Friday September 3, 2021.
Temp: 79/64, Humidity: 50/80%, Top Wind: SE11 mph, Precip: none- cloudy , Miles Traveled: 16
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This was a pretty uneventful day. We were just moving down the river about fifteen miles to the next town, to get us farther along for our next long day next week. Alton Marina will give us three days free if we pay for three…. so that’s a great idea! We’re planning to stay for a total of five, based on the current weather predictions.
This was the party dock where Island Girl was parked out at the end in Grafton. I imagine that these beer signs and lights will be lit, the refrigerators full, and party on the patio will be starting soon on this holiday weekend.
We tootled our way out at around 10:00.
There are really some neat cliffs here, which is such a nice change of scenery!
Welcome to the Mississippi River! Yep – it has widened out a lot! There were a lot of logs and chunks of wood floating along, so we had all four of our eyeballs peeled and watching the water. With the cloudy sky and some windy waves coming at us, it wasn’t always easy to spot the plastic boat biters and prop twister-jammers.
This was interesting! A couple of giant caves! I wonder if they are open to visit?
In just a couple of hours, we arrived at the Alton Marina. It is another completely floating marina, but at least it is behind a big rock jetty. The blue that you see are the roofs on the covered floating docks. Most slips are covered here.
We pulled into the fuel dock and filled up, then meandered our way around to our covered slip for the next five nights. There are a lot of house boats here, and I’m pretty sure that most of them never leave the dock. There is one next to us that could sink at any moment. The one on the other side is a full time live aboard, with two disability zoomer carts parked on the dock, along with patio furniture. 🤷♀️. The whole dock is like this, with furniture, refrigerators, barbeques, tables, chairs, rugs. It feels like we don’t belong here – like we’ve barged in on somebody’s living room- but everyone is really nice.
That was the extent of our excitement today. We watched a WHOLE BUNCH of boats come in. When we talked to other loopers back in Grafton, they said they were not able to get a reservation here in Alton for this weekend. Although, they said that they just tried getting the reservation in the last couple of days. I guess it’s a good thing I made ours several days ago for the holiday. Or maybe not? There is a huge party going on at the dock next to us, with music, laughter, loud voices, horns honking, and dogs barking. Oh boy! 🤪
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Saturday September 4, 2021.
Temp: 76/71, Humidity: 69/90%, Top Wind: SW9 mph, Precip: rain on & off all day , Miles Traveled: none
We knew today wasn’t a good travel day, with rain forecasted for most of the day. I’m not sure that Kenny even stepped foot outside today. I only went for a couple of dock walks in between rain showers, but that was it. Today was a stay inside day, read, watch TV, research future travel options, etc. And listen to the parties going on through out the marina! I guess that’s one good thing about having all covered slips… the party can go on! There has been lots of whoopin and hollerin, and a variety of loud music, sometimes competing for highest volume. Hmmmm….. perhaps this wasn’t the best choice of marina afterall. 🤔Remember that I told you that we didn’t want to be in Grafton because that place comes unhinged on weekends? Guess what? The yacht club that is here for the weekend….. is from there. HA! The joke is on us!