011: Gateway to the West

 

We left Alton on November 6^th bright and early to catch an open lock at the Melvin Price Lock and Dam just slightly down river of Alton.   We had been joined by some other “looper” boats and one of them decided to assume flotilla leader duties.   He notified us of the time but made the “rookie” mistake that I had made in not asking for the order into the locks, so I asked on the radio for the order suggesting that small, large, large, small was the typical. .  He replied something to the effect of “it will be what it will be.”   I again repeated my request for the order suggesting the given the size of our flotilla we should know the number of bollards and the order.   He blew me off.    A few minutes later he came on the radio, “My co-pilot suggested that I call the lockmaster and ask for the order into the lock.”   Pro Tip:  thank goodness for wives who keep us honest!

With our order now established we smoothly made it through the lock.    The next big challenge was not missing this sign:

 

The red arrow shows the sign and the channel that you need to go down.  The red circle with the x is where you don’t want to be.   The green arrow shows you where the the lock is located:

 

If you do miss the sign, you are in danger of this happening:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZq4TIarPYI

 After clearing that second set of locks you come to St. Louis, Gateway to the West to get your iconic picture in front of the Gateway Arch.  We took turns snapping pictures of each other.  That's us:

 

After the excitement of passing the Arch, we focused heading toward Kimmswick, MO and saw some interesting things.

Coast Guard working on navigation aids:

Barge being unloaded of silt, or sand, or something:

Barge on the "two" barge on the "one."  Best  be on your game:

https://youtu.be/nJSZ2EA34ZI

Kimmswick is home to the “legendary” Hoppie’s Marina.   Hoppies is basically a run-down set of floating barges that is conveniently located for a stop.  It is the last place you can purchase fuel for the 208-mile run to Paducah, so most of us topped off.  The people were very nice and helpful and gave us a “river briefing” that night.   The guidebook we have said, “if there is anything in this town more interesting than Hoppies, we didn’t find it.”   We beg to differ.   I did boat stuff and Nancy and Kathy found Kimmswick interesting and much like Long Grove, Il.   Judge for yourself:

Hoppie's Dock:

Hoppie's Dock:

Matt and Dave figuring something out on the dock:

 

 

 Kimmswick:

 

We had an early turn in that night with no real need for the space heater, even though we did have shore power.

Dave