Celebrations in the Midwest

 

Let the Parade begin!

                                            Nice wheels

                                   Happy 175th Birthday Grafton Il.

                                  The Port of Grafton Light

Grafton Marina we spent a week here. partly because of a special they were running as well as the 175 th birthday celebrations happening all weekend.

As well as the land parade they had a boat parade and the laying of the wreath for those lost in the last year.  This girl had lost her husband suddenly last November.

Lots of interesting boats passing by the harbor.

This is the breakwater for the marina, it is an old floating dock, the pilings are that tall because the river will swell up and the docks will slide up the pilings.  They have gone to the top in the past.

Loopers doing what they do best when they are together. Friday Night

                                                                               The Mississippi River is less than a mile away, and St Louis is about 50 miles away.

 5 o'clock Sunday night  NautiNell has FINALLY arrived, we will travel with Mike and Twyla once again, down the Mississippi and onto the Ohio River.  We will be leaving here Tuesday morning for Hoppies more about that on the next post.

Grafton Il - Sept. 13th

Today we finally got the early start we have been trying to get (no fog this morning) so up and out at 6:30.  We had planned a loooong day 88 miles and 1 lock, that 1 lock could make or break us. 

More of the same scenery.

grain

salt

Hey! look behind you Sid!  Company.........moving at warp speeds.

Seeing more houses today all up on stilts we noticed that they looked newly raised as they all had new staircases and decks.

Ahhhh a sight to behold

Finally Grafton Harbor, time to fuel up and pumpout as we wait for our slip assignments.  We are planning to stay here for a week as we are awaiting poky, I mean NautiNell.  There are 15 loop boaters here some have left their boats for wings or wheels to visit home.  For those up stream they have a special going on.  "pay for 4 nights get 3 FREE"  great deal as there price per foot is good as well.  Good place to leave the boat and visit home, covered slips, pool, hot tub, really nice ship/gift store, courtesy cars, super nice shower rooms and some nice restaurants.  This weekend Grafton is celebrating their 175th Birthday with a parade, fireworks, car show, motorcycle show, boat parade, and a reenactment of the opening of the river road.  Make reservations now all the B&B's in town are booked for the weekend.

In our slip, behind us, we see big orange balls, howdy neighbor! We have a case of B.O.B envy.  Now time for boat chores and boy does SweetPea need a good cleaning inside and out!  Jim also plans to do an oil and filter change while we are here.

tie ups to Abandoned wall, docks and Barges! OH MY...

Not alot to see along the way a few houses, lots of trees and barges though.

The barges are loaded with asphalt, bark mulch, salt, sand, stone, pig steel, grain, crushed stone and other unmentionables.  They are being transported from other plants on this river or the Mississippi as well as the Gulf ports.

Honey I'm home!  We tied to a barge for the night quite an experience.

Took a walk into town, (Beardstown that is) 88 more miles to our next stop Grafton Il.

We all had lunch at the local Elks lodge in Beardstown,  something new for our Canadian friends aboard SomethingSpecial.  Nope, no Elks in Canada, but they are the home of the Moose Lodges.  A good time was had by all.

Isn't he cute................this is Skipper he's just 12 weeks old he's a Portuguese Water dog.  His master picked him up along the way and have had him for 3 weeks.  He's Canadian as well.  We met him at his new home aboard MyWay for cocktails.

Hmmmm Not really sure

Heritage Harbor to Henrys

Sunset at Heritage Harbor

The plan for an early start was foiled by fog in the morning. we didn't get out until almost 9:30

After nearly 40 miles we pulled into our new home for the night.  This is an abandon lock wall we tied up on.  It is the oldest lock wall on the Illinois River.

A bit rough but its history, these rocks were laid here almost 140 years ago.  Imagine the stories they could tell.

Evelyn and Sid kicking back on the wall, as we plan for dinner at the restaurant/bar.

No, I made no donations to the decor today.

The next morning it was foggy once again, but not nearly as bad as the morning before, so we headed out to our next stop, Tall Timber Marina.

Illinois River Southbound to Joilet IL and beyond

This is at the crossroads where the Calamet and Illinois River meet

Ok .....We now consider ourselves warned, we will not be swimming here thank you.

Our first night on the Illinois River was a FREE wall in Joilet

We planned to leave bright and early but the fog held us up until 9:30 ugh! we were up and ready at 6am

We have seen lots of duck blinds along the way. 

Sad to see one less marina on a river that already has a shortage

Now this is a nice houseboat.

Goodluck getting a fish out of these lily pads

Our 2nd night was at the Heritage Harbor this marina is very accommodating to loopers as the sign says.  They also have a courtesy car here.  We liked it so much we stayed 2 nights.

Goodbye to Chicago

Heading out of Chicago a much nicer day for photos of the city

We left with a buddy boat to head thru the city, thats Something Special up ahead of us.

There are nice parks and many resturants, coffee shops and pubs all along the waterway

This is an amazing thing to experience traveling along thru the center of the city