KYC - Week 2!

     We started out the week with renting a car to drive to Alton, IL and get Amy's car. That gets it closer, gets us the ability to explore on land, plus we can take Amy's parents back to their car if we cannot leave before they run out of meds. Water was amazingly high in Alton, only 3 ft from the parking lot... I doubt it will get much higher, but another good reason to get the car moved :)

 

    Amy's dad and I went out in the dinghy and did a little fishing. We got one small channel cat, and about a 8-10lb blue cat. We have them cleaned, probably won't get around to frying them up until Sunday.

Friday was exploring day. Amy's dad and I had done some already, and took the ladies to some nice places. We started with a park at the top of the hill heading into town. Beautiful river views, plus the statue of Chief Keokuk, from whom the town gets it's name.

 

    From there we explored the town of Nauvoo, IL. I guess the Mormons settled here first before moving on out west. We got a couple pics and a video fairly close up of a bald eagle at the river's edge.

    We then ventured on to Baxter's Vinyards and Winery! Had a great tasting, and picked up 6 bottles... 4 of what was all 4 of our favorites... Blackberry! 2 bottles got consumed aboard over card games the next couple nights! 

We did some more fishing on Sunday morning, catching a small flathead, a small blue, and 3 smaller fiddlers. Enough for a meal. So Sunday we fried up the most recent catch and froze the catch from earlier in the week.

We wrapped up the week with some fishing in one of the nearby creeks, but didn't come up with anything big enough to keep. Amy's dad and I also installed new shocks for the trim tabs on the dinghy. They came in on Sat, but we didn't want to tie up KYC's life during the weekend.

Keokuk Yacht Club - Our High Water Hang-out

 

    Given all the possibilities of places to get stuck with locks closed for high water, we lucked out and ended up at one of the best. Keokuk Yacht Club is a very friendly stop. They are a small boat YC but have provisions for 1 or 2 large boats to stop when transiting the Upper Mississippi River. They have great bathrooms, laundry, and a great clubhouse. When you stay you are invited to everything just like you were a member. Their daily rate is on the higher end for the area, but are happy to work better deals for an extended stay. We really appreciated that, as we are looking at 2-3 weeks. 

 

We got settled in, with a quiet day on July 3, and the 4th. Rain came in so fireworks were postponed until the 5th. They had a band scheduled, so we got to enjoy front row seats to both at the same time!

 

    We closed out our week with a SPECTACULAR rainbow. I have seen countless rainbows in my life, but never where both ends are visible like this. And no, as you can see there is no pot of gold at either end! 

Heading out of Alton like a herd of turtles!

We had set Sat, June 29 as our departure date. The days leading up I had oil changes to do on everything, and we took the oil to the local Napa. Thursday before was car move day & pick up Amy's parents in Sebula, IA. That leaves their car right there to drive home when they are ready.

We took off with an overcast morning, and found a little rain near Grafton, Il. It didnt last long and we worked our way up to Lock 25. We got right through, because the river is in flood again. I have the best of luck. Unlike the lower portion below St Louis, we have been able to make 5mph without running harder than normal. We can live with that. We made a new AC anchorage at Jim Crow Island, just upstream of Lock 25. Very peaceful night on the hook!

Sunday took us to 2 Rivers marina, across from Louisiana, MO. Amy's parents got to see the railroad swing bridge open for us to pass. Their first 2 locks have been un-evenful with the dams wide open. We raise 6-8 inches in the locks. We expect the same the entire trip except for Keokuk, IA. We will have a good lift there.

We got to visit with Clay and Sally Logan, formerly of SaSea Sally. They did the loop in 2015 if memory serves. I met them on my Mississippi trip in 2018 on the 27' cruiser. It was great to see them again. They have sold SaSea Sally, but still have their Pluckebaum houseboat. 

Monday July 1 sees us bound for Quincy, Il. We are aiming for the riverfront Quincy Boat Club for the night on Clay's recommendation.

Monday has brought us some increased current and an increase in debris, but still moving right along. Lock 21 an Quincy, IL gave us a heads up that high water was going to force some locks closed upstream. After we got settled at Quincy Boat Club's transient dock, I made some calls. Lock 20, next one is expecting to close on the 4th. As well is 18. 16 and 17 are closing tomorrow. Given the conditions, and more rain coming, we are moving on tomorrow for Keokuk Yacht Club, on the other side of lock 19. That pool is behind the only hydro dam on the Mississippi and will be a maintained pool. Best place to hole up for a few days geographically, plus KYC is well know to be a very friendly stop for folks passing through.

Tuesday brought again increased debris and current. We made it through Lock 20 just ahead of a downbound towboat. Debris increased again on the top side of 20. We slowly made our way up approaching Keokuk. The Des Moines river empties in just below lock 19. Current kept increasing as we approached because of that flow. Amy's parents finally got to experience a more normal lockage at Lock 19. So far we have had 6" lifts and just floated. In 19 we actually had a 25 ft lift and secured to a floating pin.

 

After clearing the lock we had a mere 1.5 miles to the yacht club. Winds were substantial from the south, making our approach to the wall to tie up challenging. Toscana, as most boats tends to want to turn broadside to the wind. So approaching and maintaining straight into the wind both can prove difficult at times. We finally got tied up, and made arrangements for an extended stay. We will tell you all about this great place next week!

Hanging out at Alton Marina!

 

 We spent several days at the beginning of June, and at the end, hanging out at Alton. We had a long list of friend to catch up with, plus new friends to make on the docks!

One of our first adventures was a plane ride with our friend Mike Wallis. 

    When I returned from moving Seaz The Day, I found the city of Alton doing some much needed dredging at the Marina entrance. This sure helps us to get out, as water has dropped since we arrived, but also for Loopers coming through this fall with deeper draft vessels!

I had plenty of service items to do, including oil changes on both main engines and the generator. I also had a window for the forward head that needed to come out and be re-bedded. We made sure to find time to drink a few beers (and some wine), make some excellent food, and get into mischief!

We ended up in Grafton with some other folks from the dock for Taco Tuesday at Grafton Pub. Excellent stop if you are in Grafton on a Tuesday! Across the street is Bobby G's Martini Bar... serving great after dinner drinks. For the first time we found "Mini Beers" on the menu. Even the same recipie that was taught to us by Mike and Ildi Ervin, friends and a former customer!

 

 

We are down to our last 2 days, taking a car to our next major stop, Sebula, IA and picking up Amy's parents to join us for the next leg of the journey!