Thursday-Friday, October 14-15, 2021 (Grafton, IL)
It’s only misting this Thursday morning but we are on our way south. Our destination is Alton, IL which is very close across the river to St. Louis, MO. More barge traffic now and more wait times at the locks. As we floated into Lock and Dam 25, the starboard bow thruster did not work. As we couldn’t tie to the lines we floated in the middle of the lock without any problems. We were able to contact a marina in St. Louis that will be able to check out the bow thruster on Monday. Yikes!!!! Plus the boat will need to be lifted out of the water in order to look at the side of the boat that is normally under water. So, cancel Alton Marina and we are now at Grafton, IL at Grafton Harbor. What a beautiful place. We are directly in front of where the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers flow into each other. It’s a cute tourist town with many shops and restaurants within walking distance. Alert, I bought my first Christmas present at the gift shop. LOL!!! As we look at the many boats here there are numerous Great Loop flags!!!
Friday, October 15
We drove the marina courtesy car into Jerseyville, IL to stock up on a few supplies then had lunch at George’s Grill. We are enjoying checking out different sites. We had dinner last night at the Oyster Bar here at the marina. Wow, fabulous food. I had crab and shrimp ravioli (to die for) and Jim had crab (he complained that it was too much work, LOL). We are planning to sightsee more on Saturday and Sunday. One of the days we plan to rent a car and go into St. Louis to tour the Arch. Jim has never gone to the top. I was able to do it on a business trip and he must do it as well. Such an amazing structure and story of how it was built. More to come…..
Glad to hear you are site seeing while you are in St. Louis. Did you meet the other Nancy J?! Lol
ReplyDeleteSounds like the adventures just keep coming. Hope the bow thruster doesn’t give you major problems. Jill
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