9-20-16 Hoppies and Stories from Fern.
Hoppie’s Marina is a famous, one-of-a-kind place to stop along the Mississippi. When you first pull in and it’s just a bunch of older barges to tie up to. But what you don’t see is the colorful characters that run the place, Fern and Hoppie Hopkins. (We never did find out what Hoppies real name is) Hoppie’s Dad was a lamplighter in the 1930’s He first built a dock for his boat so he could go up and down his section of the river lighting the Kerosene lamps that lit the way for the riverboats at night. Every two days they needed to be filled with Kerosene. That is the start of Hoppie’s marina. When Fern and Hoppie took it over they started to buy barges to make the marina. Fern told us the story of how they purchased each one.
Hoppie had recent back surgery so Fern was running the show. She is as salty as they get, but boy does she know the river. She invited all us boat owners to join her under the canopy at 4:30 and she would tell us about the Mississippi ahead.
She shared her knowledge of the river and gave us places to watch out for and places to stop as there aren’t many for the next several hundred miles.
She told us a few stories:
Fern Story #1 She told us a Petty Officer came to talk to them about what they needed to do for Home Land Security. He went on to tell them they had to put in a fence with barbed wire top and provide a guard 24-7 (all at their expense). They wanted to send them to Louisiana for Homeland Security training etc. When he seemed to be done, she asked if he was finished and if it was her turn to speak and he said yes maam. Fern now spoke “Well Petty officer, this gray haired lady didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday…you can go to hell”
Fern Story #2. Hoppie and Fern went to a meeting put on by the Corps of Engineers to discuss their latest tactic of dumping rocks in the river to control certain spots. Fern carried a 5-gallon bucket of water and Hoppie carried a large rock. When they had their turn to say their piece Fern simply asked the board what they thought would happen if they dropped that rock onto the bucket. To her utter amazement one of them did it. And of course flooding the room. Fern said “Well there you have it. Same things going to happen on the river. She then said to us “Dumb Ass, that our Government at work”
The town of Kimswitch is a quaint little town. Most of the stores open at 10 and quite a few close at three. I guess you can do that in a tiny town. The historical society is restoring some old buildings that were log and chink. There is a world famous restaurant called the Blue Owl. They make Levy High Apple Pies. Tallest pie you have ever seen and then they cover it with caramel and pecans. They also serve food from 10-3 once again. This restaurant has been on Good Morning America, the food network and two other shows I can’t remember. How they ever found it, I don’t know this is a tiny town. We walked the town the day we arrived and rode our bikes around to see more before we hit the river. We were there less than 24 hours and I had this much to write.