Day 10 - Alton, IL to Imperial, MO

What better way could a day start out than to be sitting at a bakery sipping coffee and eating a doughnut.  That's how our day started at the Duke Bakery in Alton. I'll put this place second on my list behind Wheat Montana as far as tasty bakeries goes.  http://www.wheatmontana.com/

I love bakeries and was very glad to find this place.
Doughnuts, coffee, our two bicycles, and shady tables on the street.  

We got going around 9:00 this morning, leaving the Beall Mansion B+B and bicycling the 1 mile back to the Alton Marina. Our routine of loading the boat is now well rehearsed and Mary and I can finish up the task in about 15 minutes. You know a job has been reduced to a tuned process when each of us goes about our duties while barely saying a word to each other.  We pushed out into the channel and headed downstream the short distance to the Mel Price dam to make out lock-through. But as it happened we ran into barge traffic and we're forced to wait for one barge heading downstream in our direction and then another heading upstream. The net loss of our time was two hours so it was closing in on noon before we got through the dam. After passing the Mel Price dam the river takes on a strikingly different character and becomes heavily industrialized. We covered the approximate 10 miles to the confluence of the Missouri River with the Mississippi and then on into the Chain of Rocks Canal.

A large portion of the shoreline south of the Mel Price dam is lined with commercial operations. This is just a glimpse and imagine if you can a few miles looking like this photo.

At the confluence.
The Missouri River on the left of the point of land and the Mississippi on the Right. The current was very fast here at about 7 MPH and the Blue Fin just waddled as we moved backward in the water unless I pulled it up and onto plane.  This place made me nervous and I never did tell Mary that the Chain of Rocks falls was just a few miles downstream from us.

Entrance to the Chain of Rocks Canal.
The canal was rather plain but at least the current was was negligible.  The canal dead ends into the last locks we will pass through until we reach Kentucky. 

We proceeded through the Chain of Rocks Canal for a few miles and eventually reached the locks at the southern end. Our hearts sank when we saw two barges lined up ahead of us waiting to lock through. But what a nice surprise it was when after I called the lock master SHE said to come around and we'd be let through right away. I believe I have this figured out and we were allowed through because we can get into the lock chamber and out the other side before a big barge can even move into position to enter the locks.

In a short distance after leaving the canal we arrive in downtown St Louis. The riverfront was busy with tourists but it wasn't to be that we'd join them. It would have been possible with a some difficulty in fighting the current and the hard concrete shoreline. It was getting late and Mary was nervous so we floated for awhile and then moved on.

Here we are at the Jefferson Memorial Arch in Downtown St Louis.
Moving sideways at 6 MPH from the swift current.

Our next stop was Hoppies Marina located about 20 miles south of downtown St Louis and this is where we'll keep the Blue Fin for two days until Monday morning when we head down to Cape Girardeau.

Hoppie's Marina.
This place has all the necessary's in a no frills sort of way.  The docks are a construction of a few barges lashed together length wise.  The Blue Fin is tied up in the shore side of the dock where the water is 27 feet deep and moving at 7 MPH as reported by the marina operator.    

The restroom at Hoppie's is being repaired but is still functional.  

We will stay at my brother Nick's house until Monday morning to visit and renew our enthusiasm for the second phase of our trip.  After this point we'll be moving even further away from familiar waters and connections with familiar faces. Next stop is Cape Girardeau on Monday.