The Floating Stones

There was scant internet available for much of the remaining stretch of the Mississippi River or as we made out way onto the Tombigbee River, so many of the memories we created are going to be a blur.  I'll try to capture the highlights here. We left Hoppie's Marina as early as the Coffeeville Dam said they didn't have a back-up of barges waiting.  Other than Dresden locks where we had to overnight, we have really been lucky with Dams as far as I can remember.  We haven't had to wait much at all, despite war stories from other boaters of four to six hour waits at some locks.  The river really looked a lot alike as we traveled down, and there wasn't much that was remarkable.  We had a couple of anchorage nights before Paducah-  nothing spectacular, but we always make the most of  the "ground time" we have!  The Handsome Captain is always good for a fire, a steady hand as the Littles climb fallen trees of dubious stability, and adult beverages to ...

Todd has been saying the word "treacherous" a lot lately. Its due to that mighty murkey Mississippi. In the Great Lakes, when you come across an out of place flat calm bit of water with other waters lapping over top of it, it typically means that there is a sand bar, or rock there and you steer clear. Not so here.  It happens all the time and you can't see through the water and you're sure you are going to hit something but no... It's just current/tide/whatever. My gut still wrenches when I come up top and see that. Thank goodness we have such a talented and capable Captain (who is also handsome and witty). He also figured out what the lines across the river in our navigation system mean. They mean that the water is going to all of a sudden be about 80 feet deep and the boat will go sideways in the swirling whirpool of death that this creates. We avoid those at all cost now. Do you want to know why St. Louis doesn't have a Marina?  Because it would be shee...

You meet the cutest and sweetest folks when travelling the loop.  We arrived at Grafton, IL, the day before Hallowe'en along with several, slower boats whom we play leap frog with along this adventure.  They were so concerned that the Lttles wouldn't have a wonderful hallowe'en that each of them found some sort of candy for the kiddos.  Many thanks to the Andros, Lorna and Irv, and the sailboat with the wood stove (whaaa?  yep.  It smelled soooo welcoming).  They were all so so sweet and made sure that the Littles had some candy from each of them  Not only that, but the owner of the marina at Grafton heard that we had Littles aboard and insisted that we have their courtesy car for Hallowe'en night and pulled two large goodie bags out of her purse when I showed up at the Marina shop on Hallowe'en morning.  Thanks Jan, you're a peach. we did a little decorating...  Anyhoo, we ended up sharing the car that day with a nice coup...

We were told that the water levels were low, something to do with wickets (which we only now know what they are) and that navigating into the Illinois Valley Yacht Club (the IVY) would not necessarily be impossible but would most surely ruin our hull, props and therefore our day. So we stopped at the free docks at the Peoria City wall. Free is good. Free with power even better! Until we realize the mistake that Peoria has made. Beautiful riverfront, so-so docks (again, Free), but absolutely everything you want to do is on the *other side of the river*. Seriously. No restaurants, no grocery, nada. Well, there is the Caterpillar headquarters/visitor center. In addition, we weren't really comfortable with the amount of interest some unsavories were paying to us and our boat at the city dock. Todd's friend Jeff used to live here and lined up one of HIS friends who would lend us their car.  He also lined up a nice slip for us at the IVY. They both told us that we really should b...

I promised to fill you in on the title "see you on the ones".  Communicating with the barges on the river can be tricky - some just plain don't answer you.  Most communicate via channel 13.  Todd was approaching a barge, and had asked him, "Hey Captain, what side should I pass you on?".   The response was "see you on the ones".  One=Port, two=Starboard.  Handsome Captain took that to mean the *barge's* port.  Nope.  It was our port, his starboard, and BOY, did Todd get an earful from that captain.  That horrible feeling when you've done something amiss.  Why can't we just all get along?  I think he's scarred for life, really, and I feel for him.  (Todd edits this to say that captain just had a bad day at "ahole school".) Recall that we are at Harborside Marina, waiting for the "green light" at Dresden locks.   What better day to travel than 40 degrees and rain?   We love our boat.  We really do -...

Cruising down the Illinois River - there is a lot of this: and this: and dodging logs.  Actually - dodging big 'ole trees that are floating - lots of them. Oh, and here's a game we like to play;  will we fit under that bridge?  Uhm.....  On a river that is trafficked primarily by commercial barges, we feel tolerated at best.  In "our" world (the Great Lakes) - channel 16 on the radio is reserved for the Coast Guard and signals of distress - serious business only - and they will jump on and remind you should you forget and "chat".  Here, as best we can ascertain, 16 is for everyone.  14 is supposed to be for locks and barges and 13 for bridges.  Mularkey.  We have found that 14 is definitely for locks (thanks for the consistency, Army Corps of Engineers...haha) and that bridges and anyone wanting to chat follow 16, and no one uses 13.  We have hailed a LOT of bridges on 13 (thanks again, silly guide book ...

Navy Pier is definitely the star of the show lately. Right next to Navy Pier is the Chicago Harbor Lock which connects Lake Michigan to the Chicago River and the Illinois Water System. This was the first lock of many, many locks in our journey. Only a drop of 5 ft. Todd brought to my attention that Lake Michigan about 600 feet above sea level (so I googled it, and he is right, it's 577 feet above sea level to be exact. He is so smart.) We are headed down these rivers to Mobile, AL which is only 10 feet above sea level.  So, again, many many locks are in our future to get us down to that level.  Typically, I'll ask the children to stay below deck; which in reality sounds more like, "Hey, this is stressful and Mommy and Daddy really need to focus.  So you have to stay downstairs and not fight.  If I hear a peep, I'm going to throw your iPads overboard!".   Then I grab a walkie talkie, making sure Handsome Captain and I are both on the same channel, throw on a...