Today the river changed a little bit we started to see some rocky cliffs and a few houses. All the houses are either on stilts or have very tall cement basements to protect them from flooding.

We finished the Illinois River from beginning to end an are now on the Mighty Mississippi. The scenery changed immediately. The river is much wider and moving faster.  Normally without current we run about 7 knots, on the Illinois we ran around 9 knots and on the Mississippi we were running 11.7 knots. Good for the fuel use. There are beautiful cliffs along the river.

Remember when I said “Lock delays…I smell a theme”  We heard that lock 52 on the upper Ohio has broken wickets and they were going to need to shut down to repair.  Traffic will be backed up and Marinas start to get backed up.  We planned to stay in Grafton but they were full so we ended up in Alton Marina in Illinois.  Best Marina ever.  Many of the slips are under cover.  We were too tall to fit. When we got docked and hooked up we were hot and went to get checked in.  To our amazement they had a iced drink machine and even put your choice of liquor in it.  We were sold right there.  They even have a pool, which we immediately took advantage of. Super friendly people. Oh and if you buy 3 nights you get 3 free.  We may take advantage of an extra day or two and let all the backed up boats get through the now fixed lock.

Will keep you posted on our several day stay and what we are up to.

Karen and Scott