Meet me in St Louis -- Or somewhere near by

October 8, 9 10, 2011

October 8, 2011

This is our sixth trip up or down the river and we have never stayed at the Grafton Marina.  It has been recommended to us, so this is the year that we give it a try.  We arrive around 2:30 on the 8^th and it is bedlam!  The gas dock, where we need to check in, needs a full time traffic cop to direct boats in and out.  Unfortunately, he’s not giving tickets for stupidity and driving too fast in a congested area.  This is a big week-end in Grafton.  The motorcycle crowd is in town, there’s some kind of festival and everyone with a boat is on the water (87 degrees and sunny).  Unlike Timberlake Marina, this marina exceeds the guide book hype.  Once we get to our slip, we are away from most of the activity.  Gail and I decide to walk to the ship’s store while the guys do a few tasks.  Across the street there is a very loud band playing at a restaurant.  Gail casually asks how late I think they will be playing.  Well, I can now report --- until 2:30 AM.  After we pay for the slip and the guys catch up with us we walk the full length of town (probably 1 ½ miles each way).  We stop periodically to check out stores, but only buy a few apples.  By the time we get back, it is time for dinner.  While Gail and I whip up a really good chicken dish with garlic, capers and tomatoes, Brian and John are in the cockpit talking to several other guys that came by to ask about the boat.   

Shiver me timbers, Matey!
Part of the Grafton extravaganza.

Lock wall coming up with the
Alton bridge in the background

'Downtown" Kimmswick

On Sunday the 9th we travel through St Louis.  This is the biggest port we have been through so there's lots to see.  The banks are lined with barges waiting to be filled, dry docks repairing barges and tows, and all types of docks unloading the barges.  Until you spend a little time on the river, it's easy to think that everything is transported by trains and trucks in America. 
Of course, one of our favorites sites on this leg is the Arch in downtown St Louis.  I managed to get a shot without the cheesy casino and all of the other carnival sideshows that surround it on the riverbank.  Our destination for the night is Hoppies Marina adjacent to Kimmswick.  Kimmswick is a small village of homes that were built in the early 1800s.  Many of them have been turned into shops and restaurants.  We spend an hour exploring the town.  Everything closes at 5:00 Sunday and doesn't open again until Tuesday.  Just as well, I managed to find some very cute Christmas gifts for JAC (2) and Addison (3).  This marina is a favorite of ours -- not because it is luxurious (several barges lashed together) , but because of Fern.  Fern is a legend on this part of the river.  Probably in her 70's, she knows the river better than any towboat captain.  She tells boaters where it is safe to anchor, where the river is too shallow to enter, where there are under water hazards and when it is safe to travel during high water times.  Brian has called her daily on other trips to get updates and check on conditions.  She has never given us bad advise.  John, Gail, Brian and I pile into the loaner car for a farewell dinner in town.  This is not a car that you want to travel more than a few miles in.  We have used it on other trips and named it the 'Death Mobile'. One of the small idiosyncrasies is the turn indicator that turns on the emergency flasher and the lights in the wheel well in the backseat.  They all flash, but they don't indicate a turn.  The breaks need to be pumped about five times before you stand on them to stop.  In spite of dark roads, hills and sharp turns, the van takes us to town for a dinner of fried foods: fish, chips, onion rings and dill pickles and delivers us back to the marina.  Yummy......   This is the end of the trip for John and Gail.  Tomorrow morning they will drive back to the Twin Cities.       

No, the trip hasn't been that hard on me.
This is Brian giving a squeeze to his other blond, Fern!

Like I said -- Not luxurious, but a favorite with most boaters

October 10

John & Gail getting into the "Hey Taxi" taxi

John and Gail ordered a taxi that took them to the airport to get a one way rental.  They were on their way at 9 AM.  We enjoyed their visit and they were a great help.  John did all of the 1^st mate duties except sleep with the Captain!  Now I have to get busy.  Gail was great at keeping the boat picked up, making meals, commiserating about how much we hate computers and laughing at my stupid jokes.  I’m sure they will be back on board again for another ride.

As we were walking back to the boat, we stopped to talk to Dean, a young man that is canoeing from Itasca (the headwaters of the Mississippi River) to New Orleans.  He started his trip August 16^th and it appears that he will only make it to Memphis, TN.  He has to get back to work as a massage therapist.  We decided that he could probably use a hot meal so we invited him on board for eggs, toast, apple strudel and coffee.  This gave us a chance to quiz him about his journey.  We thought he was experienced at canoeing, but NO!  He learned to paddle on his trip and as he told us – “He’s really good now”.

Before we got to Hoppies, we had decided to spend an extra day there. It’s a good place to do some clean up and relax. Jennifer called and said she would be back in St Louis around noon and could come for a visit. Great!!! We had time for a long visit, pizza at Imos , another grocery run and play a couple quick games of Chicken Foot. As we walked her to her car, who do we run into but Dean….. He said he met some really nice people that offered him a bed. He and his canoe may be riding to Memphis on a Chris Craft now. I think he was ready for some R & R. I kidded him about smoking and being tipsy and he ‘begged’ me not to tell his Mom. My lips are sealed.

Gotta Smile -- We're lovin the ride! 

And, we thought we were living minimally!

October 6 & 7, 2011

We just sailed past a slab on stilts with a toilet, chaise lounge and table….no walls. I’m guessing it’s a bachelor pad!!! Now that really is minimal living.

Our first lock on the 6^th was next to the Keokuk Power Plant.  When it was built, it was the largest in the world.  This is our first BIG lock:  1200 feet long, with floating bollards.  We dropped 38 feet and instead of the lock doors swinging upstream, this one slid down.  We drove over it.  When the water was at the bottom of the lock we could see the concrete buttress that supports the wall.  Pretty impressive. 

Wall coming up at end of lock

Wall all the way up - Buttress at base
Dark area on wall is how far we came down

Tied to the floating bollard

At the end of the day Brian figured our miles per gallon at 4.3…not good for a car, but really good for a boat.  Our fuel tank holds 1000 gallons.


One last change to that computer note
and then I'm out to hold lines!

Gail and John model stylish outerwear
required in the big locks

Friday morning we are up early (well, John and Brian are up early) so we can get close to St Louis and see Jennifer by mid afternoon.  She has started working for Peabody Energy, which has their headquarters there.  The engine is purring and ready to go at the crack of dawn – 6:30.  We make great time for two and a half hours.  Opps, a tow captain has made a tactical error!  He placed the front edge of the first barge on the lip of the lock door.  As the water began to recede and the front barge was tilting, it was evident that they had to start over by bringing the water up and rearranging the barges.  This amounts to a two hour delay for us.  Time to call Jennifer and tell her she will have to drive a bit further to meet us.  Having a car makes her part of the rendezvous much more flexible than ours. 

We have only one option for the night – Timberlake Marina.  Well, it is listed as a marina.  According to the marina guide there will be electricity, water, fuel and a convenience store.  The dock is so fragile that the owner says if the wind picks up during the night our boat and the dock may both float away.  When we ask the owner about water, he tells us he wouldn’t drink it.  This is from a very nice man who is missing his top six front teeth and the bottom front four.  They don’t use the store anymore because it was too much work climbing the extension ladder every time they needed to go in it.  The trailer park is mix of mobile homes on wheels and stilts.  When Jennifer arrived, she said it looked like the perfect setting for a slasher movie.  The sign at the entry reads “Timber Lake Marina – This is where the fun begins”.  Enough said----

Marina store with ladder to enter

We are about 60 miles from St Louis.  Jennifer picks us up and takes us back to town so we can see some of the neighborhoods that they are considering.  Beautiful old homes with heavily wooded lots.  Then a really great dinner at Brio.  We had a darling waiter.  When I ordered my standard Coke, he told me they only had Pepsi products.  I grudgingly ordered a diet Pepsi with 3 large wedges of lemon.  When my 3^rd refill appeared with no lemon, he stood there grinning and told me that he had managed to find a diet Coke!  Gail is sure that he found a Coke because they were running out of lemons.  Dinner is over and we have an hour to find Costco and pick up some necessities.  The five of us enter the store running, each with their assignments.  Mission accomplished everything is checked off the list and we are on our way back to “the Marina” with minutes to spare.  This is what memories are made of

Lists ready?  Everybody GO!

Gotta Smile – we’re lovin the ride!

It's Been a Week

October 4 & 5, 2011

We’ve been on the river for a week now and as of anchoring tonight we’ve gone 460 miles. Most nights we anchor about 5:30, sit out on the cockpit (aft deck), have a cocktail (diet coke), talk about the day and watch the tow boats go by. We’re covering about 60 miles a day. If we took off at dawn and ran until twilight with no stops to explore towns, we could make 100 miles.

Yesterday we went through the Quad Cities – Davenport Iowa. It has an unusual lock in that it is immediately followed by a railroad bridge that needs to swing open for us. The lock master was one of the nicest we have come across. (He just started this job a year ago after two deployments to Iraq and one to Afghanistan.) He lowered the water in the lock slowly so the railroad bridge would be open when he released us. If we get out of the lock, before the RR bridge is open we have to maneuver in a very tight area while we wait and wait….

Brian and John were able to straighten the arm of the hawse pipe that we thought was destroyed during the second day lock adventure. It took all of their muscle, weight and the leverage of a 24 inch pipe wrench to make it look presentable. We will have to have it replaced eventually; it’s not attached as securely as needed.

After a week of showers, laundry, dishes and normal use we were very low on water. Even though the municipal dock at Muscatine, Iowa closed for business on September 18^th, the water spigot was still working. While we went to lunch at the Mississippi Brewing Company, the boat filled with 400 gallons. Today we stopped in Burlington, Iowa for lunch at Big Muddy’s. These are always a great opportunity for some exercise. Most of the river towns are built on hillsides so it is more than a casual stroll.

The lock master in Gulfport, IL said that somewhere around 900 eagles winter there. We still get excited when we see them and we see them frequently. Female eagles are larger than males. The female will weigh 13 pounds with a wingspan of 7 feet----males 10-12 pounds with a 6 foot wingspan. They can fly up to 10,000 feet in altitude and dive at 100 mph. Watch your small dogs and cats when in eagle territory – they can lift up to 4 pounds.

Just before we leave for lunch, Brian discovers that one of the toilets needs repair. John drives most of the afternoon while Brian installs a new duckbill valve in the head. He didn’t see much of the afternoon’s trip, but he made the repair and all is functioning again—yea! I’ll never again say that he brought too many tools and parts with us. I think he could rebuild any system on this boat. He has the patience of a saint and the mind of an engineer…which makes him a great person to travel with on a boat. No matter how new or how well prepared you think you are---things are going to break. Calling for repairs is expensive and time consuming and sometimes just plain impossible on the water. I’m lucky to have him as my captain. ...but, don't tell him I said so!

Gotta Smile – we’re lovin’ the ride

Entering Lock 15 with RR Bridge at the far end

Gail holding the line as we are lowered

RR Bridge Opens as We Come Out of Lock



Davenport, Iowa the home of Oscar Meyer



Downtown Davenport



John standing on the roof of the pilot house to make sure we clear a bridge

Barges waiting to be filled

John and Brian with the 24 inch pipe wrench fixing the hause pipe



We wait in lock while a small barge gets a bucket of cement
for dam repair.  The repair will go into next year--one bucket at a time



Burlington Lunch

Note that steep hill.  Only one of several we walked!

Tug boats of all sizes move everything on the river

Everyone asks "What Do You Do All Day on a Boat".

October 2, 2011

Well, the four of us agree we don’t know where the days go, but they sure go fast! 
** We will go through 1 or 2 locks per day.  That means putting out fenders and being on deck to talk to the dock master and handle lines.  When we get a little further south, the locks are set up with a bollard system.  We connect one line in the middle of the boat to a floating bollard that is in a channel on the wall.  This allows us to hold securely while we float down to the next level.  We pull the line on the bollard so tight that it squeezes the big ball fenders in to distorted pancakes – I call it the mammogram squeeze! 
** We all enjoy watching for eagles, pelicans and herons.  The algae was so thick in one area that the seagulls were walking on it.  Yes, this is the kind of excitement that we have come to look forward to.....dorks! 
** The next item of interest are the work boats.

A buoy tender travels the river making sure that the buoys accurately mark the navigable channel.  Unlike the St Croix River (which is 30-80 feet deep from shore to shore), the main channel of the Mississippi is only 9-12 feet deep.  Once out of the channel we would quickly run aground or hit a wing dam.  Yes, I was the first one to miss a channel marker on this trip.  Luckily I discovered the error of my ways before there was an incident.

Dredges on large barges work to keep the channel navigable.  Continuous shoaling would quickly make some areas too shallow if not for the dredging.
Tow boats loaded with barges are our main entertainment.  We talk on the radio with the captains.  Most are very cordial.  We need to know which side of the channel they want us on when we pass.  A lot of the time it doesn’t matter, but there are times in an especially narrow channel or a turn that it is critical.  When they are beginning to push coming out of a lock or making a turn, the turbulence is amazing.  The largest load a tow boat can push on the Upper Mississippi is 15 barges.  Each barge holds the equivalent of 15 railroad hopper cars.  That’s a lot of weight and starting from a dead stand still they use every ounce of their 2 – 5000 horsepower engines.  
There is every imaginable configuration of sightseeing boat.  Excursion boats, party boats, big overnight river boats and casinos – they all have one thing in common a paddle wheel.  It might be their source of power, decorative or painted on the side.
And, of course, lots of fishing boats. 
** We have 5 computers on board.  Everyone has their own and one for the navigation system.  The problem is – getting a strong enough signal on the wifi to use the internet.  The river flows through many small communities that apparently don’t care about cell phones and computers!  Thus, the delay in sending updates and replying to messages. 
** We read our navigation books about the towns we are passing, plan where we will be able anchor or tie up for the night and decide if there is a town that we want to stop and wander around.  Gail is always figuring out how far to a good restaurant.  Tonight we are looking forward to tying up to the city dock in LeClaire, Iowa and eating at the Faithful Pilot.  Brian has eaten there several times and promises it will be memorable. 
** Nobody seems to miss a meal.  Everyone fixes their own breakfast unless I’m making pancakes, hash browns or roast beef hash and eggs.  Lunch is casual – sandwiches or soup.  Gail or I spontaneously decide we want to fix something for dinner and then we search to see if we have all of the ingredients on board.  So far, the pantry has not disappointed. 
** And, then there is time on the deck enjoying the sun and scenery or reading.       
Gotta Smile – we’re lovin the ride!

Coal being unloaded from a barge.  Coal, salt, sand &
wood chips are the main commodities we've seen.

Party Boat

Buoy Tender in the Dubuque Harbor

Floating barracks for workers on the dredge with tow
boat holding it in place

Dredge at work



Tiny tow boat with a load so big water is washing over
the front barge



Another barge being unloaded

Riverboat Celebration -- Similar to the Delta Queen

Better perspective of the size of the tow boat and load

Guttenberg, Iowa In My Rear View Mirror

September 30 & October 1, 2011

 Two uneventful days of smooth sailing have passed. A welcome relief after day 2 and "The Lock From Hell". This is what life on the river is supposed to be. Gail noted that we are certainly in retirement mode. Previous trips required getting up before dawn, starting the engine and being ready to go at sun up. Now, we get up around 7:30 (meaning Brian gets up at 7:00 – I roll out closer to 8:00) and we are moving by 8:30. Cool night air and warmer water temperatures equal morning fog, which also slows our morning departures. The river is winding through stone bluffs, beautiful wooded hills (the color is brilliant in some areas) and small towns—it looks like Currier and Ives brought to life. We have seen very few pleasure boats (maybe three since we left Bayport), but lots of tow boats and fishermen.

So far we haven’t stayed in a marina. We have found beautiful spots to safely anchor and enjoy the stillness. Friday night we anchored near Genoa, WI. The night sky was clear with a bright crescent moon. Tow boats with 15 barges pushed by us so gracefully we hardly knew they were there. As we stood on the back deck to watch one of them, both of his 6 million candlepower spotlights focused on us. We waved, danced and gave him a bit of show. He responded by flashing those lights at us to show his appreciation. I guess his nights get pretty long and boring. Last night we anchored near Guttenberg, Iowa. (Yes, we have left Minnesota.) After dinner we watched our favorite boating movie "Captain Ron". I’ve seen it at least 9 times and I still laugh out loud throughout most of it—of course, I’m easily amused.

We decided to visit McGregor, Iowa on Saturday and have lunch. They were having their Fall Festival, so the town was humming with activity. After surveying the marina for a place to park, two very nice guys invited us to share their end of the dock and helped us tie off. Our 48 foot length, 18 foot width, 19 foot height and 29 ton weight (not including cans of diet Coke) looks pretty big in these small towns. (In Florida we look like the dingy compared to the private yachts.) They even brought over a step ladder so we could easily climb off. It felt good to get on land and walk a bit.

We’ve gone through eight locks – seven without incident. If we are the only boat in the chamber, they will frequently let us float in the middle. I think all of the tow boats that had pulled off the river on Thursday were making up time on Friday. It seemed that we had to wait 30 minutes to an hour and a half at every lock that day. When a tow has more than six barges, they have to lock part of the load through, raise or lower (going up or down stream) the water in the chamber, lock through the other half of the tow, then once it is at the same level as the first load reconnect and proceed. Tow boats are typically 45’ wide by 135-155’ long (north of St. Louis) and each barge is 200’ x 35’. Lock chambers are 110’ x 600’. The largest tow will be 3 wide by 5 long  which equals 105’ by 1,000’ plus the length of the tow boat. Air craft carrier size! As you can imagine -- no small task to maneuver! (Technical information provided by B. Smillie)

Gotta Smile -- we’re lovin’ the ride!



Fine Dining at the Captain's Table



Greeting a tow boat with barges as we leave a lock





Typical small town between the river, train tracks, and hills

McGregor,Iowa during the Fall Festival

The morning fog lifting and low hanging clouds

Our First Rescue at Sea

September 29, 2011

I guess we should have paid attention when the tow boat captains were talking to each other about how they were going to lay their barges up against the bank and stay put until the 5 foot rollers settled down.  They were afraid their loads would break apart in the rough sea.  Lake Pepin can be very treacherous when the winds pick up.  It is a shallow lake with great width and length.  Well, the wind did pick up and we had gusts of 50 miles per hour.   As we crossed the lake, John noticed one of the cushions from the upper station fly over the bow of the boat....it was moving much faster than we were!  When it touched down, John was able to turn around and 't' bone it.  Brian and I went to the rail to catch it with the boat hook and Gail went to the upper deck to secure the other 3.  No bodies went overboard in the rescue and we thought that was our excitement for the day.  The rest of the way across the lake was without problems as was the first lock.  However, the second lock was challenging and the third one was beyond scary.  As we approached the lock we didn't think it would be worse than the second, but about the time we were entering the gate (and it was too late to turn back) we saw endless 3 foot rollers in the chamber.  Each of us had the same thought -- this is a bad plan!  The wind was howling.  The sky was dark.  It was ominous.  Fenders and lines were all secured on the boat, but we can't get to the wall to secure ourselves against it.  The waves and wind were pushing us so hard we weren't sure we'd be able to stop before we got to the gate at the far end of the lock -- even if we threw it in reverse.  Brian was doing everything he could to keep us from hitting the wall and away from the chamber doors.  At one point we were twisted sideways and it looked like we would hit the wall with the stern.  Brian is pushing us forward, backward and using the bow thrusters.  Black smoke is belching out of the exhaust -- the engine is getting such a workout.  John, Gail and I kept reaching for lines that the dock master was throwing to us, but we couldn't get close enough to catch them.  John was able to throw a line from the boat to the dock master, but we were bouncing and pulling so violently, that it ripped the line loose and bent the steel hause pipe in two.  We were unattached again -----.  After what seemed like forever, we did manage to get another line from the boat to the dock master.  He tied us off and dropped other lines to Gail and I.  At last, we were secured to the wall for the nine foot drop.  The stress and fear of bodily harm left all of us exhausted.  The dock master offered us the cargo dock behind the wall of the lock for the night.  Sounded good to everyone even though it was just 2:00.  We decided we had had enough for one day.  The wind and waves made what would normally be a 10 minute docking job into a 45 minute task and now  it was raining.  Lashed to the dock; we all scrambled inside to relax and warm up.  Gail made a delicious chicken pot pie from scratch for dinner.  It was a wild day, but challenging and rewarding.  We had worked well as a team and we had a memory that none of us will forget---no matter how hard we try! 

The day begins clear and sunny

Downtown Wabasha and the eagle center



The sky is getting darker and the waves are building



Lock entrance -- last chance to turn around

Finally --Secured for the night