09/08 - 09/11 - 2016 7th Annual Mississippi River Gathering

T

texasair

Member
7th annual Mississippi River Gathering.

As always the Mississippi River Gathering will be held the weekend after Labor day.
This year those dates are September 8-11th 2016.
We have a tradition of staying at the gathering site for 2 years then going somewhere new. We had a great 2 years at Alton Illinois, but this year we will be upriver at Two Rivers Marina, Illinois, at river mile 283.2 directly across the river from Louisiana, Missouri, the birthplace of Mark Twain, We will be just 26 river miles from Hannibal, Missouri, where Mark Twain grew up and we have plans for activities in Hannibal.
The folks at the Two Rivers Marina have promised to take good care of us.

Many of us combine the gathering with a few weeks of river cruising prior to or after the gathering and we urge you to get out a map and start dreaming. Come by river or come by land. September is the best Mississippi river cruising month, It is starting to cool off by then and the summer river crowds have parked their boats and left the river to us.

More details coming soon.

We hope to see old friends and meet new ones, Please join us.

Mods, Could you do a sign up sheet for us, Thanks.



Added to Calendar
Signup list
-TyBoo
 
That is not far from our farm, so I can see a tax deductible trip to a C Brat gathering! (Health permitting). We tentatively plan on being there. After a great time on the St. Johns, it appears that we may be turning into river rats!
 
Bob, We would love to have you join us on the Mississippi.

Lee on the Tully B called last week and Jan will be cooking up some of her special pies for the gathering and I will bring along my hand cranked Ice cream freezer so we can have some home made ice cream to go on those wonderful pies.
 
Tex, thanks for starting the blog for the gathering.

As mentioned, Two Rivers Marina is located at mile 283.2 LBD on the Mississippi River. N39 27.651 W91 020.477. When coming from Missouri, you will see the marina from the bridge. When coming from Illinois, don't turn right until you see the marina and the bridge.

Two Rivers Marina has gas, full electrical service, free pump out, WiFi, shower sweets, pool, ships store and on site mechanical services.

Please get reservations at (217) 437-2321.

Make sure you identify yourself as part of the C-Dory gathering so they can try and get us in the same area and dock. Cost for a slip is $1.25 per foot.

When you check in at the marina office you can get information on the boat launches and vehicle parking.

Schedule of events as we know them now are:

Thursday Sep. 8th: A meet and greet in the morning. At 11am we will depart for a sand bar on the mighty Mississippi River for a bbq (hot dogs with all the fixings) Please bring your own beverages. (hint, home made ice cream and pie would taste really good to). Once back at the marina in the evening, we can drive to Louisiana, Missouri to a restaurant/bar called KC'S for our evening meal and drinks.

Schedule for Friday and Saturday to follow as soon as they are finalized.

Ken & Pat (Pelican)
 
Ahoy Brats !
Count us in. The crew on the Joni Lynn has missed the last two gatherings and we'll not let that happen again. Whether we float down or trailer down has yet to be decided, but in any event we plan on being there to party with all of our C Brat friends. Looking forward to further details.
Paul & Joni aboard the Joni Lynn
 
I'd like to be there this year, however Rosanne and I finally decided to book an Alaskan Cruise, which happens to start that weekend. (And maybe some day I can take our own C-Dory up that inland passage we'll be doing on the cruise ship! :-) Hope to be back the following year though! Colby
 
As we know it now, here is the schedule of events for Friday, Sep.9th and Saturday, Sep. 10th.

Friday Sep 9th: weather and river conditions permitting, we will depart Two Rivers Marina for Hannibal Missouri at 8am sharp (be gassed up and ready to go, round trip will be 51.6 miles with no gas in between). We will pass thru Lock & Dam #22 on the way. Once in Hannibal, (there will be no charge for the slip docking in Hannibal) we have arranged for a private tour ($9.50 per person payable when boarding the trolley) of some of the historic sights in town and be delivered to Riverview Park which is up on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. We will have about an hour to have a quick picnic in the park. Bring your own sandwiches and beverages. We will again board the trolley and be taken to the Mark Twain Cave and Campground for a 1 hour tour of the cave. Temperature in the cave is 52 degrees so dress accordingly. Cost of the cave tour is $18.95 per person. After the cave tour we will again board the trolley and be taken to the Planters Theater where we will have a special performance for the C-Brats By Richard Gary on Mark Twain's impressions and stories of the Mississippi River. We will get a discounted rate of $14.00 per person. Tee and pastries will be served. After the theatre performance, you are on your own to visit more of Hannibal, return to Two Rivers Marina etc. Total cost for the day will be $42.45 per person. If the weather and the river don't allow travel by boat, we can drive to Hannibal. We can have a bbq at the marina when we return from Hannibal.

Saturday, Sep.10th: Coffee juices and pastries will be served at the bbq area at 8am. We can spend the day catching up with old C-Brat friends and getting to know new C-Brats. At 5pm we will have a bbq at the marina. After the bbq we hope to have some surprise entertainment for the C-Brats. (not Mark Twain, maybe Elvis)

We should note that the bbq area is owned by the local boat club and has graciously agreed to let us use the facility, We thank them very much.

Ken & Pat (Pelican)
 
MISSISSIPPI RIVER GATHERING
Sept 8 to 11, 2016 Two Rivers Marina @ mile 283.2

Brenda and I will follow Tex from Texas as the way opens. Last year after the Alton, IL. gathering we cruised north on the Mississippi River to St Paul, MN. This was an adventure lasting 17 days and 735.1 miles anchoring out every night except 2 due to boating injury.

This year our cruising option is limited to The Missouri River. We have cruised the Illinois, Cumberland, Tennessee, Tom Big Bee, and Arkansas. We have seen the mouth of the Missouri River and it seems muddy?

Bill and Brenda Russell 2 Lafayette 24, Stamps, AR. 71860 870-533-2663
 
We are so looking forward to this years gathering, it sounds like so much fun taking a day trip to the home of Becky and Tom and all the other Mark Twain characters. Jan and I plan on being there with the Tully-B and we look forward to seeing old friends along with meeting new ones. Does anyone have a count of how many boats are expected? See Ya all in the Middle. Lee
 
Be advised that I have a new ice cream freezer with a heavier duty gear box and almost twice the capacity of the old one.

Still hand cranked.

Bring a bowl and a spoon.
 
I will bring my bowl and spoon. I will also bring the best pies in the world made by my wife Jan, however, if the gathering is large we might have to resort to buying pies. We can work that out as soon as we get a count on how many will be attending.

Last year Tex, while you were getting into your Mark Twain character, you left me in charge of of cranking the ice cream maker, what you don't know is that I pulled a Tom Sawyer and got Tom Schulke to do the cranking. Tom is very strong and did a great job. You won't need the new mixer if Tom shows up with Joyce and the Sea Otter as he is now fully experienced with your old one.

We are looking forward to Number 7. Jan and Lee on the Tully-B
 
Hello C-Brats,

In reading over the activities and schedule, I'm a bit confused......which happens easily lately. Both Friday and Saturday schedules indicate a BBQ in the evening. Is the marina hosting it? Are we putting that together when we're there? The reason I ask: We would like to participate in that event and if we're looking at who's bringing what, we would like to bring the meat for one of the BBQQs. How is that all going to work and do we have a guestimate on the head count?

Our plans to float down fell apart, so we'll be trailering. In any event, we're looking forward to seeing all you folks again !
Paul & Joni aboard the Joni Lynn
 
Hi fellow C-Brats

It great to see the gathering getting some momentum.

We will be doing our own bbq but the bbq area is owned by the local boat club and they have graciously agreed to let us use it for the weekend.

In regards to the food for the bbq, Pat talked to the New York gang, Terry, Jay and Bob, and they informed her that they will be bringing the usual hot dogs, sausages and muffins for the meals. What a generous offer, again. We will supply the condiments, plates, silverware, napkins etc. If the crew of the Joni Lynn wants to supply the meat for the bbq on the sand bar on Thursday that would be great. You could bring anything you like since I haven't seen the C-Brats turn down anything yet. Again we will supply everything else including the bowls for ice cream and silverware for the pies.

We thank the crew of the Tully-B, Lee and Jan, for the offer of the best pie ever. what a generous treat.

At this time it is a little difficult to get an accurate head count since I know of some that are coming but have not signed up yet. I would think about 25 to 30 C-Brats at this time. This may change as we get closer to the
event. If anyone is planning on coming but has not signed up yet, please do so we can get a better head count. Thanks

I didn't mention this before but the marina has offered a room we can use in case we run into some bad weather and can't do our activities outside. Very nice.

Ken & Pat (Pelican)
 
I will bring a portable grill for the Thursday sandbar party.

And a couple of sets of pitching horseshoes.

Be sure to bring a swimsuit and folding chairs to the sandbar.

If you beach head on, bring a small ladder or step stool for easy on and off the boat.

Excellent news Ken, that the New York crew will be joining us.

Those guys are a lot of fun.
 
Crystal Sea is waiting on a weather window for Isle Royale and then hopes to make it to the Mississippi for the first time in September if everything works out.
 
We had heard that you two were up in Hank and Pat Clow Country. Enjoy the time at Isle Royal and Jan and I look forward to seeing you guys again on the Mississippi. The gathering is a great event and it along with the Hoontun Island Gathering is on our must do list. Jan and Lee on the Tully-B
 
Hi Brats,
Bringing stuff for Thursday sand bar event will not work for us. We're not able to get there until Friday....probably mid-day. Depending on when we do arrive, we may drive over to Hannibal to hook up with the group. In any event, we'll see you on Friday and will help provide whatever is needed to assist Terry with his meals.
And yes, what generosity on Terry's part ! It'll be great seeing Terry, Pat & Jay again, along with all of the other C Brat friends.
See y'all soon,
Paul & Joni
 
Tex suggested that we might want to explore the upper Mississippi river after the gathering.

We are open to suggestions of the best areas to explore, and if others want to tag along--or better yet lead, we would be very happy to have company. We are more the anchor out type, but have no real aversion to docks when available. We are considering about a 2 week period after the gathering.

Miss Angel will be with us as always!--so we are going to be stopping at " Dog friendly anchorages!"

Any suggestions are welcome!
 
Bob,

You will love the upper Mississippi River. When we meet at the gathering, we should talk about some of the great places to see and visit. You should have a Quimbies Guide. If you do not have one, I will bring a copy for you to take with you. We have toured the Mississippi many times and still love going there. In fact we are going on the Mighty River tomorrow to take our daughter to Catfish Charlies in Dubuque, Iowa. Reportedly, the second best restraint you can get to by water. The best is in Hawaii, a little far for the C-Dory with a 59 gallon gas tank.

Ken & Pat (Pelican)
 
Thanks Ken,
I'll probably be there with my tape recorder!-- Thanks for the offer of Quimby's--I do have one; it is a 2000 edition. I suspect the river has not changed much, and I have started putting post-it notes, along with comments from Active Captain, and web sites to up date it.

Since I know nothing about the area, I always start my homework early (I feel that "homework" is a big factor in successful cruising). I came upon a site, somewhat by accident--but it seems to be full of information--and I would appreciate any comments from folks who know the area:
Mississippi River Traveler

I had come up with several books by Dean Klinkenberg I was considering buying one of his books--and looked up the two book sellers, who were noted on Amazon--"Any-Book" seems to have bad reviews...but Mississippi Valley Traveler (The book seller) had great reviews. Low and behold, the author has blogs, town by town descriptions and his books in PDF format at a fraction of the printed costs... :D
 
Back
Top