Mike and Beth's Adventures

Nashville Skyline Illuminated highway across the Cumberland Paddlewheel Tour Boat visits Nashville Eating our way around Nashville Acme Feed & Seed A popular Nashville location We did a food tour while in Nashville. This is a great way to get to know a city Our first stop was at Merchants A multi story building right on Broadway Our food tour took us to this breakfast and lunch venue I even purchased some pastries for the next morning We tasted various whiskeys at this spot After the food tour we took a nap as we had a concert that evening But before the nap, we had to have ice cream. This spot has great ice cream! My favorite flavor was Bourbon and Pecan We ate lunch at the Frothy Monkey courtesy of a good friend How we start the day Country Music Hall of Fame The Country Music Hall of Fame is worth visiting All sorts of memorabilia is on display  The Original Grand Ole Opry was the venue for the John Prine Memorial Concert It is now called Ryman Auditorium and continues as a ...

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...