October 3, 2013 Hoppies Marina Kimmswick, MO

Once Upon A Time called me back around 8:30 relating their decision to depart Hoppies for points south.  So we started making preparations to leave.  There are four boats in our little flotilla and we were all ready to go by 9:45.

We hit the Mel Price Lock which was ready for us.  In a flash of brilliance we called ahead!   This lock has 2 chambers.  Tows usually use the large one while recreational craft and smaller commercial craft enter the smaller chamber.  After locking down about 20 feet we exited at the exact moment the large tow in the adjacent chamber was leaving.  We had to do some speedy maneuvering to get out of his way since stopping something that big isn't possible.

Once we cleared the barge it was easy cruising except for the increasing velocity of the winds from the south.  Did I mention we were heading due south?

We followed the convenient sign Chain of Rocks Canal  and had an easy few miles up the narrow canal until we came around a bend into barge and tow boat rush hour.  The radio began crackling with numerous conversations on channel 13, the standard ship-to-ship communication.  I had our other radio set to the channel for Lock communications which was also suddenly alive with overlapping communications. It was an exciting time highlighted by a situation where our little 4 boat flotilla was being asked by the Lock master to enter the Lock  chamber (which was 2 miles away) not realizing we were behind one large tow with two other tows moving towards us from the other direction.  And to complete the picture a mile ahead of us was a one barge tow perpendicular to the channel trying to get himself pointed upstream.

Passing in Chain of Rocks canal

We could only snap a few pictures which doesn't do justice to the 20 minutes of extreme excitement.  Needless to say we made it without incident and entered the Lock which was a easy 15 foot drop.

After a few miles we entered the St. Louis.  Great I thought.  Some easy cruising on a wide river with plenty to see.  You'd think I'd learn ....







There were some great sights including the arch but along with the sights came a solid, densely packed 10 mile long stretch of  barges and tows.   The channel here is sort of wide but in most areas, barges are parked along the bank sometime 6 or 8 wide which infringes in the channel.  I should mention outside of the marked channel one finds more mud than water so most of us try to remain inside the markers.  In some instances this requires nerves of steel since 15 barges in one tow takes up a lot of water especially when swinging around for a turn and we are but a gnat on the water to these guys.  Unfortunately it's frowned upon to bolster nerves of steel with rum.  Although ....

Some of the tows we encountered were comprised of large green barges 3 wide 6 long.  The green signifies a barge is carrying some petroleum product.  When loaded they are drawing 9 feet.  Huge.

The infamous Hoppies

Eventually we slid away from the concentrated traffic of St. Louis and into more rural sections of Missouri.  The current remained impressive having first appeared shortly after leaving the Chain of Rocks lock.  It was pushing us about 4 mph faster than our normal cruising speed.  Many wing damns and basically muddy banks of water.  After an hour or two we finally came to Hoppies marina, an iconic stop for anyone doing the loop or just traveling down the Mississippi.  It's really just three old barges lashed together forming a dock.  But oh, the magic of the place all due to Hoppie and Fern.  Not to be missed by anyone coming down this way.

Hoppies from the air

Fern and Hoppie were on the dock as we pulled alongside and they provided very specific instructions on line handling etc.  No one, save a few pathetic souls, disregard Fern!

Fern giving her talk with Jeff to the right.

We got tied up as did the others and later sat down and proceeded to listen to Fern give her synopsis of what to expect down river.  The lady sure knows her stuff!  We, as a group, also made the decision to remain at Hoppies until Sunday to avoid what appears to be a rather intense storm making its way across the Midwest.  We'll see what  Kimmswick has to offer over the next few days.