The Mississippi
If you’d told me last year that I’d spend my 23rd birthday eating oysters with well-known authors on the Mississippi River, I’d have been skeptical, but that’s exactly what happened. Our Mississippi River adventures began at a place nicknamed “the Key West of the Midwest,” otherwise known as Grafton, IL. We arrived on a sunny day, the contents of our lazarette laid out in yard sale fashion from our recent fixing-the-packing-gland adventure, and we were greeted by several men who wanted to share their opinions about how we should use our dock lines. It had been many days since we had showered and done laundry, so we were thrilled to be at Grafton. We were even more thrilled when we learned about the wine-slushie machine and the hot tub. Craving fresh food, we ate dinner at a restaurant where the walls were covered, a little unnervingly, with pictures of Elvis (this was somehow fitting, as people often mistake Elpis for Elvis).
We continued our fresh food adventure the next morning at breakfast. There is nothing quite as satisfying as breakfast at a diner, delicious and inexpensive with bottomless coffee. This was exactly what we found at Nick’s Diner as we arrived in our 14-passenger Grafton Courtesy Van: the cheapest, most delicious breakfast. To make the morning even better, we found $3 pumpkins for sale across the street and purchased two.
We were excited to learn that our friends Ramie and Tim from Miss Norma were going to be arriving at Grafton that day. After hours spent doing laundry, trying to explain to a TFA recruiter that I live on boat, and enjoying a run along the pretty Mississippi, Grace and I joined Ramie and Tim for dinner at the oyster bar above the marina. They surprised me with a birthday margarita and then tried to convince me to eat an oyster, telling the story of how Tim’s mother had eaten one for the first time when she was 90. In spite of myself and despite being a picky eater, I felt peer pressured by this story and tried an oyster. I don’t think I’ll be doing that again any time soon. After I recovered from the oyster experience, we ate bread pudding dessert that tasted like heaven.
Our next stop was Alton, IL, a sunny two-hour trip from Grafton via the ripping current of the Mississippi. At Alton, Grace went on a biking adventure with Ramie, Tim, and Ringo the poodle to tour the upcoming Mel Price Lock, and I worked on my grad school applications. That evening, we were invited to docktails on the Monarch with Jerry, Marty, Donna, and Dan, our soon-to-be good friends.
Fast Eddie’s: worth the experience, not sure we’d return
Alton sunset
On Saturday, we said goodbye to Alton and wifi and hello to the St. Louis Arch! We had the unique experience of passing a famous landmark from the water. Obviously, we did not miss the opportunity to take pictures.
Our next stop was Hoppies, a marina that we had been hearing about since before we began the trip. We were told that the legendary Fern would hold her daily river briefing, which we supposedly did not want to miss, and that she’d probably be smoking a cigarette while pumping our diesel. Before this river briefing, we hurried into town. Kimmswick, MO is adorable. It is filled with little shops, one of which had a tiny piano playing music out front. We also ate two of the best meals of our trip so far: Blue Owl has an amazing cobb salad (no corn, deceptive) and huge chocolate cake slices. The Dough Place has delicious pretzel bread sandwiches and pretzel bread pizza.
We made it back from town just in time for Fern’s river briefing. She was pretty doom and gloom; after the other Loopers left, Grace and I remained in our chairs and stared at each other, eyes wide, convinced we weren’t going to make it through the next part of our trip. The Ohio River current would supposedly be too strong for us to make it upriver, and we were told that it was common for barges to break free in the middle of the night and hit other boats. After the briefing, we headed back to the boat to prepare ourselves for the worst.
Due to a surprise river closing the next morning, we ended up staying at Hoppies an extra night. While we were grateful to have a place to stop on the Mississippi, and our new friends Dan and Jerry graciously helped us fix our water pump, we were less than thrilled about spending $43.50 a night for no wifi or showers. The cost of the marina also meant that staying at Hoppies until the river construction ended was not an option; we would have to navigate the Mississippi River in the dark to pass the construction area before 7 am. It was time to embrace some of what our friend Tim calls our “youthful naivety.”
Where the daily river briefing takes place
Kimmswick, MO
