Mid America IL & MO on the river

We're not sure what Marian did, but as she was working on a new post (to be added soon), she accidentally deleted the most recent, including our trip down the Mississippi, going aboard a tow, and visiting Shiloh Battlefield before our engine gave out.  These are some of the photos from that entry, which seems to be gone forever. Stay tuned for more in a few days, when we next reach a marina with good wi-fi.

Grafton, IL is located where the Illinois River joints the Mississippi, just above St. Louis, MO. We took the ferry across from Grafton, IL to eat at a old established farm restaurant called Wittmond Hotel & Restaurant. Better go hungry and take a wheelbarrow to haul you out. http://www.wittmondhotel.com/

I was surprised by the high limestone cliffs above the river around Grafton, IL and on the Mississippi River.  

Above these cliffs in Grafton the Aeries Winery came down and gave a few of us Loopers a ride in small four wheel vehicles up to enjoy their wonderful wine and view of the Rivers.  http://www.aeriesview.com/winery/#aeries-winery. Sylvie, a fellow Looper from Canada, took this picture of us.                                                      

Another shot of cliffs along the Mississippi between Alton and Grafton, Illinois.

Sailing by Our Lady of the Rivers at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. http://ourladyoftheriversshrine.org/

Hoppies Marina just below St. Louis on the MO side of the Mississippi River.  Just a bunch of low barges tied together.  A river full of logs came by here each day. It was also the start of a dying engine. You had better attend Fern's daily briefing on the river ahead of you. She knows every mile from the marina to Green Turtle Bay, where to anchor and - more important - where not to anchor. There are no marinas between Hoppie's and GTB.

The Blue Owl restaurant in Kimmswick is famous for its desserts, including the Levee High Apple pie. We indulged there twice during our two-week stay at Hoppie's. 





Another highlight of our stay at Hoppie's was an acapella barbershop   concert at the hippotherapy farm next 
door. These gentlemen could sing!

Cloud formations warn of an approaching thunderstorm, and we headed for Livingston Creek on the Cumberland River to anchor and wait it out.

The small historic town of Kimmswick, MO is just on the other side of the railroad track from Hoppies, and their the smells of the Blue Owl restaurant will pull you to into a wonderful dinning experience. A you wonder why I've gained 10lbs on this trip.  If you are near St. Louis, you had better take time to visit the Blue Owl. http://www.theblueowl.com/

Midas: "Are you kidding me! How long till I get ashore?"  Midas waits patiently on the aft deck for us to launch the dinghy.

Heading back to Midas Touch after taking Midas ashore. 

We visited the St. Louis Arch, Gateway to the West, with our Fruitcakes friends Andy and Julie. Several days later, we cruised past it on our way to Hoppie's.  We were surprised to learn that there is no place to dock in St. Louis to visit the town. We rented a car and drove there from Grafton, IL and later drove up from Hoppie's to get a replacement starter for Midas Touch.

 One of the unexpected and totally unplanned high points of our Loop was being able to go aboard a tug, the powerful boats that push as many as 15 - 18 barges along the Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee Rivers. We met this tow on a foggy morning on the Tennessee River and tied up to it to wait for the fog to lift. Their galley has more cabinet space than our kitchen at home, and we didn't get a picture of the two huge upright freezers holding steaks, roasts, ham, pizzas and more.

                                                         
Marian with the two skippers.  Randy, on the right, gave us his phone number and has kept in touch. We met their tow again as we cruised south on the Tenn-Tom.  Below, the two crewmen who helped us tie Midas Touch to the tug, then helped us climb aboard for a memorable visit.                                                                                           

For now, Merry Christmas from Mike, Marian and Midas on the Midas Touch, currently lying at Ft. Walton Beach City Dock.

On the Move Again - We're Finally on the Move Again

 

With apologies to Willie Nelson for paraphrasing his classic "On the road again," we truly are delighted to be on the move again - in a boat that has a rebuilt engine, six new pistons to fit six re-bored cylinders, six cleaned and rebuilt fuel injectors, a new coat of paint, and - finally - new front and side windows for the upper helm!
Since the micro-burst that became a tornado in Edenton, NC back in April, blowing our aging isinglass windows away along with a two-year old bimini top, we've been cruising without an upper helm enclosure to protect us from the rain and wind. From time to time, as we traveled up the east coast, across the Erie Canal. along the Trent-Severn Waterway, through Georgian Bay and the North Channel, down the west coast of Michigan, and through the inland rivers, we looked for canvas shops to make a new set of windows. Every time we asked, we heard, "I can't even come measure for two weeks, and making the windows will take another two - three weeks" until Mike called a marina in Mobile. Bill's Canvas Shop could meet us in Demopolis, AL, about halfway down the Tenn-Tom Waterway, measure and make the patterns, then install the new windows when we reached Mobile.  Our Christmas present, thanks to ACE Recreational Marine, is a new set of curtains, installed on December 18th. Midas Touch is "fully dressed" once again.

The new windows are nicer than the ones that blew away, and they're made of Strataglass, a real improvement the vinyl ones Midas Touch wore when we bought her three years ago. They were cloudy and scratched, and these are clear and scratch resistant. They fit perfectly, too. 

The last step is adding fasteners that line up with the posts on the boat, and Bill and his team made that happen quickly on a beautiful December day while Mike watched.

We spent Sunday - Thursday at Turner Marine Services on the Dog River in Mobile, where our friends Beth and Ray Wolf joined us on Wednesday after they crossed their wake in Fairhope, on the east side of Mobile Bay, on the way from their final night as Loopers at the Convention Center.  When they texted us to let us know they'd reach TMS within the hour, we decorated the boat to welcome them. 

Wednesday evening, we celebrated Beth and Ray's accomplishment with a potluck dinner, two bottles of champagne, and lots of laughs. Their Loop covered 8,950.97 nautical miles, with several side trips.  We first met them in Hobucken, NC at R.E. Mayo Seafood Company, and had not seen them again until they reached Demopolis the day after we arrived. The "Texas Wolves" prove that the best part of the Loop is the people you meet and the friends you make along the way.   
"But wait," you may be saying.  "How did you get from Pickwick Lake to Mobile? What about the trip down the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway? And when did you get back to the boat?"  As it turned out, Lee Spry's original estimate of two to three weeks to rebuild Betty, our faithful but ailing Ford Lehman diesel engine, was optimistic. We left Iuka, MS on October 28th, and Mike's brother Phil generously drove us back on Monday, December 1st. We enjoyed the family Thanksgiving in Pendergrass at nephew Chris Warlick's home, including Marian's traditional spinach-potato au gratin and an America's Test Kitchen Italian Cream Cake plus all the usual Thanksgiving favorites.  Mike was so busy talking to family that he forgot to take pictures, and Marian's photography leaves a lot to be desired.  You'll just have to take our word for it that everyone had an enjoyable time, dominated by football and naps.  
When we reached the boatyard after a rainy six-hour drive, Midas Touch was still "on the hard" and not quite ready to drop back into the water.  We loaded as much of our luggage as we could - returning with more than we had when we left, including five 2.5 gallon bags of dog food - by climbing the somewhat shaky ladder beside the boat or by stacking items on the swim platform, then bringing them up the swim platform ladder. The entire salon floor was open as the mechanic finished installing the engine, which had been pulled out of the boat to have the cylinders re-bored.  Tuesday morning, we arrived early, unloaded Phil's car, then watched the 100-ton travel lift pick up the boat and s-l-o-w-l-y move it over to the tracks, ready to lower it. Once it was safely on its way down, Phil headed back to Georgia.  Wednesday morning, we were off the dock by 9:00 and headed south down the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, six weeks or so behind most Loopers and happy to be cruising, with no rain.  The 234-mile long Tenn-Tom, which links the Tennessee River to Mobile Way was built and is managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and was a larger dig than the Panama Canal. The idea was to provide a shorter water route from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico to transport bulk goods like coal, rocks, mulch/wood chips, and chemicals like benzene and ethanol. We were lowered through 12 locks, with drops (if you're down-bound) or rises (for up-bound vessels) ranging from the 84-foot Whitten Lock to 25 feet. All locks on the Tenn-Tom are 600 feet long and 110 feet wide. We were often the only boat in the lock, but we shared the Stennis Lock with one tow and two other PC's (pleasure craft) when we left the Columbus Marina early one morning.  Unlike the Erie Canal and the Trent-Severn Waterway, locks on the Mississippi, at Barkley Lake to reach Green Turtle Bay, and on down the Tennessee River to the Tenn-Tom have floating bollards.  Marian had to master a new technique to secure Midas Touch to the lock wall - tossing our line over the bollard, about deck rail level, then holding on until she could "dog it, dog it, dog it" to the cleat. Mike would come down from the helm to help keep our 23-ton trawler next to the wall but not too close.  Bumpers have to be placed in the right position, and sometimes the wind is blowing us away from the wall. When the lockmaster is ready for us to proceed, a traffic light turns green and we hear a loud siren. 

Midas always wants to help, whether we're locking, docking, or undocking.  

We watch for the exit gates to begin opening, start the engine, then wait for another siren. Once the gates are almost open, Marian pulls the line off the bollard and we ease away from the wall.  We traveled through all ten locks on the Tenn-Tom without incident, and we're now finished with locks. Once Marian perfected her Erie Canal line snagging/ Trent-Severn cable catching/Tenn-Tom bollard lassoing skills, locks were a fun part of the trip.  

 Above and below: moonlight on Briar Creek, our last anchorage before Mobile.

Mike gets very creative when he sees sunrise through the early morning mist.

 As we cruised down the Tenn-Tom, Mike spotted this brave little fella swimming for all he was worth to get from the west side to the east side of the river. He made it and scampered off into the grass before we could get another shot.

Above, we had plenty of clearance to cruise under I-65. Below, looking back at the Dolly Parton Bridge.

 Midas Touch anchored in Briar Creek, just off the Mobile-Tensas Cut north of Mobile. We had taken Midas ashore to a nearby sandy beach, where an ultralight buzzed us.

Below, Chiefly Driftin', a fellow Looper we had met in Demopolis. Kevin is making the trip on his own before beginning work on his MBA at Dartmouth.  Kevin later joined us for dinner when we reached Turner Marine Services on Dog River in Mobile.

 

Aristarcus crossed their wake near Fairhope, AL on December 17th at 11:47 am local time after cruising 8,950.97 nautical miles, then joined us at Turner Marine Services in Mobile. That's Beth in the brown skirt. Midas was glad to see his friends again.

Ray's on the stern as he and Beth work smoothly together to secure their lines. As we left Dog River a couple of days later, Aristarcus was in the travel lift well to have her mast re-set. It had traveled as seen below from Chicago because the mast is too high to fit under some of the fixed bridges on the inland rivers. Sailboaters either have to ship their masts from Chicago to Mobile or Demopolis or build frames for them as Beth and Ray did. 

 Midas and Mike watch while Beth and Ray settle in and secure the boat.

We didn't quite have the sign ready when Beth and Ray arrived; Marian was taping it to the side as Aristarcus entered the harbor, but we finished it anyway, then celebrated later with champagne, spaghetti by Beth and our favorite Italian sausage/squash/potato dish by Marian. Dessert was peppermint sugar cookies, baked in our galley, which we found at Walmart when we used the courtesy car for a Walmart/Lowe's run.

 The clouds and sky are endlessly fascinating and often spectacular. These photos are sunrise as we crossed Mobile Bay on our way east.

 This section of the GIWW (Gulf Intracoastal WaterWay) is called the Grand Canyon - miles and miles of dunes and cliffs, with no place to stop along this stretch. There's just barely enough room to squeeze by if we meet a tow.

Leaving the Grand Canyon and entering Pensacola Bay. We reached Pensacola from Orange Beach in late afternoon, had an early dinner at the Oar House, then spent Sunday at the Naval Aviation Museum.  It has the third largest collection of aircraft in the country, with only the Wright Patterson Air Force Museum and the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum ahead of it. The museum is entirely run by volunteers. One of the best exhibits is Home Front U.S.A., with a replica of a typical World War II general store, home, barber shop, and more. See more at www.nationalaviationmuseum.org.

 After two rainy, windy days at Fort Walton Beach, we left early Christmas Eve morning for Panama City Marina, where Midas met Boudreau, a Golden Retriever rescued after Hurricane Katrina. They had great fun playing together, and Boudreau is clearly a lover.

 We've said it before, but it bears repeating: one of the best parts of the Loop is meeting fellow boaters. This was especially true in Panama City when Robby and Brenda, both retired from the Air Force, invited us to join them for a true Southern Christmas dinner - turkey breast, cornbread dressing, green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, cole slaw, and warm strawberry cobbler. Their 44 foot Hatteras Crazzy Nufff has a much bigger galley than Midas Touch, with a dishwasher, bigger refrigerator, and lots of cabinet space. We had a wonderful time, and have enjoyed traveling from Panama City to Apalachicola and now to Carrabelle with Robby and Brenda, Bob and his Husky Duncan on El Nido, and Byron and Cynthia on Angel Magic.  To make Christmas even better, our friends Ross and Barb on Attitude Changer had just docked when we returned to the boat after stuffing ourselves. We knew that they had crossed their wake and had seen their boat at Turner Marine in Mobile, but we were delighted to re-connect with friends that we had last seen in Trenton, Ontario. 

We'll be in Carrabelle until after the New Year, waiting for the right weather window to cross from here to Steinhatchee. 

We'll celebrate New Year's Eve by sharing a potluck dinner with our Looper friends, once Midas Touch is back in the water after having a leak repaired. That should happen tomorrow morning, once the patch has dried completely. 

Midas Touch in the travel lift, hauled out to enable the skilled folks at Dock Side to locate and fix the leak. 

 They had the propeller off and other parts removed not long after the boat was out, and Eric, boatyard owner, quickly found the area around the shaft where the plate that holds the shaft in place had weakened. Eric knew exactly how to fix this, and we'll be back in the water on New Year's Eve Day.

 Believe it or not, we'll sleep aboard the boat - in the sling - again tonight. We'll be connected to shore power, and the sling is solid.

We'll close with wishes that all of our readers will have a safe and joyous New Year.  Our Loop adventure is coming to its close, and what an adventure it has been.  We've had many more ups than downs, we've made friends we'll never forget, and despite the setbacks, we would not trade these last nine months for anything.  Until next year, may you have gentle winds, fair skies, and calm seas.

  

 

Five Weeks - Four Rivers - Four States & Two Lakes

-->Five Weeks - Four Rivers - Four States and Two 
Lakes - We're Back in the South!

 When we left Joliet, Illinois on September 16th, the weather was usually still warm enough by afternoon to change from long sleeves and jeans to tee shirts and shorts.  Today, October 19th, we're docked at Pebble Isle Marina near New Johnsonville, TN and it's 43 degrees with sunny skies, definitely jacket weather.
We've traveled 655 miles by water (which would have been 378 miles as the crow flies), following the bends and curves of the mighty Mississippi, turning north at Cairo into the Ohio River, east into the Cumberland River, then south into Barkley Lake, where we spent three days enjoying Green Turtle Bay Resort and Marina. Great showers and laundry, reunions with Looper friends, a trip to Paducah to see Unfair: Exposing the IRS the day we arrived, a memorable dinner at Patti's in Green Rivers (already decorated for Christmas), and boat repairs highlighted our stay. 
From Joliet, we stopped at Heritage Harbor near Ottawa, Peoria, and Havana, Illinois on our way to Grafton Harbor. It was Octoberfest in Peoria on September 19th, and Eastport Marina loaned us their old "dually" to cross the bridge and check out the action.  One regret: we should have visited the Caterpillar Center first, then gone to Octoberfest to enjoy German music, food and beer. We didn't get to try driving the bulldozer or backhoe in Peoria, but when we visited the River Discovery Museum in Paducah with Canadian friends Susan and Jeff, we each took a turn at the helm of a tow, speed boat, or Coast Guard cutter.   
Friday morning, after Mike installed a new bilge pump float switch, we continued south, with a west turn through a short channel into Kentucky Lake, formed in 1945 when the Army Corps of Engineers built Kentucky Lock and Dam across the Tennessee River and created the Land Between the Lakes. Tomorrow, we turn south again for a three day, 112 mile trip to Pickwick Lake and the beginning of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. Although our compass heading shows we're traveling south, the Tennessee River through Kentucky Lake flows north. Instead of the three - five mph current we enjoyed cruising down the Mississippi at a blistering speed of 11.5 miles per hour, we're now cruising against the current, with one lock before Pickwick Landing Marina.
Looking back at our journey through America's great rivers, we remember locks, tows (tugboats pushing as many as 18 barges), and large limbs and trees floating down the rivers.

Three weeks ago, anchored out behind Willow Bend Island in the Illinois River with Eclipse, It Takes Two, Fruitcakes, and Estrellita, we heard a loud thump on the hull just as we were waking up. A large dead tree had snagged itself on our anchor line and was stuck alongside the starboard bow. The channel between the island and the shore was filled with large limbs and more trees.  
Cowboy Mike hurried to the dinghy, lasso ready, to pull the tree away from our bow. As Stel took pictures from the bow of Estrellita, Mike pulled more logs

away from our fleet and dragged them to the opposite bank.  We all hurried to get underway, with Midas Touch last because we still had to take Midas ashore for his morning "get busy" routine.

When we reached Grafton Harbor, just above the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, Andy & Julie on Fruitcakes and Burke & Stel on Estrellita, both faster boats, had already docked, and we were happy to tie up near them, next to Cooyon and near Roxanne, Free Bird, Eclipse, and more Loopers.  We took advantage of the "pay for four days/get three free" deal to visit St. Charles, the St. Louis Arch, the Lewis & Clark Museum and the confluence of the Missouri & Mississippi Rivers. We even rented a car to take Julie and Marian to an immediate care facility in nearby Alton to have Julie's sore ribs and Marian's sore right arm checked out. Pulled ligaments was the verdict for Marian, and with the help of a bottle of Naproxen, the arm is almost as good as new.  We also did some major provisioning at Schnucks, the midwest equivalent of Publix, in Alton. While Stel and Marian filled grocery carts, Mike found a hardware store.  

"Docktails" are a tradition whenever Loopers gather, and with at least a dozen Looper boats in port, we moved our gathering from one of the larger boats to the deck at Grafton Harbor's office/ship's store/winery. It's a BYOB event, and most Loopers also bring an hors d'oeuvre to share. We caught up with friends, shared tales of our adventures (and misadventures), and compared notes on how long we had waited at various locks.    

Above right, Sylvi (in the red shirt) is one of the many wonderful Canadians we've met along the way. On another evening, we enjoyed her husband Simon's description of his career working in the frozen northern parts of Canada to keep the country's "hydro" (electric power) running.                                             

Below left, our view of the Grafton Harbor Marina and Big Kahuna, the upstairs bar and grill where we enjoyed an impromptu concert courtesy of four boating troubadors on their way to Mobile. They have been friends for 40 years, and their virtuosity on guitar, fiddle and harmonica is a real highlight of our journey. At right, the Looper gang on what felt like a summer afternoon in late September.               

                  

A new favorite from Grafton Harbor Marina is a spice mix that turns a box of ordinary saltine crackers and vegetable oil into an addictive snack. We have to keep them hidden from ourselves to prevent over-indulging; it's a good thing that they stay crisp in a sealed container for days.
Another treasured memory of our stay in Grafton was dinner at the Aerie, a winery at the top of a bluff. We rode up in two Gators and back down in a comfortable small bus.
Andy and Julie joined us for visits to the Lewis and Clark Boathouse in St. Charles and the Confluence Tower and Lewis & Clark State Historic Site in Hartford, IL.

Left, hanging sculpture of leaves graces the stairway leading to exhibits at the Lewis and Clark Boathouse.
Below, two of the excellent exhibits depicting life at the time of the expedition. 

 

 Left, the Confluence Tower. Above, fountain at the base. Below, one of many plants in the gardens. The Corps of Discovery recorded much of the vegetation they found on their journey and sent detailed drawings back to president   
                                             Thomas Jefferson.

Above and right, just a few of the many excellent exhibits at the Historic Site.

 Knowing that we would pass St. Louis as we traveled south on the Mississippi from Grafton Harbor and that the city has no places to dock, even briefly, along its waterfront, we used the rental car to visit the famous arch with Andy and Julie. Road construction nearby didn't deter us, and as shown below, Mike got some very creative shots of this amazing landmark, taken from the base as we waited to enter and ride to the top.  From the small portholes, we had a panoramic view of the river.

 

If you have the slightest hint of claustrophobia, don't even think about taking the tram to the top of the arch. The pods seat four people with reasonable comfort; a fifth passenger would have made our ride very, very cozy. 

From the luxury of Grafton Harbor with its excellent "en suite" showers and almost new washers and dryers, it was on to Hoppie's at MM158.5 RDB (Right Descending Bank), 20 miles south of St. Louis near the historic village of Kimmswick. Fern Hopkins is a legend among Loopers in particular and cruising boaters in general for her encyclopedic knowledge of the Mississippi River from above St. Charles (and perhaps farther north) to Green Turtle Bay on Barkley Lake.  She conducts daily briefings for boaters heading down the Mississippi, including safe, protected anchorages, meeting and overtaking tows, the current state of the river, and inside information on the three locks between Hoppie's and Green Turtle Bay. Which lockmasters will work with "PCs" (pleasure crafts) and which have no use for us? Is the water rising or falling and how much? Is there debris on the way from rain or storms upstream? She includes instructions for leaving the dock (several old barges tied together) and crossing the river to the channel: put engine in reverse briefly to dislodge any branches lodged under the hull; untie bow line, then stern line, leave your midship spring line around the cleat; turn wheel hard to starboard; shift to forward as you leave the dock, letting the current push your bow out.

Left and below, two views of the dock at Hoppie's on one of the beautiful days we stayed there waiting for repairs.

Below right, Fern's daily briefing. Pay close attention and take good notes.

Marian attended several in the nearly two weeks we stayed at Hoppie's, learning a bit more each time. Fern's knowledge and advice made one of the most challenging segments of the Loop a bit

easier and much safer. 

Next door to Hoppie's is a horse pasture, location of Ride St. Louis, a hippo - therapy organization, and a home that was the ancestral home of Fred and Mabel Ruth Anheuser. On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, on our way back from a walk into town, we stopped by and learned that an acappella men's chorus would be performing later that afternoon. We went on to Hoppie's and returned with three other Looper couples to enjoy an hour or so of terrific music.  
Midas needs regular baths, and Hoppie's dock was a perfect place. He stands patiently while Mike scrubs and rinses.
There's always more to tell, but our travels from Hoppie's to Green Turtle Bay and on toward the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway will have to wait for our next post. Please let us know what you think and ask any questions you have.
Thanks for sharing our adventures with us.