Grafton to Paducah, KY

Thursday afternoon we left Grafton on the Illinois River and started our way down the mighty Mississippi!!  We had no locks and only 14 miles to get to Alton Marina.  It's another warm sunny day...but the wind has picked up and we have seen gusts up to 26 knots.  

It is amazing how quickly the landscape changed from flat lands to bluffs on the IL side. 

We got into Alton and had plenty of time to clean up and head over to Argosy Casino for a little early evening entertainment. 😉

Friday morning we woke up to a gray and windy day.   We had two locks and 44 miles to Hoppie's  Marina, which is simply three barges tied onto a high stone cliff with cables.  On the way to Hoppie's we went through St. Louis passing the Gateway Arch!  We got into Hoppie's at 2:30 and it was time for a little nap.  It's Friday the 13th so we ordered a pizza that was delivered to the marina and watched a scary move called Babadook.  It was pretty good.....scary with a good storyline.   

Heading into the Mel Price Lock, our first of the day. 

Passing the St. Louis Gateway Arch

Approaching Hoppie's

Tied up on the barge in Hoppie's

Bill attended Hoppie's daily river briefing while I took Roxie for a walk.  Look! Roxie and I found Mater!

 

Saturday morning we left Hoppie's at 7 for a short 4 hour run to the Kaskasia Lock where we anchored for the night.  It was a dreary day with with pretty good winds.  We decided on a short run because we wanted watch the OSU football game.  Now that the mast was back up we can also get the dingy down and so some exploring and get Roxie to shore.  

Roxie got to shore, but there wasn't a whole lot of exploring to do.  We ended up going to bed at 7.  

Sunday morning Bill was up at 5am and made a hearty breakfast of sausage gravy and biscuits.  We had originally planned on a 65 mile run today to Diversion Channel to anchor, but being that we made good time with the current, we decided to push on to the Boston Bar anchorage another 45 miles

We arrived at 5:3, set the anchor and got Roxie up to the sandy shore as the sun was setting.    

The Diversion Channel, which we decided to pass and keep going.

There's a tug boat in all that rubble!

Anchored at the Boston Bar Anchorage.   Yep, as you can see we were in the river, in 3 knots of current, hiding from the barges behind a bridge support column. 😕

Monday morning we were off early again to finish up the last leg on the Mississippi River and start our trek against the current on the Ohio River.  We had to anchor and wait for the Olmstead Lock for about an hour and a half.....from what were hearing it wasn't a bad wait.   We are headed to Paducah, KY where have hope to stay on the town dock.   

In the Olmstead Lock

We made it to the Paducah town lock to find there was no room for us!  They did say that if we found someone that would let us raft off of them, the would allow it.  After doing some checking, the crew on Dove kindly let us raft off of them.   

Dinner at Doe's Eat Place.  That steak fed us for 4 meals!  LOL!

Coming back to the boat after dinner.

Tuesday morning we left Paducah early and started our last leg on the Ohio River to the Cumberland River where we have reservations at Green Turtle Bay Resort.  Looking forward to staying put for a couple of days.  

South Haven to Hammond Indiana

The South Haven Marina was on the Black River, had nice homes, businesses and parks on it's banks.  As we were docking, the bow thruster went out!  Luckily the wind and current pushed us right onto the dock.  Bill wasn't sure if we had sucked something into the propeller or what had happened.  Turns out the coupler broke and we would have to make our way to Hammond without a bow thruster.  

The river was bustling with boat traffic and sightseers walking the riverside down to the beach and up to the center of town.  There were lots of shops and restaurants in town.  We had dinner at Clementines; it had a really nice "antique" atmosphere and the food was great!  After dinner we called it an early night because we had to be up and headed out early in the morning to complete the ride to Hammond Indiana before the winds and waves pick up again.  The forecast for winds and waves don't quiet down again until Saturday.    

We loved South Haven!  I would love to come back here when we have time to get the dingy in the water and explore all there is to offer there.  

Headed into South Haven! The beach was busy with everyone enjoying the last hours of Labor Day weekend.  

Dinner at Clementines 

Headed back out onto Lake Michigan Tuesday morning.  Roxie is up and ready for duty!

Bye South Haven! 

The lake was rough....I almost got seasick working down in the office in the morning.  Thank goodness I had two meetings that kept my mind busy and off being bounced around!  

Chicago!  Were getting close!

Of course the winds kicked up on our approach to Hammond marina.  Luckily we were able to tie up to the end of a T head pier with the help of some loopers.  This is home sweet home until the lock opens in Chicago in October.  

Hammond marina is very large marina with over 600 slips.  The docks are in really good shape as are the piers.  The only drawback is the walk for Roxie to go potty.  It's like a half a mile away!  But it's no big deal since we could use the exercise anyway.   The other thing is that it is really rolly in here.  It's probably due to the direction of the winds that we outran....that are not supposed to let up until Saturday.  

Don't think it is just a coincidence that Bill picked a marina that has a casino nearby.   Not just nearby, the Horseshoe Casino is right at the end of our pier!  We spent the afternoon in the Casino and had lunch.  We like to play video poker.  Bill got seven 4 of a kind hands on one machine!  I wasn't so lucky....he won what I lost.  

Wednesday morning Bill got to work on ordering the parts for the thruster.  Turns out it is a "right off the shelf" part and they will ship it to us by tomorrow.  That's good news.  In addition all the work is done from inside so we don't have to get hauled out!  While I was working Bill decided to take a celebratory stroll around the casino and would you believe that lucky duck hit a Royal Flush!  Awesome! 

The part did not come until Friday morning.  Bill had the part switched out in less than an hour and the bow thruster is working great!