Return to Do It Now

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November 25-28, 2022: Prepping Do It Now for the next leg of its journey on the Great Loop.

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(continued from At Alton, IL)

After three busy but disappointing weeks at home prepping the house for winter and its house-sitter and attending holiday art shows, I got on a plane with my pups and a big foldable rolling bag of luggage, and headed back to St. Louis.

I got two plane rides for the price of one. I happened to be looking out the window somewhere over Wyoming when the plane began making a sweeping right hand turn that didn’t stop until we were pointed west. We continued westbound for about 30 minutes and I was about to ring the flight attendant to find out what was going on when the captain came on over the intercom. Mechanical issues that weren’t safety related that were best addressed back in Seattle. So we went all the way back to Seattle, arriving at nearly the same time we would have arrived in St. Louis. A plane was parked at the gate beside ours when we arrived and an hour later we were all loaded onto it, in the same seats no less. The plane took off and, around midnight, we finally arrived in St. Louis. My poor pups, who had been locked in their kennel for about nine hours, were very glad to see me.

We took a cab to the Alton Marina and I let my girls run around for a while before lugging everything back to the boat in a marina cart. I turned on the heat — it was wicked cold — and went right to bed.

I slept like the dead.

Unpacking, Unboxing, Installing, and Stowing

After breakfast the next morning, I made the long walk to the marina office, threw some laundry into the washers — including all the bed linens — and fetched the 10 or so boxes waiting for me, mostly from Amazon. I’d purposely placed one large order with Amazon to arrive at the marina just a few days before me, but Amazon had split the 17 items into multiple packages. I sure do appreciate the folks at Alton taking delivery and holding them for me.

I spent the entire day unpacking what I’d brought in my luggage, unboxing what I bought online, and washing anything that was dirty. There’s storage space under my bed, but it’s only accessible when I lift off the mattresses, which can only be easily done when the bed isn’t made up. I stowed just about all my summer clothes under there — tank tops and shorts — and a bunch of navigation books I wouldn’t need for at least a month. It was only after I made the bed that I realized I’d left my big folding suitcase out; I stowed that under the aft deck.

Here’s what my main cabin looked like in the morning, after I’d begun unpacking my big bag. I still hadn’t opened the curtains or removed the canvas covers from the back windows.

I also started organizing and putting away the things I’d bought to help keep the boat more organized and make it more livable. For example, I’d bought three hanging baskets to store food that didn’t need refrigeration, like onions and bananas. I needed hooks (which I’d also bought) screwed into the wood above the window to hold them.

I bought a new portable BBQ grill to replace the one stolen off the boat in Peoria. I bought a very small ceramic heater to use when the boat was plugged in at a marina. I bought a small lamp for my tabletop so I could have another option for lighting. I bought oil filters and a filter wrench for the boat’s next oil change. I bought a stars and stripes windsock to hang on a long pole over the boat. I bought a small oval tabletop for the space up on my command bridge, along with the hardware I’d need to put it on the table leg I already had. I bought sealant to fix the rain leak over my galley. I bought chafe guards for my dock lines. And I bought an anchor with chain and rode to use as a stern anchor when anchoring out in windy weather when there was a chance the boat would swing somewhere I didn’t want it swinging. I unboxed all of these items, installed them or put them away, broke down the boxes, and put the boxes in a recycling bin. That took most of my first full day back, which was a Saturday.

Putting a Rental Car to Use

Sometime that day, I found time to go to the local Enterprise car rental place and pick up a rental car. It came in handy to provision the boat with food the next morning.

I drove to the nearest supermarket, which was at a Walmart, and stocked up on some meats and fresh fruits and veggies, as well as milk and eggs. Then I went back to the boat and tried to squeeze it all into the fridge and cabinets in a way that was somewhat neat and organized. The next leg of our trip had just one marina in five days and it wasn’t anywhere near someplace we could buy groceries so it was important to provision before starting out.

Of course, I couldn’t add any more water or pump out the waste tank because the water was turned off at the Alton Marina and was likely to be turned off at most destinations for the next week or two of the trip. I got a lot of walking in by going to the marina’s main building — where the toilets still worked — to minimize use of the boat’s head.

Later that afternoon, I drove to the airport to pick up my next crew member, Alyse. Alyse is a friend of mine from Malaga who I’ve known for more than 10 years. She’d been eager to come on the trip with me. She did a lot of traveling, mostly with her mom on cruise ships all over the world. I thought she’d be a good match for the adventure we had ahead of us. But I began to have doubts when I saw the huge wheelie bag she’d brought as luggage. Where were we going to stow that? I wondered.

After picking up Alyse, I detoured over to one of the two Trader Joe’s in St. Louis. There are a few Trader Joe’s staples I like having in my pantry, but rather than buy the quantities I usually buy, I just bought one or two of the things I like most. Alyse chose very few things. With no other stops to make, we went back to the boat.

My New Crew Settles In

I think that upon our arrival at the boat Alyse realized that I wasn’t kidding about the amount of room in her sleeping space. I’d said it was the size of a full sized bed, which is it. I didn’t say that it’s a room with a full sized bed, which it isn’t. The bed is the room. You cannot stand up in it, although you can sit up on one end. I could not imagine where she was going to put that giant wheelie bag and prayed it would not become a fixture inside the main cabin for the duration of her trip with me.

To her credit, she made it work. She made the bed with the sheets and blankets I provided, then worked some sort of magic with the bag and the things she had in it. I didn’t ask and I didn’t look. It was her space and her plan. I did not want to get involved or take any responsibility for her stuff.

Fast Eddie’s

When she was done setting up and I had put away the Trader Joe’s goodies, fed my pups, and taken my pups for a walk, we headed out in the rental car.

Our first destination was Fast Eddie’s Bonair, a local restaurant that all the Loopers rave about. Yes, it did have live music outside in a large, heated area. But neither of us were in the mood for either loud music or outdoor seating. Inside, you order and pay at a counter and go fetch your food when they call your number. The dining area has about the same ambiance as a pool hall but without the pool tables. The menu is limited and the food isn’t anything to rave about.

I could see that Alyse was very disappointed with her first meal on the trip, but how was I supposed to know? I had taken her to the place everyone raves about. How did I know that the people raving had very low standards?

After dinner, we stopped at Aldi’s briefly and then returned the rental car. Enterprise was closed, but I used the drop box to leave the key. I had already fueled up, adding a lot more fuel than I should have. We called an Uber and were back at the boat by eight. We made the long trek to the restrooms, I walked my pups, and we settled in for the night.

Heading Out

We headed out of the marina a little after 8 AM the next morning. We didn’t have far to go, but there were two locks along the way and we didn’t know how long we’d have to wait for them. With very short days now that winter was approaching, it was best to get an early start.

We cruised out of the marina and into the Mississippi River alone, to start what I thought would be the most challenging part of the trip.

It was, but not for the reason I thought.

(Continued in Alton, IL to Kimmswick, MO (Hoppie’s))