Alton Marina, Alton, Illinois, mile marker 202.9 on the Mississippi
On Saturday, October 2, we traveled from our anchorage at Valley City (mile marker 62 on the Illinois), to Alton Marina at mile marker 202.9 on the Mississippi – a total of 82 miles, a record distance for us in one day! Of course, we had the currents of both rivers working for us! Traveling on a rainy Saturday turned out to be a good idea. We only met one tow, and none of the usual fishing boats were out.
Alton is an old river town with some very interesting looking buildings. It has flooded a number of times, probably explaining why the marina is totally floating! The admin building, the swimming pool, and all the docks are attached to poles that extend (at the moment) about 25 feet above the water! In 2019, the marina folks told us the parking lot, which is several feet up from where the marina is floating, was 4 feet under water for months! Yikes. Between the marina and town, there is a tall levee. There is a pedestrian bridge that leads from the levee over railroad tracks and a highway. The marina is almost directly under a huge bridge. There used to be a lock right here, but, after the new lock was built about a mile down the river, the Civilian Corps of Engineers decided to put a marina here. The city leases it. They do a fine job – fuel is very reasonable, the staff provides excellent prompt service, including picking up any trash from the dock! They had a deal for dock space – pay for 3 days, get an additional 6 days for free! Sold!
During our stay, every day more and more Loopers arrived – this is the time of year when the bulk of Loopers, who have spent the spring and summer in the Erie Canal and then the Great Lakes, are migrating to chase summer down to Florida! We have decided to join the group this year, having been somewhat out of step with the masses since we started in 2018.
I’ve enjoyed a couple of good walks here, up and down the hills, and we have had some nice meals with our fellow Loopers.
October 9 – 10, HOPPIES!
Our next stop is the legendary Hoppies, which seems to be almost a required stop for Loopers! The original Hoppie and his wife, Fern, have had this business for a very long time. Hoppie and Fern are now in their 80’s and not even coming to the dock often. Their ‘kids’ are in their 60’s and are running the business. This is not a marina by any stretch of the imagination! Hoppies used to have 4 or 5 barges, all tied together, where boats could tie up for a night, get electricity, get some advice for the coming stops on the rivers. There was a hurricane 3 years ago, and they lost all but two of their barges. You’ve never seen such rough barges! To walk from our spot to the office required constant vigilance so as not to trip on the various pieces that stick out! But, we decided to stop there anyway.
One of the attractions at Hoppies is the little town of Kimmswick and one restaurant there called the Blue Owl. One of our looper friends, Mick Anderson, said we MUST go to the Blue Owl and get a piece of apple pie! Unfortunately, on the Saturday when we arrived at Hoppies, the town was closed to anyone who did not have a ticket to a charity event for ‘witches’. Apparently, it’s quite the thing. People come in costume and have a high old time!
In order to go to the Blue Owl, we stuck around on Sunday morning to have breakfast and get some apple pie. We bought a whole pie – having no idea what to expect, we were surprised at the size and weight! The box was a 12 inch cube and weighed about 10 pounds! We were in a hurry to get back to the boat and leave, so did not open the pie until later that day. First of all, the pie cost $55!! They use 18 apples. This thing was huge – But, I must say, it was possibly the best apple pie I’ve ever had.
No comments:
Post a Comment