October 4, 2013.  Still here at Alton Marina in Alton, Ill.  Met a couple last night that came in on a sailboat heading to Florida for the winter from Wisconsin.  They had mentioned getting 1/2 hamburgers at Fast Eddie's with a beer.  So Curt and I walked there in the dark, questionable neighborhood but very much worth it.  Had an outdoor bar on the side with a good singer, she mentioned a back up singer for Keith Urban was in the audience and hope she was doing good.  Not bad singer.  Weather clearing up this morning but humid from the rain during the night, would guess in the low 80's.  Had the guy who was going to sell us a new motor come and pickup our old motor this morning.  They were the only ones who would take it off the boat and take it to their shop.  If it wasn't simple we were gonna get a new motor.  US Boat kept calling to see how things were going, glad we have them as our boat insurance.  We'll see what they'll cover.  Boat motor back and on the boat by 12:30.  Broken ground wire which kept the motor running after we shut the motor off and a plugged high speed jet on the carb.  Yeh no 4,000 plus bucks on the new motor.  $600.00 just for them to come take the motor off and put it back on plus the cost of fixing it which was nothing compared to the cost of them taking it off and putting it back on.  Got out on the river, does well up stream.  Ready to go again!  Can't wait to meet up with the other guys who just left.  Billy and Judy are leaving Monday.  Rode our bikes around this after, Curt wanted to go back to Fast Eddies so we did, had shrimp on ice, man was that good, 29 cents a shrimp, good sized for North Dakotans. Talked with Mike, said it is supposed to snow today, looked at the web cam, can't believe it is snowing in ND already. Showed off our boat again tonight and looked at Billy and Judy's boat, neat old classic boat.  Curt got the snaps on the screen covering the hatch was nice to have screen to get more air.  Decided after looking at the weather, we would stay another day here, supposed to be rain and thunderstorms all day tomorrow.  Not fun tied up to a barge on the river in that.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

October 3, 2013

The other four boats left for Hoppie's this morning, sad to see them go and we're stuck here to find a new motor.  Looks like it is going to rain again this afternoon, had rain yest. on and off while working on the boat and during the night.  Curt's back with more tools and a subway sandwich. Later.

October 2, 2013  Curt has worked on the engine most of the afternoon, harbor guest hosts took a group of us to walmart for provisions, had a happy hour/snack on the dock with all of us except for the three boats that left this morning.  Fun hearing the stories and getting to know each other better.  Didn't get the motor working so thinking of a new motor.

October 1, 2013.  Left Port Charles, Jeff and Judy willing to buddy boat with us go slow so we could keep up with promises of boat repairmen at Alton, Ill.  Made it there going slow, found out 6 other loopers pulling in after us.  The Looper Marina harbor guest hosts had a meeting to let us know what to expect the next 300 miles and then all 20 of us went out to eat, nice steak and salad.  The other couples were from different areas of the United States, fun group of people, having plans to get to Florida in the next month or so.  Several have met up river on the Illinois river from Chicago and if buddied up off and on down the river.   Yeh found some other loopers.

September 30, 2013,Day 15   Clear and cooler temps in the 50's, steam coming off the river, 8:35, Weighed anchor and departed anchorage, Passed mile marker 245.3, 600 miles since leaving Minn.  Wow!  Enter a malfunctioning Lock #25 Up stream door only one opened and very slowly, down stream doors opened half way very slowly.  Either the lockmaster was lazy and didn't want to open all the way or they weren't working right.  Ended up at St Charles Marina for the night, refueled, motor not running with much power.  Borrowed the courtesy car and met another couple doing part of the loop, Judy from Penn. and Jeff from Canada.  Went out to dinner, sat outside along the Missouri River for great meal and conversation.  Got provisions and went back to boat for a good night sleep.  Was about 10 miles into town.  Neat buildings from the 1800's which had been redone historical keeping things the same.  Beautiful cobblestone streets.  Stopped at Two Branch Marina with no 93 gas as promised in the Quimby's.  Got the 10% added alcohol gas since really low on gas, refused to get more than 2 gallons even with their insistence that no alcohol gas will be found in this area.

September 29, 2013

Left Hannibal around 10:45 after walking  a couple of miles to a gas station for what we thought to be good gas.  Temps in the high 60's today, Earlier there was fog off the water, river was a mirror, absolutely beautiful skies and beautiful day.  Went into Twin Rivers  Marina for gas, but found out they were closed, so went onto second option, found out they were closed and bankrupted for a while.  Nice local gentleman drove up to the bank of the entrance after we got stuck in the mud and let us know the about the marina, suggested we anchor out in the off the river area.  So spent the night there. Had a light current keeping us pointed up river.

Looking up river as we left

Still amazed to see the rock wall bluffs

Curt catching up on his journal in a free second of the day

mirror smooth water

Skinned my 2nd toe, yes I'm bored at this second only

Beautiful morning to see the reflection of the read buoy and clouds in the water

Looking back at our wake and the bridge of Hannibal

Gotta luv that Auto Pilot, get to sit in my favorite seat and watch for logs or sticks in the river and punch the auto pilot to keep between the green and red buoys.

Just can't believe how beautiful it is with the Miss. River narrowing at places

Looking forward and back.  Just thinking Wow.  Bill and Bobbie, you've gotta put this on your bucket list!!!!

Huge, I mean HUGE river boat from Memphis Tenn., can you see the little people on the upper back and the captain driving the boat on the deck extending out from the mid front?

It's a paddle boat!

Cute little towns we go by with historic old houses some dating back to early 1800's

What a beautiful day on the river, saw 3 bald eagles

September 28, 2013

Had a good night sleep inspite of being in the sl. rough current.  Took a walk up to the Farmer's Market this morning 2 blocks up hill, sharp grade, got our heart rates up.  Neat market in the center of downtown park, collard greens, kale, lemon grass, heirloom tomatoes, English cucmbers, green peppers, onions, apples, 2 hubbard squash were our big purchases. also went to a flea market saw some cool things that you would see in the south and just normal stuff at an old flea market.  Took off around 9:30 am but had to wait for the lock which was about 45 min.  This was a 40 ft drop with ballards..  A couple hours later we were in Hannibal at 12:54 going under the bridge when it finally started pouring cats and dogs or buckets of water.  Wasn't supposed to start until 1:00pm.  Found a nice marina, shallow water coming in.  Parked, tied up the boat, steam boat captain watching us the whole time, probably wondering what the heck we were doing with our foulies on in the pouring rain.  Sat for a few minutes then decided we are already wet so let's go see Hannibal.  Walked a block and found a movie theater.  Both agreed sitting in a dry movie theater eating a jumbo container of popcorn and large drink watching a movie was the perfect afternoon today anyway.  Saw The Millers, funny but certainly had some X rated parts, glad the kids weren't with us.  We came out, sun was shining warm and humid, took our wet jackets that at dried in the movie theater office off and went for a tour of  Hannibal, kid of spit rain off and on for the rest of the evening.  Decided to go on the Trolley for a Ghost Tour of Hannibal, got to grave witch the old cemetery, too wet for the sticks to be accurate.  Saw grave stones that 1833 dates of death.  Didn't see any that had who's slave they were but the tour guide said they were there.  Amazing the history in this area, some say this is the cemetery Mark Twain wrote about in his books.  Also went by the cave Mark Twain was in and wrote about.  Finally got to go to a quilt shop, enjoy the pictures.  Learned a lot by the stories of the tour guide.  Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter was a book based upon the Dr. McDonald who performed an experiment on preserving his dead 14 year old daughter's body in a copper cylinder in the cave with alcohol mixture.

lunch, pasta salad, made enough for two days, better the second day

Upscale Restaurant over the water, leaving Quincy Boat Club.

bridges to go under and waiting for the railroad bridge to open.

Isn't this a cute quilt pattern, didn't look like the yellow circle was appliqued

I think this is the pattern of the pink and white blocks Mom gave me to finish, she aid she it was a baby quilt she started when she was pregnant with me.

They were using them as table cloths, can you believe that Bobbi?  Actual 30's fabric too.

Neat archectiture of the buildings, this was in Quincy across from the Farmer's Market

Leaving the Quincy Boat Club, had a good time last night visiting with the members, they were so nice to us.  Mentioned the book "No more Mondays".  a must read.

Resturant again, waves were high, wind blowing today

This is the Moroccan Archecture, only castle of it's kind, called Villa Kathrine, he had built it in late 1800's for wife to be who had died on her way from Europe, never to have seen it.  Story is Bingo the dog buried somewhere on the property, tale that you can here him bark sometimes.

Amazing to see the houses on such high pillars because of all the flooding

Coming into Hannibal, huge houses on the hill.

Hope the swing bridge will open quickly since rain is starting to get harder

 

 

Curt is in the boat, gave me the foulies to stay dry, wasn't that nice:(

Our boat safe in the marina

Might as well go for a walk since we're already wet

Neat QUILT SHOP, took this picture for Bobbi and her polka dots, double clink for a full big picture, thought Sue might like this one or Carol( but a little mild for you)