roweboatadventures: HAVANA to ALTON / Saturday, September 3 to Monday, September 5 (Days 226-228)

Admiral's Log: 6:15 am, Sat. 9/3/16
Air Temp: 57 Water Temp: 73
Winds: 5 mpg
Speed: 13 mph

We went over 135 miles in a little over 10 hours! The longest day so far on this journey. There are not as many anchorages and cities to stop at on the river portion of this trip. We crossed over our 8th and final lock and dam, another wicket dam, on the Illinois Waterway; the LaGrange Lock and Dam.

LaGrange Lock and Dam (a wicket dam)

This tug was moving really fast for a tug....

You can tell by all the water he's churning!

So far, not my favorite part of the Loop. It has to been done to get south, but the water is muddy and there was not a whole lot to see. Hoping it gets better.

One of the prettier views on the Illinois River.

Ugly brown water, miss the clear blue water of Michigan and Canada.

We officially entered the Mighty Mississippi at Grafton Illinois. As we cruised past the Grafton Marina, Ann and Mel of Morningstar II came out and took pictures of us driving by. Our marina was about 15 more miles down river.

Riding along the state lines of Missouri and Illinois and crossing into the Mississippi River.

Passing Morningstar II in Grafton on our way to Alton

Just one of the logs we had to avoid on the Illinois and Mississippi so far.

Our Lady of the Rivers Shrine, erected after a flood in 1951.

We arrived at Alton Marina at nearly 5. We were pretty worn out, and grilled chops and went to bed pretty early.

Sunday, a Looper friend, Susan of Cutty's Ark, had just crossed their wake earlier in the week at this marina. She texted me to say she would be there all weekend and would be happy to take me to the store. Mike did some laundry while Susan took Carol of Liquid Assets and me to a really nice grocery, then she volunteered to let us have her car for the rest of the day if we wanted to do something. We got the guys and went to Saint Charles Missouri. We ate at the Trail Head Brewery. It had a really nice menu and we all enjoyed our meals.

Tim and Carol on Liquid Assets and Rowe Boat

Tim and Mike making friends with Daniel Boone.

We walked down the really cute brick Main Street, lined with lots of cute shops, bars and restaurants. Saint Charles was the first settlement on the Missouri River during the western migration, which included Daniel Boone and Lewis and Clark.

We stopped at Tiffany's (West Marine) on the way back to the boat, returned Susan's car then pretty much chilled, watched football and had cereal for dinner because we were so full from lunch we were not real hungry.

Monday, Memorial Day was cleaning day. I did more laundry and Mike got started on boat washing. Not my favorite thing to do. Pretty much takes 3 hours to wash the boat. Then, I had to clean the inside, luckily that only takes like 30 minutes.

We saw Morningstar, Chica and Sweet Tea pass us on their way to the next lock. We could see them waiting at the lock for about and hour and a half! Hope it does not take us that long tomorrow.

Morningstar II

Sweet T

Chica

After we finished the boat we fueled up for tomorrow, then we had cocktails with Liquid Assets, Have Another Day, No Schedule and Copper Penny, whom we met at Peterborough and locked with a few times on the Trent Severn. Eight of us then went to dinner at Mac's, a local pizza place. They even drove us there in golf carts. On the way back to the boat we had a golf cart race. It was so fun, we were cracking up! We all agreed it was another experience on this trip we won't likely forget!