Mike and Beth's Adventures

Welcome to Alton Illinois. This is where the Illinois River meets the mighty Mississippi River! Alton Illinois The Alton Marina is protected by a tall rock breakwater, over which the you can just see the tops of the boat sheds.  This is a good spot to stop, provision, top off fuel, do laundry and complete your preparations for travelling down the Mississippi to the Ohio River. The entrance to the Alton Marina is on the downstream end of the breakwater.  That would be to the right in this picture. We were so happy we were assigned a covered slip.  We were experiencing a hot spell and it was wonderful to be in the shade!  As soon as we connected to shore power, the air conditioner quickly brought the cabin temperature down to a comfortable level. The "Walmart Grocery Delivery Caper" Our friends on Currently used their online app to order their groceries from Walmart and have them delivered to the marina.  The drill is the driver calls from the parking lot, you met...

 Early morning convection fog on the Illinois River We departed Hennepin free docks at 10am to continue our trip south on the Illinois.  The late departure was due to fog.  We encountered a lingering patch of convection fog and quickly popped out the other side.  Travel conditions were good so we settled into cruising at 7.5 knots.  This is an economical speed for travelling as it is max hull speed for our boat.  We can go faster if we try to plane, but doubling the speed increases dramatically decreases fuel milage.  We like to save money when we can.  After all it is about the journey. Grain and corn is loaded on barges from surrounding farms. Many of the tows we encounter are taking grain or corn to market The Illinois River has a very large concentration of Bald Eagles. You can see adult birds teaching juveniles how to hunt. We saw dozens of these birds each day. Beardstown Illinois Beardstown was our next overnight stop. We found many great l...

  It was a gray, overcast and drizzly day for our Chicago departure .  As we cruised through town on the Chicago River, the tops of the buildings disappeared in the clouds.  A left turn took us into the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.  This was built over a hundred years ago to prevent Chicago River from carrying sewage and garbage into Lake Michigan, the source of Chicago's drinking water.  The 1900's solution was to build a canal to reverse the flow of the Chicago River so it flowed in reverse and it's waters would eventually end up in the Gulf of Mexico.  To accomplish this, a 28 mile canal was dug to connect the Chicago River to the Illinois River, which connected with the Mississippi River and eventually the Gulf of Mexico.  Quite a replumbing job!  Not sure the people downstream were thrilled if they knew about it. To insure the Chicago River remained isolated from Lake Michigan, a lock was build at the mouth of the river to further protect...