Travels from Alton to Green Turtle by Connie

Waiting for Fast Eddies to Open

While at Alton Marina we went with our friends Jeff and Rhonda to Fast Eddies for lunch.  We took a taxi over to the restaurant at 11 only to realize after the fact that Fast Eddie's didn't open until 1 pm, so we found a spot in the shade in the alley out behind the restaurant.  Every person coming in to work tried to explain that the entrance was on the other side of the building.  Finally, the man in the upstairs apartment was sure we were lost and came to tell us we were at the wrong door.  With heat in the 90's, we relished the shade even if it was on steps in the alley.  Lucky for us, Fast Eddie's opened 1/2 hour early, so with good friends laughing and sharing another adventure, the wait wasn't horrible.  This curious little restaurant had a few rules:  no food take outs, and you had to have at least one drink with your meal.  Lunch was great with only 6 things on the menu:  burgers; chicken, pork or beef kabobs; iced shrimp or pulled pork.  Burgers were huge and only $2.00. 

Sept 17th:  We left the Grafton Marina to head south.  We knew we had a long journey with two locks for the day, so we left at 7 am.  At that time the lockmaster had 3 southbound tows and 4 or 5 northbound already lined up.  What a nice lockmaster, he worked us in between the tows.  We still had 3 1/2 hours to wait for our turn.  Some people had to wait overnight.  By the time the lockmaster took us in there were 6 boats of us waiting to go through.  That night we were headed for Hoppie's Marine.  Now Marv mentioned Hoppie's, but he left a little bit out.  As we pulled into the marina, my first thought was "Deliverance."  Oh, My!  However, two men came out to pull us in and tie us up.   They set up their steps for us to use in climbing in and out of the boat.  Fern herself was a wealth of knowledge.  She told us where to anchor out or tie up, where not to stay, how to get help and to be aware of run away barges.  This was the first time anyone had mentioned run away barges.

On Sept 18th we left Hoppie's for a short run which makes for an easy day.  Of the six of us at the locks, four of us were still traveling together.  About an hour out, Bajan Speed, Kris and Mark, quickly turned around and headed back up river.  Kris was piloting and her husband, Mark, was down in severe pain.  With the help of 911 they were able to tie up at a private boat dock.  Shortly after tying up, Mark collapsed on the dock.  The ambulance came quickly there after and got them to a small area hospital.  The doctor on duty called a surgeon in from St Louis, and Mark was operated on that evening.  Today he is alive and doing well.  He is most definitely ready to resume the trip.  In the meantime, the Kaskaskia Lock Master heard the emergency radio calls, and Fern at Hoppie's did as well.  We had three doctors and an RN in our group, so I guess we were covered.  The lockmaster helped Kris make the right river direction choices and offered SOS numbers for her to call.  Fern had one of her helpers and his wife drive down to meet Kris and drive her boat back to Hoppie's for storage until Kris could get a transfer pilot.  When Kris tried to pay them, they wouldn't take money.  They said, "No, we're boat people.  We help each other."  Their boat has now been picked up by a boat pilot and taken down to Green Turtle Bay in KY for storage until they can resume their trip in a few months.

When the rest of us realized they were ok, we journeyed on to Kaskaskia Lock for the night.  While playing with her new friend, Monte, Sadie realized that she floats in her new life jacket.  Marv said it was funny to see the look on her face. 

Sept 19th:  We were up early today as we have a 151 mile trip.  We planned that this would take about 11 hours, but with the river current with us the trip went faster than anticipated.  At the days end the three boats of us anchored on Boston Bar.  This is a pretty place, but with the turbulence and barge traffic on the Mississippi, we got little sleep.  The Mississippi is a very busy river.   

Sept 20th:  We were up really early today...5:30am.  Sadie to shore, engine check, quick breakfast and at daylight we were on our way.  As Marv mentioned, an hour or so down the river we had to turn back as our friends, Tuscobia, Rod and Julie, were stuck on a sand bar.  After the pull out by Rhon Da Vous, we were off again.  When we turned from the Mississippi up onto the Ohio we had to go against a lot of traffic and a lot of turbulence.  I was glad to get passed that stretch.  Since we had two locks to wait for, dark came over the river life before we made our destination. A tug boat with a huge load allowed us to run beside him in his lights until we reached our turn off from the Ohio to the Cumberland River.  We have found that if we talk on the radio to the tow captains, they appreciate knowing what we need to do.  Most of them are very cordial in helping us get around them.  Our friends, Jeff and Rhonda, were waiting with lights on for us when we pulled in behind Cumberland Island.  That night when Marv took Sadie to shore for her run, he sunk in the mud and had a hard time pulling his feet out without loosing his shoes and an even harder time getting back into the boat.  He said he was concerned he might not make it back to the boat when he sunk in the muck.  I was concerned when the didn't return for quite a while.  Finally, I got out a strong flashlight so I could watch for them to reappear.  Both he and Sadie got hosed off when they came back onboard.  After drying off and warming up, we all had a good nights sleep.

Sept 21st:  We slept in this morning.  Marv took Sadie to shore and found a much nicer beach area where she could romp for a few minutes.  It's amazing what you can see in the daylight.  No more late travel nights!  Our friends Rod and Julie got separated from us as we traveled yesterday.  They told us they tied up to what appeared to be an abandoned barge.  Early in the morning there were men on the barge disassembling it and getting ready to move it.  This will be a very short day as we travel through 1 set of locks and to our destination Green Turtle Bay Marina on Barclay Lake.