By midday it was 91 degrees with clear skys. Hot in the boat with no shade. I reached Chester Illionois and tied up at a boat ramp. Its not always easy to tie up with towns protected by steep rocky banks.

I am familiar with Chester having stayed here on my cross country bike trip. From here I went north and crossed the river at St Louis. However I didn’t visit the Popeye statue. That’s right Chester is the home of Popeye creator E.C. Segar. Apparently Popeye was a Mississippi River sailor. Who knew?

I walk along the road in broiling heat up the steep hill to the bridge and posed with the Popeye statue. There are other statues of characters throughout the town and they seem pretty proud of their native son. There is a small, air conditioned visitor center with a soda machine and I take advantage of both for a few minutes before the hot long walk back.

 

Chester claims to be the narrowest point on the river below St Louis. A sign says that during the flood of 1993 the river was 10 miles across here.

The barges are bigger now.

Camped on a huge sand bar. I really like it. I set my tent so far from the waters edge for slightly higher ground. I really don’t know if the water will rise during the night.