We've been "off-line" for nearly a week due to a serious lack of marina's on the Mississippi River. It has been quite a week and all great travel days through the river system. Late last night we arrived in Grand River, KY at Green Turtle Bay Marina and will stay here for a week until next Wednesday.
Last Saturday we traveled from Grafton, IL to Kimmswick, MO which is about 65 miles and required passage through two locks (#8 and #9 since the trip started). We had "family day" on the boat and it was a great day for a boat ride. In addition to the two of us, we had five adults and five children, making twelve total. Some family came from Michigan for the weekend and some was local to the St. Louis area. We completely enjoyed getting to see some family and were fortunate to see some of the family on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
There was a lot to see along the way in those 65 miles and two locks. The trip covered the convergence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers right at the start of the day. We finished the Illinois River at MM 00 and joined the Mississippi River at MM218. We were able to see two historically significant pieces of art on the Mississippi: The Lady of the Rivers Shrine and the Piasa Bird.
The Lady of the River Shrine is in Portage des Sioux and was erected after the Great Flood of 1951 by residents thankful that the town was spared after praying to Mary. The Madonna that was erected is the fourth largest statue of Mary in the world and blesses river travelers as they pass by.
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| Our Lady of the Rivers Shrine |
The Piasa Bird is a Native American landmark on a high bluff overlooking the river. Legend has it that the giant mythical creature was painted to frighten away European invaders. However, Father Marquette and Louis Jolliet proceeded on with the expedition undeterred by the painting. The original was destroyed, but was restored by town residents near the original location.
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| Piasa Bird |
Shortly after that the Missouri River joined the Mississippi River and we also passed around the east side of St. Louis, MO and got to see the Arch and also a major bridge construction project that will span across the river when complete.
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| Portion of a new Suspension Bridge being built in St. Louis, MO |
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| The Arch |
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| Mississippi Paddle Wheel River Boat |
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| Our Great Niece Leah and Nomie |
Took the Plunge arrived at Hoppie's Marina and pictures were taken of the day's crew. We are most grateful to the crew who treated us to dinner at a local restaurant and also provided transportation for some needed re-provisioning. Thank you very, very much!!! We knew we were headed for some dry counties and wanted to make sure rations were on-board prior to moving farther down the river. Having access to a car made this an easy task and we even brought rations back to the marina for fellow loopers who didn't have access to a car.
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| Family Day |
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| Family Day "docktails" at Hoppie's Marina |
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| Family dinner |
Hoppie's Marina at MM 158.3 is the last marina for nearly 230 miles! It is the only marina on the Mississippi river in the section loopers travel on. The Mississippi river is no place for a traditional marina due to the flooding and currents so Hoppie's is a collection of barges called "flats". These flats are lashed together to create the marina and house fuel pumps, water and outbuildings. The owner of Hoppie's, Fern, is a river legend herself. Each night she gather's all the loopers for a river update meeting. Fern's evening update meetings are held in an outdoor patio area on the flats that are complete with coffee tables and lounge chairs. During our river update meeting Fern said the Mississippi river is down about 15 feet and at its lowest level since 2003 when they closed the river for commercial traffic. We heard reports of barges getting stuck on the bends on the radio but we didn't see any.
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| Hoppie's Marina - looking south |
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| Hoppie's Marina - looking north |
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| Stairs are provided at Hoppie's |
We stayed at Hoppie's for two nights before moving on so we could see some of the local shops in Kimmswick. Monday mid-day we left Hoppie's and continued on down the Mississippi River. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this past week's journey.
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