C-Pearl (aka SeaJamm): Saint Louis to the Tennessee river.

UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER

A screen shot of Sea Jamm cruising past the St. Louis Arch!

St Louis

Alton Marina

Alton, Missouri

(On the outskirts of St. Louis Missouri)

Sunday 16^th September – Friday 21^st September

Alton bridge taken from Sea Jamm at dusk.
We slept under this bridge.

After having had a week of very long and arduous cruising days, we have decided to stay here for 3 or 4 days of rest. Sea Jamm got a bath and an oil change (that's not necessarily resting). But we did have fruity drinks by the pool in 90 degree weather, hotter than at home in Georgia! Then we rented a car and saw St. Louis and surrounding areas such as St. Charles.

Visit to St. Charles

Quaint and historic town

Getting ready for Fall.

Enjoyed Fast Lane Classic Cars, Inc tour.

Alan's dad had one of these in the 1950's.

Fast Lane had other merchandise other than classic cars.

Vist to St. Louis zoo

If you ever have an opportunity to go there, it is one of the best zoos we've been to, and it is free!

Many penguins,

One large, very large polar bear named Kali,

and zebras.

Back at Alton.

Many Loopers in Alton.
"There are good ships
And wood ships
And ships that sail the sea.
But the best ships
Are friendships
And may they always be."

Time to head on. . .

Cruise to Kaskaskin

Locks are a challenge. Most times it is because we are waiting hours for a large barge to pass, and they have priority. But at Mel Price, there were other challenges. See all the sticks and some logs we had to muddle through. Hitting a log can bend a prop or shaft>>$$$$$. Most locks are clean. This one not so much.

Kaskaskin, Lock #118

Friday night 21^st September

17 miles away from Chester, IL where Popeye was born. Tied to a lock wall overnight.

Cruised in the rain all day. Wet mingled with fog.

A little scary when you can't see what's on the other side!

Barge coming at ya! (This is a little one)

Here is a bigger one. We have passed many like this. Can throw a 4 foot wake.

You too can cruise the Mississippi

Little Diversion
We anchored with 5 other Looper boats

Saturday night 22^nd September

Because we have to go 90 miles today, we awoke at 6am in time to see the “The eye of the tugboat.” He shined his huge ominous spotlight down in the canal where 5 boats were nestled for the night.

We have been going around 14 mph, 4 over the 10 that we usually cruise. At around 10:00, we turned onto the Ohio River where we will be for a couple of days. Our speed dropped to about 7.5 because we are now going upstream. And, once again we cruised in rain and fog.

There are only about half a dozen houses on this part of the Mississippi.

OHIO RIVER

Paducah KY

Sunday & Monday nights

23 & 24 September

Note the tall pillars. The dock can ride up and down on them with the water level. Gives you an idea about how big the river can be!

Still raining quite a bit.

Paducah had a wall around it, not to keep enemies out, but to protect it from flood waters.

CUMBERLAND RIVER

Green Turtle Bay Marina

Tuesday & Wednesday nights

25 & 26 September

The slip they gave SeaJamm was not quite long enough :-)

Cute little town.

with pretty little gift shops.

Friends, new and old. Sonny and Phyllis (on the right, on Corkscrew) were the first loopers we ever really cruised with down the rivers to Mobile in 2015. What a pleasure to run into them here at Green Turtle. Herb (on Phanthom, left) and Ken and Karen (of Island Girl) have been our cruising buddies in 2018.