Day 10 - Alton to Hoppies Marine Service - The Family Cruise

We decided to make our trip from Alton to Hoppie’s Marine Services in Kimmswick, MO. a family cruise.  We left Alton Marina at 9:24 AM with Randy’s sister Maria, his niece Cassie and her husband Allen with their son Nathan, his nephew Jeff and 3 of his children, his Uncle Tony and his cousins Andy and Mike.  Our trip required us to go thru two locks and down the St. Louis riverfront. The first lock, the Mel Price Lock, was the lock we toured yesterday.  The lock was empty and we were able to lock through in less than 15 minutes.  We were equally lucky with the Chain of Rocks Lock, which was only a few miles from the Mel Price Lock and a few miles from where Randy grew up.

 

Shortly after that, we passed under the Eads Bridge (built in 1874 and the first railroad bridge to cross the Mississippi at St. Louis) and arrived at the St. Louis Riverfront.  We took lots of pictures of the Arch and the city.

 

 

 

 

Our guests thoroughly enjoyed the ride, although the kids were restless by the time we arrived at Hoppie’s Marine Services at 1:45 that afternoon.  Hoppie’s consists of a few old barges in the river and is owned by Fern Hopkins and her husband, “Hoppie.” 

 

 

 

 

Fern is legendary.  She holds a meeting every day between 3 and 4 pm to tell the boaters about conditions on the river between Hoppie’s and Mobile, AL.  Fern has the latest information on river conditions and shares it with anyone who stops at Hoppie’s.  As required, we attended the meeting, took notes and asked questions.  She gave us a lot of valuable information about possible anchorages as well as areas with dangerous currents (where you don’t want to pass a tug and its barges). 

Unfortunately, the town of Kimmswick is closed on Mondays, so we did not get to eat at the Blue Owl or do any shopping.  We fueled up and prepared for our next 2 days of travelling that did not include any marinas.  Our plan was to anchor at Little River Diversion the first night and tie up to the Municipal Dock at Paducah, KY the second night.
Our fellow loopers on the Help Me Rhonda and Mooring Dove had arrived at Hoppie’s earlier and were at Fern’s meeting as well.  They decided to stay and wait for the Blue Owl to open on Tuesday morning and spend Tuesday night at the Kaskaskia Lock and Dam (about 45 miles).  We decided we would go further to Little River Diversion Canal (about 100 miles) and see if we could get in.  (Fern was not sure of the depth at the entrance because the River is low, but we decided we would check it out anyway.)  We agreed to give everyone an update after we got there.