Hoppie's to Kaskaskia River Anchorage

October 17, 2001 - Hoppie's to Kaskaskia River Anchorage

We got up early and it was sunny and VERY cold. I walked up to Kimmswick to the post office to mail some things to Bev. and my kids. When I came back I saw that the fog had rolled in and we couldn't see a thing. Several boats left in the fog and returned. Hoppie had told them to wait, but they went anyway. We had breakfast and the fog lifted about 9:30, so we pulled out. Followed the day markers along; it was hard to spot some of them. The charts are foreign to me - guess I'll have to learn now that Tom isn't here to do it. We figure we are going about a mile every 5 minutes. The river current is going fast, so sometimes even faster. There are a lot of logs and debris to watch for - big and small. We went by many barges carrying coal and rocks. About noon we passed the two sailboats that were at Hoppie's last night. Hoppie's wife, Fern had told us about an anchorage on the Kaskaskia River that was safe and nice, so were headed there. We arrived and locked through at 12:50. This was the first time that Bill and I had gone through alone. Luckily there was no wind in the locks, so it was a piece of cake. Ha! Ha! Also, the bollards were at deck height, so it was easy for me to throw a line around it. Then we anchored just above the lock on the right, in a quiet little bay. They used to let boats anchor just below the lock, but because of our heightened security on the rivers and ports, they don't allow it anymore. Bill put down 2 anchors and I fixed lunch. We were all anchored, safe and sound by 1:30 - pretty good considering it was our first time to do this. It is still sunny, but quite cool.

After lunch, Bill went right to work doing repair on the toe rail that got damaged just before we left St. Joe in a storm. I napped. Two sailboats just locked through and are anchored near us. There may be more before the night is over. We grilled out and opened a bottle of fine wine. There is no shopping here, so we watched the news, wrote our report, checked our e-mail, which we are enjoying, and are about to go to bed. Tomorrow we'll go 65 miles to get fuel at Cape Girardeau. I'm sure Bill will want to run up town to see where Rush Limbaugh was born and raised. We'll be anchoring out again at another anchorage that Fern told us about - hope it's as nice as this one. The saga continues on the Mississippi. Good Night.