September 19, 2014 - Off to Famous Hoppie's Marina

We left Grafton Harbor Marina this morning around 7:30 a.m. with 5 other boats and followed each other throughout the day and kept in touch via radio.  It was a great team effort at sending alerts and watching out for one another. Team travel takes much of the worry and anxiety out of traveling the unpredictable Mississippi.

Our first day on the Mississippi and was much better than I had anticipated, but similar to what Jim was expecting.  I had visions of us being swept down the river in a huge current like Tom Sawyer on his little raft.  The first lock after leaving Grafton was probably our most difficult spot because there was a LOT of debris in the lock that we had to wade through to get into the lock. Fortunately nobody had any incidents causing great concern and once we escaped the Mel Price Lock conditions were much better.  It took a full day of paying attention for floating logs along the way and while we each had a few "log bumps" along the way, we weathered through just fine. The weather was beautiful - warm and sunny - but at times the river created some fairly big waves...nothing compared to 2-3 footers on Lake Michigan. Because of the current, we improved our speed by 2-4 knots.  

We had a clear enough day to get some good photos of the Arch in St. Louis, saw plenty of barges/tows along the way, but once again found them all to be very courteous.

We reached our destination at Hoppie's Marina around 2:15 p.m. and were very happy to be at this famous landmark and to meet Fern, Hoppie (and daughter Susan).  For those reading this who aren't aware of Hoppie's Marina, it is a "marina" comprised of barges to which we tie on the edge of the river.  It really is a sight to behold, and not at all like the marinas we are accustomed to. While very spartan, it is as welcoming as any marina we have ever encountered. It is definitely a destination loopers should not pass up!

We all enjoyed a quick meal at The Blue Owl and returned to our boats for the famous update meeting with Fern, who knows the river better than anyone and imparts her knowledge and good advice to all boaters who stay at her marina. It was a delightful conversation, very enlightening and we were all taking notes and comparing our charts to her directions on how to maneuver through the river, into the Ohio and beyond.

Unfortunately, we don't have a strong enough signal tonight to post photos, so we will bombard you with photos once we have better internet access, which should be sometime Monday.

Tomorrow we plan to leave around 6:30 a.m. and travel to an anchorage at Little Diversion Channel, which is about 110 miles, and will hope for no rain, calm waters and minimal river debris.

We hope all is well with you land-lubbers and fellow loopers.