Day on the Cruise: 149
From: Grafton Harbor, Grafton, IL
To: Grafton Harbor, Grafton, IL
Statute Miles: 0.0 SM
Time: 0.0 Hrs
Cumulative Miles: 3,664.9 SM
On Board: Susan, Chuck, Maggie, Trooper, Peanut
We are still in Grafton, IL today, having taken a lay day. We are backed up because the last marina on the Mississippi, Hoppies at Kimmswick, MO, is full until Saturday. Grafton is where the two great Rivers (Illinois and Mississippi) meet. Apparently Grafton is also a place where Bald Eagles come to live in the winter. Maybe the Rivers don't freeze here and the Eagles can fish.
We caught up on the blog and rinsed the bugs off the boat. These bugs look like miniature flying monkeys. They have wings and long tails. Sort of gross looking, but boy are they attracted to light! Susan also did laundry at this nice marina.
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| Notice the tall piles supporting the docks here in Grafton. Plenty of room to rise up during floods! |
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| Beautiful and CLEAN pool here at the marina. |
We walked the town after lunch. Sort of disappointing. It is one long street along the river with old buildings on both sides of the street. The street is set back from the river a good ways. There is an open buffer zone between the buildings and the water. This is to absorb the flood waters apparently.
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| Downtown Grafton, IL |
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| Downtown Grafton, IL |
In 1993 this town was entirely underwater as the river rose 38 feet. There is a high water mark high up on the gable end of a store near the marina. Wow!
Carol from "Reunion" gave me an interesting web site to see lock traffic and delays. It is the Ingram Barge Line Website. It also shows the locations of all their tow boats. We saw where there is a monstrous delay of 59 hours at Lock 53 on the Ohio River. They are working on one of the lock chambers there and this has slowed the locking time. Some tows are waiting two and three days to get through. Not sure what this means for us. The Corps of Engineers also has a good website to see lock status and delays.
With all due respect, I am wondering why the AGLCA doesn't make navigation information available to its members on its website. It seems like we Loopers have to hunt and "stumble" upon this important information. I felt the same way about the lack of information and the mis-information when we were stuck in Kingston this Summer. Where is our association in keeping us informed?
We ate dinner with our Looper group at a neat old hotel in town called The Reubel. It is a definite recommend! I had the chicken Schnitzel which was very good!
Today was a good relaxing day after the sweltering back breaker yesterday. The temps today were much cooler and it will get into the fifties tonight! Tomorrow we are going into the Mississippi for the first time, and we will go 20 miles to Alton, IL for the night. Saturday we go about 45 miles, through two locks, past St Louis to Hoppies Marina at Kimmswick, MO. After Hoppies it gets real interesting!
Thanks for Reading!
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