Glorious Grafton

We've made to another "destination" on this cruise, Grafton, IL, at the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers.   But first, to backtrack at little, wanted to post this picture of Lock 19 at Keokuk, IA.  At 1200' long, it's twice as long as all the other Mississippi locks.

A "double" tow (15 barges and one huge tow boat) can all fit into this lock without breaking in two like they do for the normal 600' locks.  Here's a double waiting at the door for us to exit.  As you can see there's alot going on here, an open train bridge above, the tow waiting, and the little Shingebiss sneaking out. 

The river is full of upstream double tows and we waited 1-2 hours for almost every lock over the next couple of days.  The only other pleasure boats were the duck hunters and fishermen who had Asian carp jumping in their wakes.  Guess the carp are migrating up the Mississippi, but not nearly as plentiful as on the Illinois.  We heard 'em bumping up against our hull in this peaceful anchorage above Hannibal, MO. 

The next morning as we rounded the corner toward Hannibal, we saw this amazing bank of fog ahead of us.

Surrounded by blue sky, it looked like a fluffy cloud that had dropped from above. 

After a mile or two of driving by radar at a very slow speed, the fog cloud lifted and we were greeted by this beautiful bluff. 

Our final anchorage on this leg was also very peaceful and calm, with this panoramic view.  Note the entire double tow can be seen. 

The bluffs are back, the weather remains sunny with highs around 80 and lows around 50, and as we  are just north of the St. Louis area, we are seeing more pleasure boats.   These boats are replicas of the Nina and Pinta and are traveling the river systems.  I spoke briefy to one of the captains in the laundry room today.  He told me they have already done the Loop three times and were up the Mississippi and to Hudson, WI last summer.  We hadn't ever heard of them before, but they were doing a brisk business giving $8 tours of the boats and said they gave 10,000 tours in Hudson. 

Almost all Loopers stop at Grafton Harbor as it marks the end of their Illinois River cruise and the start of their experience on the mighty Miss.  It's a good place to reprovision, do some laundry, and fill water tanks. We did all that today along with a Looper Social Hour with crew from Inconceivable and Blue Line.  It's great to again sit around and talk boats and cruising the loop.