Next Stop- Alton, IL

As we were enjoying, the area of Grafton, we began to take notice that more and more looper boats were pulling in.  This made us think that we needed to get moving again to try to keep ahead of the larger group coming down the Illinois River.  They were grouped up because of the two locks that were closed from 6AM to 6PM.  There was a time frame from Sept 12 to the 21 where they would operate the locks 24/7 and this is when 60 -90 other boats were making their way down the Illinois.  After Sept 21^st the locks would be closed with no openings until October 5, 2019.

We headed out later in the morning because we only needed to travel 20 miles.  The cliffs along the IL side were very beautiful.  On the MO side, it was flat, but they had “Our Lady of the River” who blesses boats as they pass by.  Each spring, we hear that there is a huge ceremony where many boats raft out and have their boats blessed for the year.  

We arrived at Alton around noon and fueled up and then checked in.   This would be the last fuel stop we could get until Paducah, KY.   We had filled three, 15-gallon containers of diesel and had those on the back of the boat, just in case. The marina was nice and had plenty of slips opened which is good because we know there are at least 100 boats behind us doing the Great Loop!

Back in Grafton – Chris had woken up and noticed a reddish bruising or rash on his leg.  We did not know what that was.  It did not seem to be getting better so we decided to visit the local ER to have it checked out before we began our way down the Mississippi and no man’s land.  Four hours later, no infections, no clotting, no other information about what it might be.  Could be from a bug bite or other.  Poor Chris did not even get to visit the Argosy Casino while we were there.