Week 14: September 5-September 11

We left the Illinois Valley Yacht Club on Thursday and headed to Quiver Island on the Illinois River. We would be facing a few nights either anchoring out or tied to docks that did not have any services. That meant making sure we had ice in the cooler and gas for the generator. We bought ice before we left and hoped that we would be able to replenish as needed.

Quiver Island was recommended as a good place to anchor. Bahama Voyager set anchor and we rafted on one side and Paddy Wagon on the other. Since we had no power, Bahama Voyager powered up his gas grill and we grilled burgers. Of course, in the morning Peter would start the generator since we needed to make coffee.

It was a quiet night except when I woke up at 4;30am and noticed lights that looked like they were coming right at us. There was a dock down the channel and one of the work boats had tied up and had their lights on along with the dock light. As the boats swung during the night, we were at a different angle to see the dock/lights. Seems like I was the only one who noticed while everyone else was sleeping. We were fine but the lights did give me a start.

The next stop was Logsdon Tug Service in Beardston, IL. We tied up to some old barges but there were no services. They did have a restroom with a shower that the workers use and we were informed that it would be available if we wanted to use it but we decided to use our own facilities.

However, we were close to town and there were a number of interesting sites. We visited the Lincoln Courthouse and Museum. For, Peter, a big history lover, this was a thrill. It is still an active working courthouse. Since court was not in session, we were able to tour the courthouse and sit in chairs that Lincoln may have actually used. After the tour we headed back to our boats. Instead of cooking, we had leftovers and the others decided to try some local dining.

Another day on the Illinois River and we arrived in Hardin, IL. Once again we tied up to some old barges without service. However, the docks belong to Mel’s Riverdock Restaurant that is recommended highly by others. We ate dinner at the restaurant, large portions, reasonable prices. Since it had started to rain and the projection was for rain in the morning, we decided to leave later than usual and go back to Mel’s for breakfast. We didn’t have a long run the next day and we knew we were heading to a marina, for two days, with power and all the other amenities that we did not have for the prior three days.

After breakfast, we left the docks to go to Alton IL. It would be our last stop before really traveling along the Mississippi River. While Alton is on the upper Mississippi, it is also the last place to fuel and provision for another 200 miles. We took advantage of the local supermarket that provides rides to/from the marina. In addition to the usual provisioning and laundry, there were a number of other looper boats planning the same thing so we all got together for docktails at the pool on Monday night.

We left on Tuesday and knew that we were facing another few days without services. Unfortunately, the ship store was not open before we left so I knew that I would be running out of ice and we would need to run the generator more often to keep our food cold.

The Mississippi River has earned its nickname as the Big Muddy. The river is brownish in color with lots of debris – many logs that you need to avoid while still remaining in the channel and avoiding the numerous barges. The one nice thing is the additional speed you pick up because of the current. Our boat has never gone this fast, nor is the engine capable of running at that speed but the current, at times, practically doubled our usual speed. The current will make our journey over the 218 miles of the upper Mississippi shorter in time and for that, we are thankful.

You cannot travel down the Mississippi without stopping by the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO for pictures. The arch is downtown on the riverfront but there is no place to stop. so that you can get into town. So, as many other loopers, we coordinated our photo ops so that we could all have pictures of our boat in front of the arch.

We had reservations at Hoppies Marina (right on the Mississippi) that is actually listed as temporarily closed. The town is still recuperating from high water/flooding. This used to be a stop that loopers would routinely make so we thought we should experience it also. However, it was a stop that could have been skipped. The one advantage was that it was a place to tie up and they actually had a few power pedestals so we had unexpected electric for the night but there was no place in town to replenish our ice.

A walk into the historic town of Kimmswick, MO was interesting. There were a number of cute shops and a few restaurants but most were closed. It seems that most of the town establishments close at either 3pm or 4pm. We found a place that closes at 4pm but since it was 3:45pm, they said they would be able to serve us. Except for rolling from one large barge, the night was uneventful.

Next stop was to the Kaskaskia Lock & Dam. While we would not be going through this lock, it provides a long wall for boats to tie up and be safely off the Mississippi River. We were the first boats to arrive at Kaskaskia but another few looper boats arrived later. As it turned out, one of the boats was planning the same anchorage as we were for the next day but the other boat planned to travel further to another anchorage but we weren’t thrilled with the description of the anchorage and didn’t think it was good spot for three boats. The channel we selected had been used by others we knew who were ahead of us and told us we would be fine rafting our three boats.

We had a peaceful night at Kaskaskia, enjoying a calm river and prepared for the next two nights of no services.

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