Wednesday October 01, 2014

This morning we left Hoppies at 6:30 and made our way to the Kaskaskia lock and dam for tie up over night. The weather was very hot - oh so nice to be under a warm sun.

 

 

 

This photo and the two below are of eddys.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_(fluid_dynamics)

 Several quarries along the river.

A little bit of colour in the leaves here.

First Mate - Mary Lynn

 Captain - Greg

 

Deck Hand - Allan

Stowaway - Anne

The First Mate makes all the arrangements by phone with locks and marinas ahead so we are ensured a safe passage.

 

 

Two more stowaways are on board - Red the skeleton and a nameless witch

 Woody the patriot, Mary Lynn the First Mate and

 Allan the Deck Hand take a moment from their busy

 schedule for a photo. 

 

An eagle and a white egret  carry on with their daily routine

without concern of our presence.

 This is the Kaskaskia Lock and Dam.

Other boaters have chosen this tie up for the night too.

 

Tuesday September 30, 2014

Today we stayed at Hoppies Marina and spent the most of the day in Kimmswick.
http://visitkimmswick.com/home   and
http://visitkimmswick.com/in_memory_of_lucianna_gladney-ross
 

A beautiful morning sunrise.

 

It was a warm morning but at 10:30 am - not, I am convinced the thermometer was broken.

No orbs this morning.

 

We caught this little squirrel having his morning snack.

 

I loved the autumn decorations displayed throughout the town.

 

We had a delicious lunch at the Blue Owl Restaurant.

http://www.theblueowl.com/index.php/our-story

 

 

 

 

Monday September 29, 2014

We left Alton bright and early this morning

 and passed through the Mel Price locks. 

 

 

 

They make going through the locks

 look easy but oh man it is not! 

The captain drives the boat to the lock slowly

when instructed to do so by lock staff, deck hands tie up

to a ball on the lock wall then use the gaff hooks to

 keep the boat from rubbing against the wall of the lock.

The lock doors close, the water adjusts to the appropriate level, the doors open and out you go.

        Interesting going under the bridges instead of on them.

The second set of locks  "The Chain of Rocks" 

 There were 4 vessels leaving Alton Marina this morning, all headed down the Mississippi for destinations south.

This is one of many tow boats along the river systems here - seems weird to us because we think the boat should be pulling its tow, here the boat pushes it tow.

 

You can faintly see the arch as we pass along St. Louis. 

Another tow boat.  

There are a few cable stayed bridges here,  

the center arch is in the bridge design, the one on the right is the arch of St. Louis. A neat shot I thought.

We saw a few kayakers on the river too.

 

 Our dockage at the end of the day was at Hoppies Marina at Kimmswick Missouri.

Some people take their dogs on their sailing trips and others take cats. This one weighs 23 pounds!!

 

 

Greg and Allan were impressed with the old implements and vehicles around the marina.

Take note of the orbs?

No bicycle riding lane here.

 

A quick walk about town in the evening.

 

Back at the marina boaters had a camp fire burning.