October 14, Saturday, Alton IL

Saturday was the day to explore the town of Alton and also to enjoy some of our fellow boaters now that initial boat supplies and laundry were handled and we’d been to the big city (St. Louis).

Alton is a town built on a hill rising from the big river. Its beginnings go back to around 1820 and it grew rapidly as an industrial and trading town along with other river towns. Many elegant and stately buildings from its hey-day are still here, and many hilly streets are still paved in brick.

Some of us boaters from the marina enjoyed visiting a nearby farmers market in the morning, buying fresh produce and some clever, local goods. After off-loading my purchases I set off to see more of this older town with a main street of many antique shops, a great pottery store, a candy and gift shop and a interesting “far-out” store called “It’s Raining Zen”! I also walked to the local Unitarian Church (on the right). Pretty impressive looking!

Dirk and I suggested to a number of loopers and other boaters that we meet for “docktails” at around 5:30, which usually means bringing something to share – like chips and dip – and BYO drinks. Since I  already had planned a “simple make your own burrito” dinner for our friend John, I just expanded it a bit and brought a lot of burrito supplies to the gathering. I kind of overdid it as I sometimes do, but everyone who stayed for the light meal enjoyed the result.

At one point, Dirk heard a boater say that he had an extra ticket to a walking tour of haunted sites in Alton, and Dirk said – “Pat will go” and I did!  We’ve seen that haunted tours are popular in many tourist towns but was never tempted until here in Alton, because I understood it would also provide a history tour at the same time.

First a few surprises – (1) the walking tours was from 8pm to midnight! (2) It started and ended at the Unitarian church! and  (3) It was sold out with about 25 people attending! The tour was very interesting and there was some discussion of the town’s history, but to me the most surprising thing was the sincere belief in ghosts and that ilk and the dedication of our tour guide to providing proof and participating in ghostly investigations. We walked to a number of old  buildings and were actually able to go inside three of them. The most interesting was the first one. It was built as a sanitarium in the 1840s or 50s but also included underground passages for the underground railroad and a cupula that would be lit up when it was safe for runaways to come ashore from the Mississippi. We all went down into the underground tunnel in the dark and were told stories of people who felt a small child hold their hand (but no child was present) (woooo!) and other amazing stories of sightings. Here’s a photo of the building taken in the daylight.

One of the last stops was the old prison, which after it was shut down in 1850, became a horrible prison again for Confederate prisoners. That area has reported to be haunted as well. This is the photo taken at that site.

The final stop was the Unitarian Church, where orbs/dark forms and a bygone minister that hanged himself (!) have been seen at times but we didn’t see anything. The guide considered the cellar very dangerous due to possible ‘whatever’s’ that are there. We left when the lights came on!

 

 

October 13, Friday –   Rented a car to visit St. Louis while staying in Alton, IL

As mentioned previously we headed to St. Louis on Friday, only about 40 minutes away. We found a parking garage and headed to the “Jefferson National Expansion Memorial” which includes the famous St. Louis Arch and grounds as well as the Old St.  Louis Courthouse, now a museum with offices for the park.

We had 11:30 tickets to go to the top of the arch, but learned quickly that those are rough estimates of time. We waited in a security line (under the arch), and a ‘learning how to getting ready to go’ line, and an ‘almost ready to go’ line, and then boarded the tiny 5-passenger cubicle for the 4 minute ride to the top, with Dirk hunched over all the way. The door is transparent making the ride up also entertaining.

The archway windows are small but still provide amazing views of the Mississippi River, St. Louis and the surrounding area. Everyone was enjoying themselves.

When we returned to the visitors center there was more to learn about the architect of the Arch monument, the design, history, etc.  A couple of items of interest to me – the height of the arch = the width of the arch at the base – 630 feet. Its creation was an amazing feat involving many dedicated and brilliant designers and engineers to make the vision of Eero Saarinen, the architect, come to life.

After lunch we went back to the Old Courthouse to the rooms that presented the St. Louis history of slavery and the struggle of slaves to be free. It was hard to read and see photos of what  people had to endure in the name of commerce and profits (“without slaves, our businesses would fail”) and the injustice and cruelty of people of those times.

Although I had learned about the Dred Scott case long ago, I didn’t recall its significance in moving the country toward Civil War and didn’t recall that he lived in St.Louis.  In short, although by current laws Dred Scott and his wife should have been declared free when he petitioned the court, various appeals pushed the case to the US Supreme Court which not only decided against their freedom, but did so in a way that demolished all compromises of free versus slave states including new Territories which up to then were not allowed to have slaves.  There was fierce opposition to that ruling and their insistence on fighting for their rights helped lead to the 13th, 14th and 15th constitutional amendments.

As part of the Expansion Monument, this Old Courthouse has been restored from the 1930s when it was abandoned and almost destroyed by fires and vandals. The courtrooms where the Dred Scott cases were heard have been recreated, and the entire building is now beautiful inside as well as impressive outside.

October 13, Friday, Alton, IL near St. Louis MO.

We arrived at the Alton Marina two days ago, ready for some boat RnR since we’ve been anchoring out for a while. Since then we’ve enjoyed the hot tub and showers, done 3 loads of laundry, met 3 new fellow travelers and shared dinners with our friend John from the Barefoot Lady (Dodie is at a conference).

Today we are renting a car to see some of St. Louis. Our first destination is the St. Louis Arch and then we’ll go from there. We have tickets to go up top, and have to remember to bring our lifetime senior Nat’l Park pass we got last time we were home  – we can save $6!

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October 11, Wednesday From Willow Island to Alton Marina, IL

We woke up to a relatively chilly (52 degrees) and cloudy day. Remember, we are traveling in the open in our fly bridge, so it feels even colder. Much of the trip looked like yesterday’s, but is still interesting along the way.  I like the lift bridge and wondered if the job of sitting up high above the water might be a little boring. And wondered how heavy are the cement blocks that drop to cause the bridge to lift…

And after a lot of river it was nice to see a town with a busy restaurant above the high banks, and nice homes,  and more examples of houses on stilts – you can just imagine the kind of flooding that caused them to be built this way.

After around 20 miles (a little less than 3 hours!) we arrived at mile zero of the Illinois River and the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi River. This occurs just after Grafton, Il, which is has a well-respected marina that we decided to skip.

Then I saw the Mississippi joining the Illinois (when I looked back) and much wider river going forward.

Now there are beautiful limestone bluffs on the eastern side of the river leading us 16 miles to Alton, which has a very nice marina, a town within walking distance, and a casino reputed to have free shuttles to nearby St. Louis. Now if it would just warm up all will be well.

Oh – notice the roof over all of the boat slips in the marina below. This is becoming normal for some marinas as we head south due to summer heat issues.

October 10, Tuesday from Moores Island to Willow Island Anchorage

We again are tootling down the Illinois River at 8 mph, slowly looking at the scenery (which is a lot the same):  barges and processing plants, occasional houses and, of course, our iphones, but they still get minimal service here.

Some sites that we enjoyed: What seems to be a new restaurant in process, more barges and processing plants, and a plant loading a barge with something white; wonder what it is?

Then the rain began around 11:30. It was a light rain at first, then heavier and getting worse.

Dirk found a place to anchor and thankfully we got inside the boat just before the thunder and lightening began. I made soup for lunch and we grabbed our books. We were still reading when we noticed the rain had stopped so off we went.

Notice the houses or summer homes on silts – the water is very low right now and you can get an idea of how much higher it can be. For example, we went under an 18’ bridge today and our height is 18’2” but we had a foot to spare at least. (41, 42, 43)

As we came closer to our anchorage we finally saw signs of a community along the river at the Kampsville Ferry. It’s a free ferry provide by Illinois to connect two roads and is open 24/7.

Just a mile later we came to our planned anchored behind Willow Island and had a quiet night.

October 9, Monday Havana (Quiver Island) Anchorage to Moores Island Anchorage

By the time the Illinois River merges with the Mississippi we’ll have been on it and its two feeders for 333 miles. It’s a long river and long journey – I had no concept of what it would be like. It is so rural now that we barely have Verizon service and not enough tonight to post this blog. Funny, because we never lost coverage in the empty North Channel of Lake Huron in Canada! (I couldn’t load these photos until we arrived at the Alton IL Marina)

There was a processing plant just down stream from last nights anchorage and I guess we were lucky to get out of there before they started processing coal. We were warned about boat getting filthy just being nearby. Maybe the huge plastic tent you see is there to prevent that. It was a bit foggy and the boat that shared our anchorage left early and stopped for a while waiting for it to clear.

We didn’t see any towns today and just a few houses along the river and various structures that were no longer in use. That include huge electric towers, one of which had workmen near the top and it looked like it was being dismantled.

We traveled through another large lock after waiting a few hours for it to be our turn. The lock masters  at the La Grange lock were quite pleasant, but it sure isn’t pretty, and they had trouble with the water flow. Of course we saw more barges today – one large one just as we were coming out of the lock too.

The river is low as you can tell from the river photos, and two of the recommended anchorages were unusable – much too shallow for our 3.5 foot draft. We are instead still in the river off of Moores Island, but off to the side where we think, and hope, no barges will hit us! Our anchor lights are on – wish us luck!

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October 8, Sunday, Peoria to Havana, IL, aka Quiver Island Anchorage

Yesterday Peru, today Havana- world travelers! OK, it’s Havana, Illinois on the Illinois river. The weather couldn’t have been better today and the river was beautiful as well, mostly with serene scenery but also with some interesting river structures.

We treated ourselves to a buffet breakfast in Peoria while healthy triathlon runners passed us on the streets and then headed south. We then pushed off, and after a bridge and around corner we discovered where some of the noise and slight smell was coming from in Peoria.

The river showed off all day.

An old lock wall was interesting…

This old Garvey Marine Landing caught my attention.

I also enjoyed seeing dredging done on the river.

We had a group of five cruisers traveling together for a short time today as we went through the Peoria lock. We separated based on preferred speeds, and now there are three of us in this lovely anchorage behind Quiver Island.

 

October 7, Saturday, Hennepin to Peoria, IL

Very windy today with gusts up to 25 knots. We are glad we on the Illinois River and not a Great lake.  Before the rains started I was looking back and seeing a number of  large lakes joining the river in this more rural area.  We also went under an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe RR bridge (can you sing it?)

There are also many odd lumps of green near and far from our shores. These are duck blinds and I’m glad it isn’t duck hunting season yet!

While Dirk took a short break I took a photo of our new navigational aids that help us remember if we are “red right returning” or not. Turns out many loopers do this since the markers change sides depending on which way the river is flowing, etc.

The rains began lightly and then became a downpour along with heavy winds and 2 foot swells. We were getting so wet that for the first time we used the lower helm to pilot the boat. Whew –  it all works. And we just fixed the windshield wiper a few days ago!

The Peoria Municipal docks are free with free electricity and are right downtown. We docked in the rain, set up electric, dried up inside, and the rain stopped – magic! The docks squeak and are right next to a town park so aren’t very private, but the price is right. (Oh and since it is Saturday we are being entertained by a band up the way.)

After resting a while we walked around some of the town and found about a Sculpture Walk that began for us in front of the Peoria River Front Museum.  Dirk is to the right of the huge statue of Lincoln and passer-by – can you see little him? There was also a statue of Richard Pryor and then some more modern works. And then a very large mural honoring the Astronomers Society. I wish we could stay longer and go through the museums of art and sculpture in the town but they are closed on Sunday.

 

October 6, Friday, from Ottawa to a free dock in Hennepin, IL

It rained last night and was raining for a while early this morning so we delayed leaving until about 10am. We left under cloudy skies with another looper boat, the Andiamo with Nancy and Rick. We needed to go through another big lock about two hours away, and if we are together is makes it more likely we’ll get a chance among all the barges. As it turned out our timing was good this time – we only waiting about 20 minutes before we were able to enter the lock. Another cruiser had been already waiting an hour! The Andiamo is below.

Interesting sites along the river today – on one hand it was more rural and on the other there were interesting scenes of shipping and other industry.  The bridge is called the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Bridge. The other bridge pier is just lovely, left there as scenery I guess after a new bridge was built. We passed the town of Peru – and took a few photos of a town that’s seen better days but still is busy loading and unloading barges.

Tugs and barges continue to get larger.  – We came upon a 3 by 6 combo ahead of us and waited to pass until the captain gave us his ok.

A little after we exited the lock it began to sprinkle and later it was definitely raining with no signs of giving up. Since our flybridge isn’t enclosed we were getting pretty wet but at least it wasn’t cold. Although we might have gone further in good weather we stopped for the night at the first decent tie-up. Its a free town tie-up to a barge that had been embedded in the shoreline- pretty rough but ok for tonight.

October 5, Thursday,  to Ottawa, IL

Well, the Marseilles (pronounced Marsails here) lock that has been closed for the last few days is now open, but our timing was just off about two hours again. We had to wait for a large barge but it was alright because we dropped anchor and did some paperwork. However it turns out we aren’t supposed to anchor near the locks without permission but we’ve gotten away with it twice. I think the issue is that if a really large barge comes toward us we might not be able to move fast enough if anchored out.

In the lock we tied up to a floating bollard – a pole with a top that goes up or down as the water in the lock goes up or down. This one happened to be autographed, so we added our boat to it.

The Ottawa Heritage Marina where we staying tonight is quite nice and the lockmaster provides a river update daily at 4pm. I had made a tentative plan for the next 7 days or so, and he let us know that some of the popular anchoring spots are too shallow right now – the water level in the river is unusually low. Very useful. They also have a courtesy car we could use to pick up a few more groceries –  veggies for me and seltzer and some protein for Dirk! We also drove back to yesterday’s marina where we had again forgotten our steps. We need those steps to get on/off the boat on some docks and walls.

Above is a  map from the Waterway Guide that might help  follow our route as we head south to the Gulf Coast. It is missing details but gives you an idea of the cities and states we will be passing or staying in along the way. We are on the Illinois River now, and then will join the Mississippi near Grafton IL and the river will become much wider. And then before St. Louis, the Missouri River comes into the game, and the river width and the traffic increases. But I’m getting too far ahead – I’ll stop now for now 🙂

Here’s another map from Chicago south, with red dots on some of the areas mentioned in upcoming posts.