Hoppies Landing

An hour later we put into Hoppies Landing on the starboard bank. Hoppie himself attended to us. "1000 miles from here to New Orleans...400 miles to Memphis and that'll be your next available fuel stop on the river" Hoppie said with authority squinting out from beneath the brim of an oil stained cap. We all put on a brave air, collectivelycrumbling inside. ANOTHER 1000 MILES!!!!???!!!!

"Got enough gas to git yer ta Memphis?" Hoppie asked.
"No"
"Got yerself a VHF radio?"
"No" we answered feeling like day trippers from Wisconsin.
"You got charts of the Lowa Mississ?"
"uhmmm..yes, kind of, well they're on CD...they ran out of paper charts" I answered a little weakly.
Almost afraid to ask now Hoppie queried "You got AC power on that boat to run a computa?"
None of us answered.

Back on the river. Windy. Strong current. New Orleans or cut the trip shorter to Memphis is now the topic. More on that later.we're not sure what to do....