Saturday, September 26, 2015

Final Day in Grafton


It felt really good to have a couple of layover days in Grafton.  When we arrived on Thursday, this was a sleepy little town.  Few people, stores and restaurants closed early.  Today (Saturday) Grafton is a happening place!  It was like the town exploded with people!  Lots of boaters came into the marina to dock for a few hours or for the day, the restaurants were all full with families enjoying the day, and there was a Rat Rally car show that drew lots and lots of tourists and bikers.  This is the place to be on a Saturday!
 


We heard that the car show was fun so we walked to it mid-morning.  The recommendation was right – it was certainly different than any car show we’ve been to.  Instead of classic cars in impeccable condition, we found cars and trucks displayed that had been modified to look like rusted old cars with supped up engines and other paraphernalia.  We took pictures on my cell phone, but am unable to send the pictures to our email - no cell service!  Pictures will be added when we have good cell service and good, reliable internet!

                     Carey working under the bimini on LeeLoo.  Not a bad place to work!

Tomorrow we will leave at 7:00 a.m. and enter the Mississippi River.  We have 2 locks to go through before we reach our destination.  We have heard that the locks will have delays and they require us to have 50' lines while going through the locks.  If we aren't too busy following the lockmaster's instructions, we will take pictures!

Tomorrow night we will be at Hoppies tied to a barge.  We will spend one night there, and then continue on Monday morning, heading to Green Turtle Bay in Lake Barclay, Kentucky.  We will have to anchor for 3 nights so again, no internet - not sure about cell service.  We will most likely be off the grid for a few days.  So, if you don't hear from us for a few days - no worries!  We are having a great time!





It’s Time to Rest – Friday, Sept. 25



After 5 days on the river, it was time for a rest!  We plan to lay over in Grafton on Friday and Saturday.  Today we washed the boat, went grocery shopping using the marina’s courtesy van, caught up on laundry, and did other boat chores.   

We couldn't believe how dirty LeeLoo was when we washed her!  A lot of mud and dust to clean off.  While we are not taking waves over LeeLoo's bow like we did in Lake Michigan, the river is very brown and full of mud. It felt good to see a clean LeeLoo again.

Tomorrow we will do some more boat chores and prepare the boat for an early morning departure on Sunday.  Our destination is Hoppies, (another barge) which is about 60 miles down the Mississippi River.  We will have to pass through 2 locks on the way.  We are hoping our luck with locks holds, although we have talked to many other Loopers who have had to wait for hours to pass through a lock.  Most of the other Looper boats are leaving tomorrow so we will leave on our own on Sunday.

Unfortunately, we have no cell service in Grafton . . . an unusual experience.  The marina does have WiFi but the WiFi is hit or miss . . . certainly not dependable.  We will be living off the grid for a few days!

A Long Day to Illinois River Mile 00 at Grafton, Illinois – Thursday, Sept. 24



At 6:30 a.m., we learned that the lock was closed for an indeterminate amount of time as there were scuba diver inspecting the wickets; this is the reason for the lock closure.  We subsequently learned that southbound traffic could pass through the main lock chamber and we were instructed by the lockmaster to leave immediately.  The fleet departed at 8:00 a.m. and arrived at the lock at 9:00 a.m. and slowly drove through the opened lock chamber one boat at a time.   


We enjoyed an 8-1/2 hour cruise down the Illinois River on Thursday, most of which was uneventful except for seeing flocks of white pelicans, 3 Bald Eagles and more Blue Herons that you can count.  We continued to pass many, many tows/barges.  It was interesting to see most of the houses along the river bank that were up on stilts - probably because the river floods every year! 
                                       
                                                Houses on stilts along the Illinois River

There were several Looper boats in the marina that we had met a couple of weeks ago when they passed through Racine.  It was nice to talk to them and share our experiences.