The St. Louis Arch & Alton to Hoppie’s — the Marina on a Barge

Taurus in front of the St. Louis Arch. Taurus is the tiny boat
just to the left of the bronze statue’s head in the foreground.  So cool!!
The weather has turned hot and humid. 

We left Alton, Illinois this morning. We had our first lock in the Mississippi River just past the marina we’d been staying in. A tug without barges also locked through with us and two other Looper boats. Those tugs are intimidating close to our boat. 

Once we got out of the second lock, we headed for downtown St. Louis and the Arch. I had heard other Loopers talking about the St. Louis webcam. So I was ready with my phone when we went by the Arch. That was fun!

Taurus is the tiny boat just to the left of the bronze statue’s head in the foreground. So cool!! 

Ultimately we came to the junction of the Mississippi River and the Missouri River. The water was pretty turbulent there. It was a fun ride.
  Junction of the Mississippi River on the left, and the Missouri River is on the right.

Once we came through the river junction into the canal built for vessels, we came to Hoppie’s Marina. The marina is on barges and has electricity, but no water.  Taurus is docked on the river side of the barges, not the shore side. 

 Hoppie's Marina - you can just see the fly bridge in this picture. 

You can see Taurus docked right outside the “office” window. 

After we were secure, we walked into the town of Kimmswick, Missouri. Remember all the empty towns we’ve been to?  Well, I found all the people.  They are all at the Blue Owl Restaurant in Kimmswick eating pie.

Blue Owl Restaurant parking lot - everyone's inside eating pie!

I’m not kidding.  All of these cars are in the Blue Owl parking lot.
This picture is actually what the ladies wear while they interact with customers (long to the ankles).

The Blue Owl is known for their pie, so Fred and I each had a piece.  This turned out to be the bulk of our dinner. 

Fred had the high top apple pie.

I had the fresh peach pie. So good !!!

We are roughing it for the next couple of nights. We will be on a lock wall with no services, and then we will be anchored. 

Comments

  1. Peg M.September 12, 2021 at 7:10 PM

    Welcome to the mighty Mississippi, and the Arch (gateway to the west) Lewis and Clark started their 2 year journey from that exact spot - heading down the Missouri branch. Good thing you knew the difference between the Mississippi River and Missouri River. If you took the wrong one it would be a really long trip home! The pie looks really delicious, but Fred's apple pie would cover breakfast, lunch and supper for me (lol). Very cool that you got a picture of Taurus going past the Arch.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Taurus Great LoopSeptember 12, 2021 at 8:23 PM

      So good to hear from you! Yes the Arch is very cool and if we hadn’t seen it, we would have been on the wrong river! Lol. And I knew I could count on you to explain the raisin d’etre for the St. Louis Arch. Thanks for coming through for me.

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