October 3, Day 112 –Kimmswick (Hoppie’s) to Kaskaskia Lock

Saturday, October 3, 2009

October 3, Day 112 –Kimmswick (Hoppie’s) to Kaskaskia Lock

It is a bright sunny day and no wind this morning. We had a good nights sleep and are now ready for Day 2 down the Mississippi. We plan to go to Kaskaskia Lock and tie up to the lock wall. We will likely raft up with the other boats leaving Hoppie’s today. It will be a short run today, with a long (69 miles) tomorrow.

After an uneventful trip down the Mississippi, we (Monk’s Vineyard, Emotion III, and Christina Diane) arrived at Kaskaskia lock around 1:00 and tied up to the lock wall. This turned into an adventure. There were very few cleats and the hand rails were falling apart, so we had to tie to these big steel columns that were on the other side of the lock wall. You still had to negotiate the hand rails to get off the boat and that was a real challenge, sort of like crawling between the wires of a barbed wire fence, but fortunately without the barbs.

Shortly after we were squared away, Izzy R and Blue Arrow came up the river and joined us. We managed to find space for them and we decided to have some lunch.

We both took long naps after lunch – guess we were tired. Linda seems to be coming down with a cold, so the nap should do her some good.

Another boat, Emerald Lady (American Tug 41), came in about 4:00. They had come all the way from Alton (82 miles) today.

We had a cocktail hour on the lock wall with all the other loopers and got to know them a little better. We are all planning to be at the rendezvous later this month, so we will all be old friends by then.

Gerry cooked some hamburgers while Linda multitasked nuking some corn and blogging.

After dinner, Linda finished her blogging and Gerry listened to some football scores. Then it was off to bed to be ready for an early start and a long day (69 miles).