Catch Our Lines: Mississippi River

September 2016

Grafton Marina, in Illinois, located at the confluence of the Illinois, Missouri and Mississippi rivers, is a favorite stop. We visited local sites, some that we did not see on our first loop. See the barges below from the top of Grafton Winery.

Suzan and Sharon looking forward to brunch at Pere Marquette Lodge, Grafton, IL.

After several days of touring, we left Blue Moon in a covered slip and flew to Texas for our 'babysitting' job. Granddaughters, ages 12 and 8, are fun and made our job easy.

View of the River - from the dock at Grafton Marina.

King sitting by the Missouri River in a carved wooden chair.

Back to the boat, we knew we must start down the Mississippi. We pass the riverboat, thinking of Mark Twain and the history of this river. We see St Louis and the arch. Unfortunately there are no marinas in St. Louis, so no place to stop.

With the swift current on our stern, we arrived at Hoppies Marina in Kimmswick, Missouri by early afternoon. This is not an ordinary Marina in any sense of the word. Hoppies, named for its owners Hoppie and Fern Hopkins, is three old barges cabled to stone on the banks of the rolling Mississippi.
Our lines were grabbed as we turned our bow back against the powerful Mississippi current, leaving us facing upstream and port side tied to the bollards. We met Fern, directing incoming boats, talking on the phone to other boaters needing a slip for the night (reservations are a must as this is a small space and the only stop), while puffing on a cigarette.

Mr. Hoppie is recovering from surgery, but arrived via golf cart bringing us a package that we had sent to the Marina. It may be legend, but it is a good story that as a small boy Hoppie rode the Mississippi with his father and helped light the kerosene navigational buoys.

Fern know this river and she shares her knowledge each day at 4:00 p,m,, giving a river guide class in a canopied area on her office barge. The classroom consists of a tattered couch, a mishmash of chairs, a plywood coffee table and ashtrays. During the session, boaters listen and Fern talks - and smokes. Fern explains the ins and outs of the mighty Mississippi - where to anchor, how to approach the many twists and turns of the river, how the tow captains like to move massive loads (up to five wide and ten long) around the river bends. She knows the mile numbers by heart for every obstacle and anchorage down river. Blue Moon is equipped with an AIS receiver, so we know when a barge is coming around a corner toward us. We are able to call them before they are in sight, to agree on which side to pass. Fern and Hoppie are river legends.

Next morning we walked into Kimmswick, MO., population 150, for a wonderful meal at The Blue Owl Cafe. Oprah, Paula Dean and the Today Show have tasted the famous Levee High Apple Pie with caramel pecan topping and other tasty treats.

The restaurant is the American Dream story in a nutshell. In 1983, Mary Hostetter, baked and filled Christmas cookie orders. She received so many orders, her business grew from 5 employees to the current 75. After a wonderful brunch, we bought a piece of pie to go and a souvenir glass and shoved off.

Our reservation was only for one night - more boaters were coming behind us. After a good day's run with five knots of current pushing us along, we turned into our stop for the night, Kaskaskia Lock wall. While there we picked up a few stowaways.