Sept 17-- A couple of easy days ahead. The Alton Marina is very nice. We have made reservations for 2 nights but have the option of staying three nights. Today the girls did laundry instead of opting to go with Don and I to tour the Melvin price Lock and Dam museum as well as taking a tour of the dam. The dam is only two miles down the road but Comfort Cab Company was our means of transportation to the museum. The museum was good as well as the tour of the dam which is relatively new. It took 11 years to build at a cost of 1 billion dollars. The main chamber can handle tows up to 1200 feet long. What does it cost to lock through The locks on the Mississippi? For us PCer's it costs nothing. However the commercial tows pay fees to use the locks. First there is a tax on the diesel fuel that is used as well as a fee structure for the cargo they carry. The Lock and dam system is regulated by the Corp of Engineers, which controls navigation depths as well as provides flood control. Fast Eddies is a restaurant legend in St. Louis and is located in Alton. We had no idea what to expect. Comfort Cab delivered us to a non-descript tavern and neighborhood. Once inside the place was packed. Had to get your own food. Cold shrimp 29 cents each. FF 99 cents. Huge hamburgers $1.99. Matt and Connor would have put them out of business eating shrimp, but they kept hauling the shrimp out by the bucket loads. Loads of fun, the price was right and the beer was cold.

September 18. This is grocery day. We need to provision for the next few days. A local grocery store comes to the dock and picks you up and delivers you back to the marina. We took advantage of the service to stock up on heavy and bulky things. For lunch the nearby riverboat casino beckoned. We dropped a few dollars in the slot machines. Judy went to the change counter and asked for a roll of quarters and they snickered saying our machines don't take quarter just cold cash. We soon learned it was easy to put a $20 bill in the slots, press the button several times and watch your money evaporate. Our fun was short lived. We compensated for our loss by having a buffet luncheon at the casino which was very good. We ate well and that was our last meal of the day!

September 19 Today is departure day to venture down the Mississippi. Our destination is Hoppies Marina--more on that later. We have two locks to traverse today. One is the lock that Don and I toured yesterday. The first contingent of six or so Looper boats left about 7:30. Our contingent of 4 boats left at 8:15. We sailed right through both locks without a hitch and arrived at Hoppies some 40 miles downriver about 1:30 pm. The St. Louis riverfront is very industrialized without a place to dock so we cruised right on by, but had a great view of the arch as we cruised by. Hoppies marina is a legend on the Mississippi among pleasure boats. It is the only marina after Alton until you are on the Tennessee River some 200+ miles away. Hoppies is almost indescribable. It consists of several barges anchored to the shore and these barges are what you tie up to. We did top our fuel tanks off here with 86 gallons of fuel. Anyway at 4pm Fern the proprietor, gathers everyone around her, and dispenses River knowledge. Places to anchor, dangerous bends in the river, etc. I have not counted the number of boats here, but the "marina" is full. We cooked on board tonight enjoying sloppy joes after the looper cocktail party. The two pictures above. Fern's meeting place for the River seminar which also served as a lounge for the cocktail party. Also Fern in the middle holding court answering a question