Saturday, September 11 Location: Kaskaskia Lock and Dam

We have left the Illinois River and are now traveling the Upper Mississippi River with a nice 4 knot
current pushing us along at a higher speed. (great for fuel economy).

Hoppie's Marine Services

We docked at Hoppie’s Marine Services, last night, which is home to Captain and Fern Hopkins who have carried on his father’s tradition of helping guide boater’s traveling through with their “briefings”. The marina is not much more than a few barges hooked together, but they are so knowledgeable and willing to share any info they have that most “loopers” make this stop a must.

We will travel on this river for 218 miles to Cairo, where it joins the Ohio River. Anchorages and fuel stops on the Upper Mississippi are scarce to non-existent. We are sure to encounter some challenges

along the way with the increased barge traffic on the Mississippi and the questionable anchorages.

our dockage at Kaskaskia Lock and Dam

Tonight we are tied to a lock wall for the evening…no facilities, but very happy to have a wall to tie up to for the night..tomorrow we will travel about 50 miles and hope the anchorage area we have selected there is suitable to the wind and current we will have.

Again, we have another beautiful weather day. The nights are slowly beginning to cool down.

Thanks for keeping in touch with us.  To know that you are following us keeps us on our toes and gives us warm fuzzies. (can u tell it's time for me to hit the hay!  good nite.)