Ahoy All: Must leave to keep south of the cold weather! To answer a few questions some other cruisers had: >From Peoria IL to Mobile AL - 162 miles on the Illinois River, 218 on the Mississippi R., 50 miles on the Ohio R., 190 miles on the Tennessee R., and 450 statute miles on the Tenn-Tom Waterway to Mobile. 1070 miles total. The Miss Happ has cruised 2,772 nautical miles from New Bern NC to Beardstown IL. When we took the car tour of the Ottawa IL area, we passed a section of town consisting of homes purchased through the old Sears-Robuck catalogue. On Oct. 2 we locked through the Peoria lock with the 27' Rinker Cay Sea, which is also doing the Loop. Later in the day we were passed by the 42' Grand Banks Trawler La Nostra from Wisconsin, heading for the Abacos. Twin engines, cruises at 16kts and burns about 20 diesel gph. The Alton Marina, in IL on the Mississippi (mile 202.9) has laundry facilities along with fuel. "Curtesy dock" rate is $6! Material Sales St. Louis, where we're docked about 1/2 south of the Gateway Arch, charges $1/ft per night. No electric or water, or any other amenities of any kind. It does have a locked gate at night, though, and is a nice walk to the Arch and the Metro Rail ($4.75/day). Tuesday evening, our first night there, there was a lot of police activity below the bridge just north of us. A woman attempted suicide by driving her car into the river. Right now she's 0 for 1 in her attempts. While walking around Downtown yesterday, we passed a public fountain dyed Cardinal Red, just west of the Old Court House. "Go Cardinals" signs are all over the city, rooting their team on in the playoffs. The Old Court House was the setting for the first couple of Dred Scott cases re: slavery, that eventually ended up in the Supreme Court in 1857. The Gateway Arch Museum, located beneath the Arch, was well worth the free admission. Lots of Lewis and Clark and other Westward Expansion exhibits. The river bank is paved and slopes up for what looks like 25' or so above the water. On top of that is a tall concrete wall to keep the river ut of the city. On Aug. 1, 1993 the river was within a couple of feet of the top of the wall, but somehow a levee or two "broke" downriver and St. Louis wasn't flooded. A couple of interesting stories about why the downriver levees broke, one a long story involving a man, a wife, and his mistress. Went to a couple of museums today and the St. Louis Zoo. I must say the zoo wasn't all it's cracked up to be. No better than others I've visited. If you do the Loop, St. Louis is a great stop. A variety of restaurants, baseball, football and ice hockey available downtown, easy Metro transportation, the Arch,...and a free tour of the A. Busch brewery. We expect to spend two nights on the Mississippi before turning up the Ohio River. The current should add 2kts or so to our normal 7.3kt cruising speed. I can't wait to cruise over 10mph! Wade Ehlen Albin 36 Miss Happ Left New Bern NC April 15