Hoppies Marina!

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 166 - September 13, 2017

While all the Loopers at Alton Marina were heeding Kimberly Russo's advice not to proceed past Alton due the issues at Lock 52 on the Ohio River, we took a contrary view, and decided that we wanted to get as far down the river as possible, so IF we could get through Lock 52, we would be in a position to go through and continue our Loop. If we could not, well, we were prepared to hang at some anchorage until we could go through. It did not hurt things for the other Loopers that Alton Marina was offering six days for the price of three, and it is a very nice marina, but we had done and seen what we wanted to do and see in Alton!

So we cast off lines about 8:45 a.m. and eased out into the Mississippi River and pointed the bow downstream!  There are only two locks for Loopers on the Mississippi River. The first one, the Melvin Price Lock, was virtually right out of Alton Marina. We were the only boat in the lock, and the lock master said we could "float it." It was a 23 foot drop, so we decided to try "floating it," which means we did not tie up to a bollard or take a line, we literally just floated out in the middle of the lock. Patty was driving, and it went OK. The next lock, the Chain of Rocks, started with a LONG canal leading up to the lock. This was only a 12 foot drop, and the lock master again said we could float it. Once again, we were the only boat in the lock and this time I was driving, just for a change of pace. Floating it in a lock does require some steering and forward and backward on the gear shift to stay more of less in the center of the lock pointing the right direction, but I did OK as well. I would NOT want to float it if there were any other boats in the lock! And that was it...now it is all the way to the Ohio river with no more locks!

We passed downtown St. Louis not long after exiting the Chain of Rocks lock. It was kind of a gray day, so our picture of the St. Louis Gateway Arch is not a postcard picture, but it is our picture!

St; Louis Gateway Arch

Skipper Bob says, and everyone else has told us, that going by St. Louis is perilous due to the large number of tows (towboats pushing barges). Amazingly, we saw no tows and only two tow boats sans barges as we passed through St. Louis. There were numerous towboats that showed up on the AIS but they were all parked along the shore. A little ways past St. Louis, we encountered numerous barges that appeared to be parked in the middle of the channel, but actually the barges were outside the channel, which was closer to the western shore.

We soon cleared the urban area and all the parked barges, and had clear sailing to Hoppies Marina at Mile 158 on the Mississippi. Cairo, Illinois, at the confluence of the Mississippi and the Ohio rivers, is at Mile 0 of the Upper Mississippi. So from Hoppies Marina, we have 158 miles to go before we turn up the Ohio River, then up the Cumberland River, and finally to Barkley Lake and Green Turtle Bay Marina.

Hoppies is the last fuel stop before Green Turtle Bay, and we are still working out miles downstream and miles per gallon (158 and 5 miles per gallon, calculated on fill between Alton and Hoppies) and miles upstream and miles per gallon (112 miles and what? We are using 2 miles per gallon upstream as a working hypothesis). So we should maybe use 32 gallons from Hoppies to Cairo (158 / 5), and 56 gallons from Cairo to Green Turtle Bay (112 / 2), for a total of 88 of our 100 gallons of gas. Too close for comfort by me. So we are still thinking about how we might get fuel somewhere along the way. So far, no answers are apparent. We might do better on the upstream mileage of course, but then again, we might not. We need to figure this out, and any suggestions would be appreciated!

Hoppies Marina is legendary among Loopers! It is four rusty barges tied to the shore with a fuel station on the middle barge. Transient boaters are put on the outside of the barges, while permanent boats are on the inside. The current on the Mississippi is pretty strong here, as everywhere, so the way you have to approach Hoppies is to go past it, turn around and approach upstream into the current so you can maintain control and not be swept right past the marina! I brought Daydream in and a dock hand caught our bow at the fuel dock. We fueled up, and then we simply walked the boat back to tie it up for the night! Hoppies, I must say, is not pretty! But without it, doing the Great Loop would be pretty much impossible.

Daydream at Hoppies Marina

The special attraction at Hoppies, though, is Fern Hopkins. Fern, at 80, still holds court nightly at the fuel dock, where she dispenses sage advice on river conditions, latest information on locks, best anchorages, and anything else a Looper might need to know. We all took notes! Most importantly, she told us that according to her conversation with the lock master of Ohio River Lock 52, he is in fact still locking pleasure craft through, except deep draft boats. So we press on tomorrow! 

Fern Hopkins holding court at the Hoppies fuel dock this afternoon