Tues Oct 24: Mel’s to Alton Marina

We had a short cruising day - so my plan had been to sleep in (my single overarching life goal) …. which was ruined by the 2 boats in front of us firing up their engines a 6am...  Grump grump...

This was the route - please note that we JOINED THE MS RIVER!!!  We are JUST like Mark Twain!

Breakfast of champions - left over mud pie from Mel's...

AGAIN, the sun was in our face last night when it set, and in our face today as it rose.  I feel like we're in a Black Mirror episode...

Yikes - all he houses are like this.Flooding is a way of life...

It sure was purty, coming up toward the MS River!

Right past Grafton (where we saw the boat with the medical emergency sitting in the marina - we heard later that he had chest pains, hope all is well), there were wonderfully scenic cliffs:

You know me - I do love a boat with a red hull!

The Blessing of the Fleet is held here every year.

And suddenly, after all this planning and waiting - we were on the Mississippi River!!! It was really an amazing feeling.  When we look at the Looper map it finally looks like we are making progress.  Go us!!

We pulled up to the Alton Marina fuel dock, to make sure we were ready for the run down to the Ohio/TN Rivers - it's a long stretch with no fuel.  We re-mortgaged the house and filled up.  This little guy was on the boat next to us - he really' occupied his space with considerable authority', running around like he was in charge!

Here is the main office - see the TALL poles?  That is so the entire structure can rise during floods.  We are used to docks with 12' poles.  This is just crazy...

All of the docks, and even the roof structures, will rise with the water.

It's one of the few times we have been in covered slips.  It's very strange.  Dark and full of echoes.  We're not really sure why it's covered.  It seems too far north to leave boats in the water.

I WISH we were in Key West already...

There are a couple of boats here that we met long ago in Canada.  Fun to see familiar faces.  We did a quick load of laundry and took a nap.  Then it was bedtime!