Sept. 11, 2012

Just typing this heading for the blog, takes me back eleven years to that date in history.  I am sure, like the rest of you, you remember exactly what you were doing and where you were on that fateful day.  I never thought eleven years from then I would be going down the Mississippi River on my way to the Gulf!  Funny where life takes you, right?

I am TRYING to write a blog entry every two days.  Our sailing friend, Bill, tells me that is a lofty goal.  We shall see.  When I last entered the blog, we were in Kimmswick, IL.  Sunday we spent a good part of the afternoon visiting this little town of 200 people.  Believe it or not, it is on the Top 100 small towns to visit according to Mid West Living magazine.  I, also, have this “theory of life” that sometimes you end up in a place or situation that is so special and so remote that it kind of “blows your mind”.  Well, that is what happened to me in Kimmswick.  I mentioned that Kimm was my maiden name.  When we were in town on Sunday, we started visiting with a shop owner and she said the founder of the town was Theodore Kimm a native of Germany.  She suggested we head to the Historical Museum in town to check it out.  Well, sure enough they had pictures of Mr. and Mrs. Kimm and information about the founding of his town 20 miles South of St. Louis.  I have our Kimm family book with all of the relatives at our home in TX, so I will have to check out this “Kimm”.  This isn’t the most common German name, so I found this very interesting and unique. (one of those “moments” I mentioned above)

Nancy and Steve in front of the Blue Owel Restaurant in Kimmswick

Lunch at the Blue Owl

Katthryn Docked at Hoppies

Kimmswick Street Sign with Theodore Kimm's Picture

Next on the “must do” list in Kimmswick, was to eat at the Blue Owl Restaurant.  You MUST get your name in and there is a bit of a wait because it is so famous.  We had a delicious meal and saved room for dessert (for which they are FAMOUS). Steve and I shared their carmel apple pie with ice cream……oh, so good.  In fact, it was featured in Oprah’s magazine!  After a bit more shopping (I was with two men, so you know how much they love “cute little shops”) we headed back to the boat.  That evening on the dock, the local boat owners always have a potluck dinner on Sunday P.M.  They are kind enough to invite any boaters who happen to have docked there that evening.  Boy, can these folks cook!  Yummy!  It was a time of eating and conversation with all of the boaters and Loopers.  We met two couples who would be heading down the river with us on Monday. 

From Kimmswick to the Ohio River is about 150 miles, and according to our “river gal Fern” there are only two safe places to anchor between point A and point B.  This is due to the LOW water out of the channel of the river.  So, we were off to Kaskaskia Lock yesterday morning.  This is on the Kaskaskia River and close to the town of Chester, IL.  This is the town where Popeye was born and where his fan club is set up!  (Gosh, I thought he was just a cartoon!)  It was a rather short voyage for us and we arrived around 2 o’clock.  We were anchored on a floating dock right next to the lock and dam.  The two other boats who made the trip were tied up in front of us, so we were all cozy J  Loopers seem to be famous for being friendly and liking to have happy hour in the evenings, so our boat neighbors soon were knocking on the boat and inviting us for cocktails and goodies.  What a neat group of people…a couple from the state of Washington and another couple from Ontario, Canada.  Lots of talk, laughter and tales of the river.

Wing Dams on the Mississippi.  Usually they are submerged, but due to the low water they are totally exposed. 

Today’s trip is going to be LONG for a sailboat….115 miles.  That means about 12 -13 hours of boating.  We are lucky because the current is strong and gives our boat more power to go faster.  As I mentioned, we must get to the next safe anchorage by the Ohio, so that’s what we have to do!  So until next time, good-bye dear friends!