The mighty Miss. We are once again traveling upstream, fighting the current. Besides the current we must constantly dodge logs and sometimes trees coming at us. What a ruckus. We sure don’t want any of those in our props. Then on top of that there are the tows pushing 10-20 barges. After pushing upstream for 51 miles we stopped for fuel in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. (This is where Rush Limbaugh was born) We had contacted Kidd Oil Company that morning and scheduled for Charlie Brown (yes really) to meet us at his fuel dock. The dock is actually a 50 foot barge where they pumped fuel from a tanker truck on the other side of the flood wall. Another 1st time experience for us. Once fueled up we continued for 66 miles where we turned up the Kaskaskia River, proceeded 1/4 mile and tied up to the lock wall for the evening after getting permission from the lock master. At dusk we were entertained by chorus of howling coyotes. The first mate thought they sounded a lot like the captain when he tries to sing! The captain claimed they were applauding our 12 hour, 165 mile day.
Saturday, May 15 after another 50 miles of fighting the current it was time for fuel again. We stopped at the legendary Hoppies to top off the tanks. After topping off the first tank, Sheli asked the attendant how he could tell how much fuel we were getting as the pump still showed zero. That caused a panic on his end. After lots of stomping around, we came to a consensus that we would have to rely on our onboard fuel meters to complete the purchase. Over the next 60 miles we locked up twice. We were fortunate to only have to wait 1/2 hour at the Chain of Rocks Lock, but at the Mel Price Lock we had to wait 3 hours as they had to lock thru 2 upbound tows ahead of us. Commercial tows/barges have locking priority over recreational vessels however the lock masters are required to lock any waiting pleasure craft every 3rd lock. After our 110 mile day, we pulled in at Grafton Harbor Marina. We are now off the Mississippi River and on the Illinois River.
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| Pulling up to barge for fuel |
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| Cape Girardeau, Missouri fuel stop |
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| Typical Tow pushing barges |
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| Passing by the St Louis Arch |
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