Days 118-120

Grafton IL - Alton IL

• Start 9:05 AM
• End 11:12 AM
• Underway 2 Hours
• Distance 14 miles
• Total Miles on Trip 2124
• Av Speed 7 knots
• Locks 0
• Weather Cloudy, 67 Degrees, Wind 10Kn N

Goodbye Illinois River, Hello Mississippi River. Grafton Marina is at the confluence of the Illinois River and the Mississippi River and todays trips starts our 218 mile trek down the Upper Mississippi. The Mississippi is much wider and so far deeper than the Illinois River. We will also start seeing larger tows than we have been.

For the next week to ten days, our stops and travel distances are pretty much pre-picked for us. There are limited places where we can stop. Since we are traveling with Mark & Karen (Kay Dee) again we slowed our speed down to 7.6 knots, as this is their cruise speed. This will cut our fuel consumption down even more, and give us more range on a tank of fuel.

One of my (and many loopers) concerns when we started this trip, was if we carry enough fuel to do the next section of the rivers. You have to be able to travel 250 miles (300 miles, If Hoppies does not have fuel) on one tank of fuel. If we travel at our cruise speed of 16 knots, our range is right around 300 miles.

Our first stop on the Mississippi is Alton Marina, only 14 miles downriver. It was a nice quick easy run, and very welcomed after a couple of long runs. We planned on staying at Alton for two nights, but because we cannot get into our next stop, Hoppies Marina until Saturday we are going to stay here three nights.

The marina is very nice, and the staff is outstanding. Anytime we would pass one of the staff on the dock, they chat with you, ask if there is anything that you need, very friendly and personable. I had two small packages that needed to be mailed, and the local post office has shutdown. When I asked if the marina would put them out with their mail, the dockmaster said that he would drop them off at the post office in the morning.

Alton has a Riverboat Casino, which of course we had to visit. This time we came out $5.00 ahead. Not bad for two hours of entertainment. Casino's in Illinois must be on the water. Gambling was made legal by the 1990 Riverboat Gambling Act, and for the first 10 years the boats had to travel on the water for customers to be able to gamble. Now they can be permanently moored to the shore.

Because we decide to stay in Alton for three days, I took advantage of both the extra day, and the fact that the marina has a place to dispose of used oil, to change the oil in the motors. The two hardest part of the oil change is getting the eight gallons of oil then disposing of the used oil.

Our first stop was Piasa Bird, a modern rendition of a mythical birdlike Native American creature on the limestone bluffs on the banks of the Mississippi. It is also the location of caves where limestone was mined to make glass. The caves are fenced off but if you are look carefully you can find a place to walk around the fence. It is amazing to walk around in the caves, and it is hard to believe the caves were made by mining.

On our way to the caves we watched the American Countess, a 310' Paddlewheel cruise ship dock in Alton. Unlike most cruise ships, they do not have formal terminal. The paddle wheeler docks alongside a concrete seawall. There is no staff on the seawall to catch lines, The deckhands from the boat jump off the gangway and the go catch the lines. The passengers are meet by busses.

After the caves, we went to the Mel Price Locks and Dam. The locks are about 1.5 miles south of the marina and we will be going thru when we leave tomorrow. The tour was a little disappointing, as it is run by the museum at the lock. You really don't get to see much. Normally you get to go to the top of the dam, but the elevator is under repair, so it is closed. The Mel Price Locks consist of two chambers, the main lock chamber is 110 feet wide by 1200 feet long. This allows for larger tows to go thru without breaking the barges apart. There is a secondary chamber that is 110 feet wide by 600 feet long. If the tows have to use the smaller chamber and need to break down it can take 2.5 hours to transit the lock versus 35 minutes if they go through the main chamber. Hopefully when we transit the lock tomorrow there will not be any tows, and if there are they will be in the main chamber. Otherwise we will have to wait.

Tomorrow we are heading to Hoppies Marina. Stopping at Hoppies on the loop is a tradition, a necessity, an adventure and rite of passage.