We once again started the day early to get ahead of commercial traffic in the LaGrange Lock. Pulled off the dock before sunup at 6:50am. We had 8 boats following us, but none of them were planning to go as far as we did today.

We knew we had a long day ahead, as we planned to go from Beardstown to Alton, IL. This would finish our trip down the Illinois River and put us into the Mississippi River! Here is the NEBO log from the day. Amy and I both keep forgetting to turn the log on as we leave the dock each day. We actually traveled 104 miles today. To get into Alton before dark, we ran a little harder today, and even did some normal cruising speed. A little nerve racking to run the river at 25 MPH!

We did have to wait for the lock for about an hour today, but there was only one lock so we were able to make up ground quickly after that. Here are some pictures of the river as we headed south today. We started to see some hills, instead of just flat land! Even though the river looks wide and nice, you are running in 9-15 feet of water most of the time. We did get to see 20’+ today as we got closer to the Mississippi River.

As you get closer to Grafton, IL and the Mississippi River, you start to see high bluffs, very similar to the Door County area.

You can’t miss the Grafton Harbor with the huge American flag flying proudly!

After passing Grafton, you have a very wide area in the river. We slowed down as I was tired from watching for debris, missing navigation markers, and depth in the river all day at high speeds. By the way, if I did not mention it, the rivers are missing at least 50% of the red and green cans, channel markers, as the barges tend to take them out on the corners! I was not paying enough attention and we did find a 20 foot tree in the river. Fortunately, we were only doing about 10MPH, and I saw part of the tree to my starboard side in enough time to pull the engines to neutral. We did hit it, but don’t think we damaged any of the running gear. Ran it up to speed after the hit and we have no vibration. A good sign!

As we approached Alton Harbor you can’t miss the turn, as the marina is just below the huge bridge. We are tied up almost under it!

We will be here in Alton until Sunday morning, and then heading down the Mississippi River to the Ohio River. This will mean 2-3 nights at anchor on the river, before a marina again. I will put up one more post before we leave Alton, and then you might not see one, depending on cell coverage, until we reach a dock again!

Hope you have a great rest of your week and a fantastic weekend. For those friends in Door County, enjoy “Fall Down Fest”!