Snug in a little cove and at anchor

Well, it's day 11 and were still having fun!For the last two days we'veat anchored out because there are no marinas on this long stretch of the Mississippi.We are snug in a towhead (cove) near Cairo Illinois...we have no phone access but for some crazy reason we do have internet....yea! We are waiting to make a run up the Ohio river because the Ohio has experienced severe flooding and there's alot of debris in the river...we will be going against the current so it will make for a long day all the way to Barkley dam and the entrance to the Cumberland river and Kentucky Lakes where we'll stay at Green Turtle Marina..a very fancy place. We then plan to go to Nashville.I saw a huge water snake swimming past the boat on the river...about 10' long with a huge head he held out of the water...ick!We are still travelling with Orinoco (river in Venezula) and Patty and Robert from Montana.Its nice to have some down time here at anchor...the biggest surprise so far on this trip is how busy we are every minute under way and how fast time goes...I will enter several pictures here..one of Hoppies Marina where we had at least 15 Looper boats..its the last marina for 200 miles!

Tom at the Helm

Good Morning and pardon the "gaps" in this blog..we've been internet challenged. It's a gorgous day on the Mississippi river in Alton Illinois across from St Louis, Missouri. Beautiful old town with gorgeous mansions on high bluffs overlooking the river. We're meeting fascinating people, including a couple from Russia who built their own boat and have been cruising the states for years. They charge $1.00 if you take a picture of their boat and another $1.00 to hear about their story..we couldn't afford them
Small town America has been so interesting and we're seeing a part of this country that we'd never take the time to see if we weren't floating past the towns slowly down the river. There are challenging times, too when good "listening" skills come in handy.
When passing a tow boat and barge on the river its up to the "pleasure craft" to communicate with the tow boat for passing priviledges. So the communication should sound like this Us..."North bound tow at willow bend, this is the south bound pleasure craft approaching, how would you like us to pass?" The answer..."wellilladykiponcuminontheunwisle" Translation "Well little lady, keep on coming on the one whistle (our port side). Most of the captains of these boats hail from Louisiana in Cajun country...We normally just listen for the "one whistle" or two whistle and then go for it.
This picture was taken at Hardin Illinois where 5 Looper boats stopped for the evening...The restaurant is called "Mels river front Restaurant" and he's famous on the river for his smoked food..wonderful unique place!

Finding our Groove

Hi all...we are safe and sound in Peoria, Illinois on the Illinois river...we've had some challenges with this website but hopefully were good to go..We are into night four of our great adventure, and believe me it is that! We are "buddy boating" with a boat from Montana for a few days and just met another "looper" from Sacramcnto California!
To sum up our first 4...thanks to Captain Jim Brinckerhoff (picture at right) our friend for accompanying us on the first few days..we have so far travelled about 200 miles, gone through 6 locks, stayed at free docks every night, passed numerous tow boats (some as long as 4 football fields) experienced high winds and cool temps. Last night we stayed in Hennepin Ill...a real slice of Americana. The town is picture perfect and sits high on a bluff overlooking the river. Three of us were tied to the town dock. The Illinois is a beautiful river with steep bluffs and miles of untouched woods and farmland. We are tied to the town dock here in Peoria because we could not get into any of the Marinas because of low water. Tonight the corps of engineers will open the wicket dams to let water into this upper pool so tomorrow we should have no problem. Were off to dinner out in peoria...will be here for a few days

The best laid plans!!!!

This is a quickie...We're still working on the boat and have decided to give ourselves (and our wonderful contractors) a little breathing space! Tom is still varnishing (furniture), installing (stuff)and tweaking electronics. I am still working at Re/Max and on getting the house ready to have a new bathroom installed in our absence. So Home Depot has seen alot of me in the past few days!
We will be casting off for the official start of the Loop on Monday, September 18th, from Winthrop Harbor. So the first leg will be to downtown Chicago (about 50 miles).On the second day we will enter the Cal-Sag canal off Hammond Indiana on our way to the Illinois River. More postings to come as we get underway...

2 to go.....

The best laid plans..Of course I wanted to leave earlier than the 18th of Sept and now I realize we need every single day! The boat is still not finished, I am going to visit my kids in Calif for a "kid-fix" prior to departure, we are having a huge garage sale so we don't have to pack all this stuff (we figure it will pay for a tank of diesel for the trip)still working at Re/Max, attending theatre with our theatre group, attending a good friend's wedding,visting with our friends nightly and waking up in the middle of the night thinking WHAT HAVE WE FORGOTTEN!!!!!
Change is not easy, but it does stretch us as people.

The picture here is of Bob Frech, and 2 of our Grandkids Tom and Michael Greenwell..July 2006