Rollin’ on the River

. . . Life on the Mississippi

Mark Twain might not recognize the Mississippi River today. Huck Finn would have a hard time poling a raft down it now. The river has been dredged and narrowed to allow river traffic year-round and had dams built to somewhat control water levels. 

But it hasn’t been tamed.

We’ve experienced rip snortin’ currents of up to four miles an hour. Throughout the river, the current swirled, causing us to constantly correct our course. It would be amazing at higher water levels. Like the Illinois River before it, our trip on the Mississippi was at low water.

Today, we covered 76 miles in just eight hours with four miles per hour of current! It's an all-time record for us.

The morning light hits a western-facing bluff 
on the Mississippi River.

What we’re seeing and hearing are sandy banks, not mud as on the Lower Mississippi (below Cairo, Ill.), the constant sound of thousands of cicadas, an occasional thump, thump on the hull as we hit waterlogged branches and small logs, and surprisingly beautiful scenery.

The Trail of Tears crossed the Mississippi River in this area of big bluffs.

Asian carp are still everywhere. At the mile 78 anchorage, the carp were so thick you could almost walk to shore on their backs.

Leaping Carp! Carina hadn't scored any Asian carp until a huge tow passed us with a loud engine. We heard plop-plop and found our first carp in the dinghy. Kent gave it a river burial at Hoppie's Marina.

At the Start: Leaving the Illinois River (Hooray!)

Between Grafton and Alton, Illinois, the Illinois River ended as it flowed into the Mississippi River. This rear view (upstream) shows the Mississippi on the left and the Illinois on the right.

Not only did the Illinois River end between Grafton and Alton, but Ice Age glaciers did too.  The dockmaster at Grafton Harbor told us the Mississippi Palisades, a series of bluffs, were where the glaciers stopped. Most of the countryside (that we could see over the Illinois levees) was fairly flat up to then.

We spent a night in Grafton to celebrate Aurora (crew front left) and Bucket List (crew front right) cross their wakes, before we moved on to Alton for two nights, 

David (left), Kent’s first cousin from St. Louis, met us at Alton and took us to see some of the sights and to Pere Marquette State Park for lunch. The buildings were created by the Civilian Conservation Corp during the depression and are still stunning.

The great hall at Pere Marquette featured huge beams, tapestries, games such as oversize chess pieces and checkers, and wonderful ambiance, we'd call it.

Alton was where Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln held their last debate in the race for the U.S. Senate seat from Illinois . The debate is memorialized in a downtown park. Alton must have been a political springboard because two years later Abe Lincoln was elected president.

Hoppie’s is a hoot!                                                                                    

Hoppie’s Marina consists of three end-to-end barges tied to shore.  It’s the only marina in the 200-mile stretch of the Mississippi River that the Great Loop follows, and it’s located in the first third of that section. Anchorages are few and far between after Hoppie's.

Hoppie’s reminds us of Bobbie’s Fish Camp in south Alabama because they are both very local and very colorful. They are both the only source of fuel and to dock for miles. The difference is that Fern (far right) who runs the marina with her husband, Hoppie, is extremely helpful with her daily Looper meeting and advice. Bobbie’s daughter who runs the fish camp now is not so much.

Up the hill from Hoppie’s is Kimmswick, Missouri, and the Blue Owl Restaurant. We expected a “meat and three" café and instead got Southern Living quality. The food was excellent and desserts even better, especially the Levee-high Apple Pie.

Mary Hammond (middle) started the Blue Owl restaurant around 25 years ago. Today, it’s a stop for bus tour groups. Mary showed Jane (left) and Grace (right), Sea Glide, the entire pie, not just the slice they ate. The pie weighed about seven pounds! 

When Do We Get to Relax and Float Around the Boat With a Sundowner?

The line two-thirds of the way up
this barge tie up is actually the 
normal pool level. We're about 
10 feet low.

That’s actually the question another Looper had. We rushed through Canada to get to -- and through --Lake Michigan before the lake became nasty (right about now). Then, we rushed through the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers because they are really low and getting lower, meaning there are few places deep enough for us to anchor and few marinas deep enough for us to dock. Actually on those two rivers, there are few marinas period, even for fuel.

After motoring upstream for more than 60 miles on the Ohio River, we will go to the Cumberland River and Green Turtle Bay Marina for about a week of R&R. We’ll have the mast raised. We’ll wash and wax the boat at our leisure. We’ll go to the grocery store at our leisure. We’ll do laundry at our leisure.  We’ll take long showers. Best of all, we’ll float around the boat with a sundowner, at our leisure. And best yet, we've learned that many of our pre-Loop sailing friends will be there, too.

Eagles soar along the Mississippi River. What
better way to end this blog post?!

Next: Crossing our wake

From Yuck to Yippee!!!

. . . Top to Bottom on the Illinois River (and its Tributaries)

You know, you can't love every place you visit. Sometimes you go to some places that you just want to get through quickly. For us, it was the Illinois River. We like the state of Illinois, mind you, just not the river. It looks dirty, is narrow, has few places to stop overnight and doesn't do this beautiful state justice.  

First a little geography and a touch of history

It all starts at Chicago. Two canals go inland from Lake Michigan near Chicago. The southern canal, the Cal-Sag, where we had our mast lowered, is very industrial. The northern canal, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, winds through downtown Chicago. 

Storage elevators, barges, and refineries line the banks of the Cal-Sag canal.

Both canals come together about 30 miles from their start at Lake Michigan to become a slightly bigger Chicago Sanitary Canal. That canal ultimately becomes the 273-mile long Illinois River that we've traveled on for the past week.

Low bridges across the canals were the reason Carina's mast had to be lowered.

Why Are We Writing About This?

Before the Sanitary and Ship Canal was built in 1900, Chicago’s sewage was sent to Lake Michigan, its source of drinking water. Now its treated waste is sent down the Illinois River. . .to the Mississippi River. . . into the Gulf of Mexico). 

The Lockport Lock changes the flow of the canal away from Lake Michigan toward the Illinois River.

South of the Lockport Lock, waste treatment plants almost lined the canal, just as industrial plants had before.

Many cities release treated waste into nearby rivers. According to what we read, Chicago is unique in that it releases only lightly treated fecal matter into the canals. It doesn’t use chlorine because of the concerns over its effects. That’s why there are signs all along the canal warning people that the water isn’t suitable for human body contact. Yuck!

Once you know what’s in it, it’s hard to think good thoughts about the river water, even down at its end, where we were yesterday. 

Carpe Carp (Seize the Carp)

The spread of Asian carp is a serious problem on the Illinois, Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, taking over from native species. Of the nine species of Asian carp, the silver carp are the best known because loud noises frighten them and they leap into the air, often into boats. 

Our friends Eddy and Linda, Spiritus, are going for the Looper record. So far, on the Illinois alone, they’ve landed 13 silver carp . . . without trying. (UPDATE: Their count ultimately was 17!)

A low-level charge is sent through a stretch of the canal to stop the spread of invasive carp from the south into Lake Michigan.

Low water, fewer choices 

Water is significantly low on the Illinois. It seems to be a seasonal situation – floods in the spring, low water in the fall. This year, maybe for several years, droughts have made the situation much worse. It’s made it hard to find marinas or anchorages deep enough for many pleasure boats like Carina. 

Barges haven't tied up here for many years. The tree in the middle of the barge tie-up looks to be about four years old.

Good Things About the Illinois River

A free wall with electricity: After a long day through the canals, Carina was docked at the free Joliet Municipal Dock. Some river towns offer free docks, but few give free electricity.

Sleeping at an 1800s lock: One of the best stops down the Illinois was Henry Harbor Marina. We spent the night in a late 1800s lock, tied to iron loops in the top of the old lock wall. It was a good stop for fuel at the marina, groceries and laundry in the small town of Henry, Illinois.

The blue look to the water is a reflection of the sky. The water is muddy brown. We hope it's mud.

Floating around in the lock: The Peoria Lock and Dam let the three pleasure boats float around instead of tying to a wall. Cool sounding, it was actually hard to keep from playing bumper boats.

The Peoria waterfront: The star of the modern Peoria waterfront is the Spirit of Peoria paddlewheeler. It's downtown looked heathy and impressive. Caterpillar's headquarters can be seen in the background.

White pelicans again: We first saw white pelicans September 2012 on the Tennessee River as they migrated from northern states. The next time was months later in the Everglades where they wintered (we think). Now, they are on the Illinois River. They are much shyer than brown pelicans, eating vegetation by the shore, rather than diving for fish.

Florida Egrets in the North: Egrets may also “summer” here. We’ve only know them in the South, especially Florida, but found them down the length of the Illinois.

The real Illinois: Levees lined much of the Illinois River, making it seem ditch-like. Occasionally they would go away, and we'd see the countryside. Stone bluffs could be glimpsed now and then the further south we went. This home and many others were built on extremely tall stilts to withstand spring floods. We wish we could have seen more of the real Illinois like this.

Eagles galore: And of course, it wouldn't be the Land of Lincoln without bald eagles. 

Aurora crosses her wake. Yippee!!

From Canada until Chicago, we sailed along with Mike and Cindy on Aurora, a 22-foot sailboat. They caught back up a few days ago and celebrated the completion of their Loop at Grafton, Illinois, with a big group of friends. They are leaving soon for their home in Minnesota, a 750-mile trip. It’s been a joy traveling with them, despite some of the early (7:30 a.m.), early-early (6:30 a.m.) and early-early-early (5:30 a.m.) departures.

If It's Too Loud, You're Too Old

. . . And Other Discoveries Along Lake Michigan

Part of the fun of traveling the Loop is making discoveries along the way. 

One was the table at the St. Joseph Municipal Marina decorated by the West Basin Performance Boating Association (aka cigarette boaters).  If you’ve never seen a cigarette boat, it’s long, powerful and free of mufflers. You hear them before you see them.  We reluctantly admit they are too loud for us.

Life in the slow lane

At South Haven, the stop before St. Joseph, we were greeted by a tractor parade passing by the marina.  Tractors and people of all shapes and sizes drove by the docks as we all waved wildly at each other.

This shows the parade right before the tractor drivers and cruisers began waving wildly at each other. The parade went on about 10 minutes longer. It was much longer than just this group. There are lots of tractors near South Haven.

We thought this tractor was unusual. It turns out to be an orchard tractor to care for and harvest the cherry, apple and other crops grown in Michigan. The rounded edges keep the tractor from breaking branches.

Moving Down the Lake

South of St. Joseph/Benton Harbor, we stopped overnight at Michigan City that is oddly enough in Indiana.

It has dancing community art (one dancer is a wine opener, the other a beer opener),

A downtown nuclear plant (don’t get ideas, TVA!),

The largest marina we've been to so far (this is just a very small portion),

And police on Segways! Is that not the coolest cop you’ve ever seen?!

More Sand Dunes

The shoreline of Michigan is just a series of sand dunes, the largest up at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. They don't stop at the state line, though.

The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore has large dunes, maybe just not quite as tall as the State of Michigan's.

Early morning light strikes the Indiana dunes.

Up the Calumet River, Down the Mast

We’ve both fought colds in Michigan and are glad to have won the battle about the time we left the lake. We're still dragging a little, though. 






To make the trip easier, we chose to have the mast lowered at Crowley's Yacht Yard on the Calumet River. The river is an alternative route to the inland river system, one that we're taking instead of going up the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal through downtown Chicago.

We're trying to make a photo video of the lowering and will post it on the blog if it works.

The highlight of the day was seeing Brad, a city planner and writer, who is Kent's cousin's son. That makes him Kent's cousin once removed or is it second cousin? He was a great help, bringing ice and bubbly to celebrate completing our Loop later, and taking us to the grocery store to provision. For those and many other reasons, we're glad he's part of our family.


Next: To the Illinois River