Sept. 29-30 Alton to the near the end of the Upper Mississippi.

9/29:We left Alton Marina at 7am with 7 other loopers. Here we are in the Mel Price Lock looking back at the Clark Bridge with the Alton marina to the right. You can also see the bridge above the lock, this is where I took pictures from yesterday when we toured the lock.

15 miles south we waited for about a half hour for this tow to exit the lock. Not sure why tows are called tows since they actually push the barges.

Approaching St. Louis, Gateway Arch is in the background.

Great view of the Arch, sorry it didn’t work out for us to actually go up the arch. No public marinas in St. Louis. Apparently the Mississippi’s current and fluctuating water levels are just too much to keep up with.

Leaving St. Louis, a quagmire of pleasure boats to the left, huge “tows” in the middle to dodge and staged barges anchored to the right.

Still life of rust of I don’t know what.

Went down river about 60 miles to Hoppie’s Marina. This is a “must-do” stop in Looper World. It is owned by the Hopkins family, Charles Hopkins is known as Hoppie and his wife Fern advises Loopers on the current river hazards every day around 5pm.

The marina is made up of rusted barges. They do provide power, but no water and no other amenities.

A short 10 minute walk brought me into Kimmswick, Mo. This tiny town is filled with cute shops that sell lots of tchotchkes. They have an apple butter festival at the end of October that attracts 300,000 people. Can’t wrap my head around that, but apparently it’s a big deal here.

Buildings and shops in Kimmswick, the first two were built in 1840, same year as our daughter Jessi’s house (and our in-law apartment).

Back at the marina.

The cable at the top of the picture holds one of the barges in place. This marina survived the epic 1993 flood which raised the Mississippi to above the level of the cables.

A study in rust and rope.

The famous Fern comes down in her golf cart to brief the Loopers. At age 80+, she reminded me of my mother in law Joan.

Fern holding court. Note the gentleman in the wheel chair. He and his wife own a boat that is “one level.” He runs the boat while his wife handles all the lines. Pretty cool.

Fern finishing up her seminar with several Loopers taking notes.

September 30, We left at sunrise. Morning sun lights up this magnificent house. We have seen very few houses along the Mississippi, again, the ever changing water levels must be a deterrent for building nearing the River’s edge.

The cliffs of the Mississippi along with random staging areas for filling barges with stone and/or gravel.

A few pelicans on the shore. We did see several eagles today and lots of monarchs gliding by.

A dredging operation.

Aft end of the dredging operation.

Bucolic scene of the Mississippi – miles and miles of tree lined shore, minimal houses, sandy shore and no litter.

This may be as close as we get to seeing Huck and Tom along the Mississippi.

Views of Grand Tower Rock, if you use your imagination, I can see two (possibly 3) muppets with trees for Mohawk hair dos.

The current in the Mississippi was so strong. At 1600 RPM we generally go 9.4 MPH. But with this current, same RPM, we averaged 12.1+ MPH. That’s like going 120 miles per hour in car world.

Biggest tow yet for us – 5 wide and 6 long, 30 barges!

Must be such a challenge to steer around the bends.

Went by Cape Girardeau where we once again saw the Nina and the Pinta (not sure why there isn’t a replica of the Santa Maria). All these people are in line to view the boats. Guess that’s how they fund their voyage. Cape Girardeau is also known for its murals.

So we traveled 120 miles which may be a personal record for us. It was just too fun to keep gliding down the river until we approached sunset. This is our backyard for the night.

Looking down (crappy water color) it looks like we are under way, but we’re at anchor. Current is crazy here at 3+ knots. Basically we just pulled over off the channel.

Our front yard. Up ahead on the right is a tow that purposely grounded its 15 barges. Not sure what it’s waiting for, but the tow/barges were still there in the morning.