OCTOBER1, 2006

We finally made it to the Mississippi River. We left Havana, Il. and cruised 120 miles to Grafton, Il. where the Illinois River mets the Mississippi. The cruise was uneventful with only one lock and a small delay; taking about 7 hours. The river widened as we got closer to the Miss. and we finally encountered recreational boaters. We were going to stop at the Riverdock Restuarant (mile mark 20), however the dock has no services and is exposed to all the river traffic...not a good place to sleep. Grafton Harbor was new July 2006 and is a covered facility, our first. It is like parking your boat in a garage. The only problem neither the GPS or the Sat. TV can pickup a signal under the metal roof. It was a tight fit but we got it in the first try. The town or at least the waterfront reminded us of Put in Bay. The boat behind us is occupied by an artist Gary R. Lucy. He is converting a house boat into a studio so as to paint the rivers. Go to his website www.garylucy.com to view his works. Pretty neat stuff. Tomorrow the crew gets to sleep in and we only have about an hour run to Alton, Il. It is just north of St. Louis. We're planning two or three days here, some with Emil's cousin Dave, as our tour guide. Weather turned hot and we have the switched from heat to air conditioning...blue jeans to shorts...jackets to tee shirts. Next week is suppose to be warm and nice. I don't think our friend Tom is going to join us, so it will be just the two of us until our close friend Andy plans to joins us around the 15th. We plan to be in Columbus, Miss by then, and about 5 days from Mobile. I'm sure ML would like to have a female voice on board...any takers.