Thurs Oct 26: Alton to a Hoppies Marina

Exciting day - we got to pass St. Louis...  But first we had to get through the notorious Chain of Rocks Lock, the busiest lock in the country.

We were up early - but I didn't grump, I'm ready to get down this river!

Good morning!

From the marina Rick was able to hail the first lock of the day - the Mel Price Lock, so we only had a little wait, along with a super nice (trust me, they aren't usually) delivery captain.  He took this picture for us!

On the approach to the Chain of Rocks Locks they REALLY want you to take the left to the lock, rather then go down the right hand channel which is literally the main river channel and full of rocks.

This lock is so busy they have two chambers, one 1200' and one 600' long.  The lockmaster was super cranky (to be fair, he is 97 and only still working because they can't find enough workers) and first put us on a 2-hour hold in 25 mph headwind in a long narrow channel where it was tricky to dodge the barge traffic coming out of the lock.  Finally he took pity on us and opened the auxiliary chamber and away we went. And not a minute too soon - Rick had hit his boiling point (what with waits, wind, etc), that almost never happens. AND-out flag blew away, AGAIN.  Last time that happened it was a harbinger of bad things.  So now we were all anxious and on the lookout. 🥺

We shared boat pix with the little Ranger Tug across from us.  Aren't they ADORABLE?!

This is an interesting rear lock door. Most lock doors swing from hinges on the side of the lock. This lock door comes up out of a slot in the floor.  As soon as the top of the door gets above the water they begin letting water out of the chamber. It is much quicker than a normal swinging door (at least it seemed that way!)

Shortly after that final lock on the MS River we arrived at St. Louis!  It's an armpit from the water.  It's water front has only ever been a working port, with no pleasure boat docks or riverwalks.  The only park is the Arch Park, high above the flood wall, and mostly out of sight to us.  All we could really see was the homeless encampment and industry.  It was a terrible day for pictures, but we did our best - taking turns with Merry T to get photos of our boats under the arch (or, as our new boats friends from Maine say, the ahch).

Then it was a pretty quick run to Hoppies "marina", where we had lucked into a spot after being on the waiting list.  There are not many place between Alton and Paducah to tie up, and there are many, MANY Loopers.  A lot of whom do not like to anchor out.  Hoppies continues our run of really unattractive places to tie up!

Hoppies is just a few old rusty barges tied together.  They can hold only about 10 boats. It was much nicer a couple of years ago but a flood washed everything away. This is the temporary rebuilt dock and an important stopping point for Loopers.

But it is a great group that runs it, and they gave us a helpful briefing about the rest of the Upper MS River in the afternoon.  We walked around the small but cute town, enjoying their Halloween spirit.

The little town is famous for the Mile High Levee Pie, which the Blue Owl has trademarked.

We got a mini version.  We were the only boat there in time to get to the Blue Owl before they closed at 3pm, so we were the envy of all!

The dock was full by the end of the day.  It was really fun to hear people we hadn’t seen for several days greeting Rick. Wherever we go he’s known!! Many folks went up to have dinner at the winery, but we were happy in our little cocoon, just us.