"St Louis" french word for tidal waves behind barges

Steve and Linda have to hook up with his niece for a while so we head for Hoppe's Marina twenty miles south of St. Louis. We were made to wait while the lockmaster lowered an empty lock to pick up a tourist paddle wheeler, bring it up and when he let us in what does he put in behind us? Only The "Mary Ann". A cutsy name for a couple of million tons of barge that never really seems to stop inching forward even after they tie it off with a huge line. The line makes stretching noises while I tell Cheryl "If that line doesn't hold this thing off jump into the recess that holds the floating bollard. I don't want to be aboard while they crush my boat". If the line had snapped we were directly in it's path. Maybe they do this all the time but it was a little unnerving. We got out of that lock and headed down a Canal called Line of Stones that bypassed a long area of rapids. I'll bet we could have made it in a trawler! At the end of this canal another lock before we get back in the Mississippi. This time I tried it on the wrong entrance and was told to keep the huge wall to my starboard so I turned around and hurried to the correct entrance. Maybe this was the one where they put the barge in behind us. It doesn't matter. It was spooky.

We got out of that lock and started into the mainstream of the St Louis section of the Mississippi. Here I was running point meeting a barge that seemed to be barreling upstream quickly. I didn't know that the other two boats behind me had spread out a bit instead of following in line. Sometimes we have to dodge the odd log or branch so they get spread out. Cheryl called the barge captain to ask instructions on how we were going to meet him. He got a little pissy and told her he was a tow captain, not a barge captain and that if these three boats would follow in line it would be easier to pass. We were taking up a good chunk of the river. I started to head to my starboard to pass him on the opposite side when he said I didn't have to do that but I was already on my way cutting across in front of him. From behind it looked like I might be a little late with this decision. Timing is everything. I got across ok but he was really pouring the coal to this raft going upstream in five knots of current. I encountered my first mega wake. I was fairly close to him. So far this trip I hadn't found one like this. Maybe he was in a rush, maybe he was teaching me a lesson. He was putting out about a four foot wake of not gentle bow ripples but thrashing turbulence similar to Niagra Falls (seems like). There were not the usual four or five waves to cross but what seemed like a quarter mile of short hammering hydraulics like you get at the bottom of a chute when you are whitewater rafting. There was no danger but it got a little hectic and I gained a lot of respect for these big guys. The next one I met seemed bigger. I think he had around forty barges and a huge tow pushing them. I gave him a lot more room and I didn't try to cut across his wake. I just avoided him. This worked better but still wild. I wondered why people were in such a rush to get off this stretch of the trip. Now it is crystal clear.

Cheryl was calling ahead to a barge asking for directions on which side to pass. Only to be told by another barge captain on the shore that he thought she was talking to anchored barges. He couldn't see anything coming around us. Slightly embarrassing. Better safe and embarrassed than sorry and in trouble.

We spent a day tied up to some old barges that act as a marina south of St. Louis. They have quite a history dating back to 1932. The lady here gives little lessons on where it is safe to anchor to avoid the big barges. How to stay to the inside of the curves because the barges take up so much room as they come up and down the river day and night. The river here is maybe a quarter of a mile wide and is flowing at five knots. Just a huge amount of water. With 150 miles of Mississippi ahead of us before we turn up the Ohio we feel we too would like to get out of the way of these big monsters as soon as possible.

We had a sinfull breakfast (sticky buns with pecans and syrup as well as egg casserole) and went looking for boat parts for Surona. I'd like to get a spare water pump impeller. They had nothing in stock but we got a new hand held vhf so I can talk directly to the Tow captains. Jim bought two big white bumpers which he and Linda had to carry around all day as we did the tourist thing in St. Louis. We went up the Great Arch and ate at the old train station which was the largest in the US when it was moved. I am back on Surona playing with my new VHS radio about to turn in.