Onward to Hoppies

We’re in the middle of our final “push” to Hoppie’s Marina, just south of St. Louis, famous stop for all loopers. Let me bring to you up to date since we got the water pump fixed. The UPS truck came at 9:30 on Saturday morning and Steve got the pump in and we were back cruising by noon. Since then, the boat is running great and our boat confidence and happy spirits are back. Pictured is Shingebiss passing through the Fort Madison (IA) swing bridge.

It carries trains on the bottom and cars on top and is quite long for a River Bridge. With only 12 feet of clearance we had to call and have them open for us. We stayed at the Keokuk Yacht Club on Saturday night, they have a fabulous location at a place where the river is almost as wide as Lake Pepin. The Club is right on the water with big windows, a big bar and big TV’s. The slips are behind a low breakwater, facing the river and each slip owner has added their own little deck area extending out over the breakwater. On the road side there are unique individual boat houses. Here’s a picture of us leaving there early Sunday morning. We cleared 3 locks on Sunday. Here’s a picture of me handling my first “bollard” lock.

This lock is 1200 feet, twice as long as most, big enough for a double tow. Instead of holding the lines, you lasso the bollard with a rope, tie it off, and the bollard rises and falls with the water level. This one had a 37 foot drop. Sunday night we stayed at the Hannibal Municipal Marina. What a neat town, they were having a Folk Festival, but we missed most of it, so had to be amused with a walk around the town.
So here’s a progress summary for those of you following along on your Atlas. We began our journey at Mississippi Mile 830, which is 830 miles from the mouth of the Ohio River (Mississippi Mile Zero) where we take a left. We’re now at about Mile 300, so we’ve traveled over 500, and are still at least a week away from the Ohio. Another important milestone will be passing the mouth of the Illinois River at Mile 217 because that means we are actually on the Loop. Should be an interesting week, and I’ll report more next time we get a connection.

Have not had a decent connection since I wrote the above, especially for uploading the pictures. Today is Tuesday and we should pass the Illinois and be ON THE LOOP today, soon actually. We're staying at the Alton Marina, supposed to be fabulous. Also, it's about 70 degrees and sunny out, so I'm heading up to the flybridge to join Steve.