Turbulence, barges, and current, oh my !!

We stayed at the Alton Marina an extra night due to the torrential downpour that dumped 1-2 inches of rain. It was good to be under the covered slip for that one. We left early yesterday, transited our final two locks on the Mississippi and came through downtown St. Louis. Here is a picture of the Gateway Arch complete with the flag on our transom, just to prove we were really there. Then it was on to Hoppie's, one of the most famous stops on the loop. Hoppie's has been in operation since 1936 and is right on the main channel, south of St. Louis. It's 300 feet of barges, all tied together and the boats are tied along both sides, all very well orchestrated by Hoppie and Fern. There was a large group of houseboaters who had come down for the Kimmswick Apple Butter Festival, plus several loopers, so there was a full house last night. We met 2 other couples who are looping with bigger boats and more loop experience than us and decided to travel with them today. Really nice people and so we got to attend our first looper "cocktail party" last night. Here's the view of Hoppie's as we left early this morning.

Fern had told us that the river was expected to rise 12 feet over the next couple days and it had risen 8 feet at Hoppies from the night before. Wow, back home in Newport, we call that a flood. Down here, they just take it in stride. So with a 4 to 5 mph current and no locks (don't even mention no wake zones, there are none), we made an incredible 109 miles today. Even though this is still technically the "upper" Mississippi, it is in fact much more like the "lower" Mississippi, because without the locks the tow boats really increase the number of barges they push at one time. We passed many of them, along with lots of floating logs, and alot of turbulence. This tow had 30 barges 5 across and 6 long. Here's a view of the front, the side and then the crazy rollers that result from all that horsepower pushing all that weight upstream against all that current.

By about 4:30, Shingebiss and her traveling companions, Monarch and Moon Beam were all tucked away into the Diversion Canal, a secure and peaceful little anchorage just off the main channel. It's like a little tributary, but was man made to "divert" runoff from the nearby town and farm fields. We took our first dinghy ride of the loop up the canal, followed by snacks and drinks on Moon Beam. We dinghy'd back to our little home ship and had a great steak dinner. Tomorrow we exit the Mississippi onto the Ohio River.