked into the props, and running the risk of damage.

 Looking Upstream from the bridge to the Marina.

 A passing tow, and debris going past. This raft was a lot larger than it shows here.

 

We enjoyed a walk into the little town nearby for some afternoon tea...I wont tell you what we ate!!! well, ok....Waz ordered Carrot Cake from this well known Blue Owl Bakery and Restaurant....which he said was not as good as mine...wise man:) and I ordered a Turtle cheesecake...which was SOOO sweet I couldn't eat the whole thing, of course. We enjoyed the company of other boaters, Ken and Terry, at the table and then walked back. We learned from Terry, this morning, as we were casting the other three boats off, that Ken's brother died, late afternoon, yesterday, at 69:(  A sobering event. So glad we are all doing this NOW. You never know when your time is up. We are sorry that Ken and Terry will have to return to Long Island for a few days for this purpose.

We cooked dinner and ate downstairs...it was a bit too cool upstairs to enjoy the view. We had another cold night...around 47F I think. Today promises to be an other bright sunny one. Now that the fog has lifted, we can go outside and enjoy some of that sun.

We are working on the new dinghy cover, today. It is good to have a day at rest to do this. The old cover is literally in shreds, which isn't good for the cover or the dinghy. We bought fabric for the new cover....took a while, but we got it all! and the notions necessary, so it is all stations go.

As soon as I publish this, I will set up the sewing machine and go for it. It has to be done TODAY!

 

Ciao for now. It will be a few days before I post again.