The Mighty Mississippi

We joined the Mississippi at Grafton, MO and immediately picked up 3-4 miles an hour of current in our direction and more as the Missouri River joins the Mississippi 22 miles downstream. Amazing the difference. We have 218 miles to go on this section until we leave the Mississippi at Cairo, IL. and turn left up the Ohio River.

The terrain changed almost as soon as we approached the Mississippi; we now see bluffs in the distance.

We decided to get a marina at Alton, IL, just a few miles down from the junction. Left the next morning after waiting for fog to lift and headed downriver towards St. Louis. But first through the Mel Price lock, 23' drop, and then into the Chain of Rocks canal which bypasses a section of rapids on the Mississippi. Rapids would not be good. Five mile per hour current is thrilling enough!

Then into the Chain of Rocks Lock, a 27' drop, and then rejoin the Mississippi.

Then into St.Louis with it's massive and amazing arch.

No marinas or docks to stay in at St. Louis. Weird because most towns have something - but St. Louis is all business - very busy barge traffic.

And some whimsical lawn art: a diver going into a pool, only the legs showing.

On to Hoppies Marina - one of the must-stops on the river. Hoppies is located in Kimmswick, MO, the second oldest town in MO, founded in 1859, with fewer than 200 residents. In 2007, almost the entire 7-block commercial district was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The marina itself is run by Fern and "Hoppie" Hopkins who live on site (unfortunately Hoppie was in the hospital for back surgery when we were there). The Hopkins men worked on the river as 'lamplighters' for the shipping beacons for years, long before powered lights were installed. Hoppie may be the last living Mississippi River lamplighter.

Every evening Fern has a get together for all the boats at the dock and gives great information on the river: where to stay, what to watch out for, where to anchor, etc. Of course we neglected to get a picture of her - too busy taking notes!

The next day we rented a car with Werner and Kathie from It's About Time and drove into St. Louis. First up was to buy tickets to tour the arch at the old courthouse with its famous rotunda.

The courthouse was officially opened in 1845 and is a beautiful ornate building. One of the most important cases tried in the American court system began here - the Dred Scott case, where Dred and Harriet Scott (a slave family) initiated a lawsuit for their freedom. Through many trials and appeals the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court where the Scott's lost their case and were not given their freedom, even though slavery was not allowed in MO. The Dred Scott case helped move the country toward the Civil War.

And then a short walk to the arch. The area surrounding the arch is under construction - a new park area is being built.

You go up inside the arch in tiny cars (each holds five people and are are extremely claustrophobic - just ask me!). A four minute ride takes you up 630 feet where you can peer out small windows to take in the view.

The 630' high Arch was designed by Eero Saarinen in 1959 memorializing the role of St. Louis in the westward expansion of the U.S. - the gateway to the West. The Arch, built between 1963 and 1965, is a sandwich made of stainless steel on the outside, carbon steel on the inside, and concrete in the middle. We watched a film of the construction which was just amazing. It is designed to flex up to 18" in high winds - thankfully it was calm that day.

After that excitement we were thirsty so we went to the original Anheuser-Busch factory for a tour, and some free beer!

First a look at their famous Clydesdale horses,

And the wagons in their barn.

The old brew house which is still in operation.

Very impressive building with the working clock tower,

And all the original ironwork railings and stairs.

Back to Kimmswick for a quick tour of the town (forgot to take pictures) and then back to the boats to get ready for another day.

Left the docks at 6:45 for a 42.1 mile trip down the Mississippi to the Kaskaskia River where we could tie up next to the lock/dam for the night.

Off the next morning for another long day (60+ miles) down the ole Mississippi to an anchorage in a channel, Little Diversion Canal. It was quite narrow so we used a stern anchor to hold us in the middle. Other boats anchored opposite each other and then tied their sterns together.

Up at 6:00 for an early start in the fog.

And I mean fog! There is a bridge in front of us here.

It finally cleared up and we had a nice run down the final stretch of the Mississippi,

past the town of Chester, IL.

We are going downstream at over 12 mph and as we make the turn upstream into the Ohio River we are swept sideways and come to a screeching halt! Now we are  doing only 6.5 mph.

And we slowly start up river past the town of Cairo, IL.

We don't go very far on the Ohio (about 90 miles) but we have several locks to go through and several are under construction. We have been warned it may be a slow trip with long waiting times; we shall see.