The Little Engine that Could (atleast could more than last year!)

 Monday, 5/12:

    We took off for Little Diversion (23 miles) after a nice breakfast, and allowing the weather to straighten up a bit. The Miss isn't flowing as bad as last year, but has a significant hit on you anyway. But instead of doubling our fuel consumption to run 4mph, we are turning at a normal cruise and getting that and better. 

Tuesday, 5/13:

    Tuesday we got a later start with zoom calls lasting until about 0800. Made for a nice "moon set" over the train bridge...

     We worked our way upstream 35 miles to the anchorage we used last year at the 83 mile marker. Nothing special about it other than it is half way between Little Diversion and the Kaskaskia River lock. AN easy day downstream, but impossible upstream.

 Wednesday, 5/14:

    We were up again pretty early, underway by 0700. Not so early for me, Amy on the other hand, prefers not to witness a sunrise, she wants it fully shining when she arises! Current and water levels keep dropping, and speed ever so slightly increasing.  A new bridge is being built at Chester, IL. Chester is also the home of Menard State Prison. I told Amy I have been in there. She got a look on her face that I can't even describe! What have you not told me she asked. I laughed, I said I delivered a truckload of goods there back in my trucking days. And you actually drive through the gates into the facility. I don't believe she found that as humorous as I did! :)

     We arrived to Kaskaskia pretty early, about 1400. A very low-key evening, listening to the Brewers disappoint me as they have done so regularly this season. If there is rain in the forecast overnight, or the temps are 60 or above, we sleep with the AC on. 60 may sound low, but I'm talking about days we travel. The Engine Room is somewhat insulated, however that heat bleeds out into the rest of the boat over time. So < 60 and a breeze that first night is the only way to avoid AC. Anyhow, because of this we sat on Inverter all afternoon and evening until time to go to bed. We were not energy contious, as we would be running the genset overnight anyway. Well there comes Mr. Murphy, tapping me on the shoulder, reminding me that he always travels along with us. The Genset would not start. And I was not able to diagnose it at that point in the night. In fact I made it worse, blowing a fuse to go with the loose wire. 

    After washing my hands of the oil residue, and the whole problem metaphorically for the night, I started the main engines, and took them up to a high idle. We kicked on the master cabin AC, and let the alternators support the AC and do the recharge. Technically one engine could support the AC, but that didn't leave much for charging... plus I didn't want to over work 1, so I left them both run.

Thursday 5/15:

    When the sun was filly up, about 0530, I got Amy up, said lets get going.... since engines were running anyway. Besides then we could get to Hoppie's Marina sooner and plug in while I diagnose the genset with a clear set of eyes. 

    As it turned out, instead of diagnosing, we visited a nice winery in town when we walked in to mail off some MTOA Burgees. 

    The Blue Owl cafe is a perennial Looper favorite when stopping at Hoppie's, but we will sure advocate for equal time for the LaChance Winery! Great wine, Great food! And it is housed in a building that was built before the Declaration of Independence was signed. Quite a story! So no genset work until we get to Grafton I guess :) It's hard to find good help these days!

Friday 5/16:

    We got off the dock about 0615 again, with 58 miles to go, through St Louis, and 2 locks. We are both looking forward to a couple down days at Grafton to recharge. I can hear the throngs of tiny violins when I write this, but this boating life is hard work sometimes!

     Just as last year, our friend Mike Wallis stopped along the river on his way in to work to snap some shots of us approaching the I270 bridge on the south side of St Louis. Great shots as always!

     We have gotten shots of Toscana passing the arch 3 different times, so we really didn't think it was necessary this time, however friends John and Kim from Wild Goose were following us on Nebo and caught us on the Arch Cam putting along past. "We see you" was the text, accompanied by this photo.

 

 

    I had to get my "cheaters" out to see us, but there we are! We continued on to Chain of Rocks, Lock 27 (the southernmost lock) and were able to enter straight in the auxiliary chamber. We passed several tows in the canal on the top side, as well as another looper headed south. Rare to see that this time of year, but they may be segment looping, who knows.

    We continued on out of the canal, past the mouth of the Missouri River, and on up to Melvin Price, Lock 26, just south of Alton, IL. We were told we would be behind 3 tows upbound. That will take awhile. Well (inside joke) Captain Horseshoe struck again, the first tow was 4 empty barges, and was willing to allow us to lock with him in the same lockage! 

 

     But after locking through, we could see that our luck was running a bit thin. The sky to the west was getting dark. 

    We got about half way to Grafton from Alton, and the north edge of the storm found us. There was not an overwhelming amount of rain, but 60mph wind gusts direct on the Port side. Toscana heeled over a few degrees, but everything survived unscathed, except the AGLCA burgee. It took a beating.

 

    

    The storm was followed by sun and calm conditions to arrive in Grafton Harbor! We were ready for a rest! 

Saturday, 5/17:

    Grafton Harbor was hosting a Boat Show, a few new small boats, and some brokered larger boats. We even spotted one represented by Curtis Stokes. Then as we were walking down our pier, I turned to Amy, gosh that looks like Jill, Curtis' wife. So we walked over and sure enough, they had come to town for that ranger tug and another offering they have listed here! 

    It was great t catch up with them, Curtis has been doing this so long, he has seen and heard it all. Makes for fun conversations! 

    We had a busy day on top of this! We had lunch, and a brief mid day cruise planned with Mike Wallis and his mother Marilyn. Marilyn had a big time, even driving us for a bit! 

    After we said our goodbyes, we had an hour or two to unwind, then it was time for us to head over to The Loading Dock for dinner with Kristi Fowler, her daughter and her significant other. For those not in the boating community, Kristi's husband ran Heritage Harbor in Ottawa, IL for many years, and is well known and loved in the boating community. He passed away suddenly just under a year and a half ago, and Kristi moved back to the Alton area where she has family. We try to visit her when we pass through! We forgot to bring the camera, but we had a great dinner and lots of catching up and reminiscing good times from long ago. For those that know her, she is doing much better than last fall. It is a tough road, but she is finding herself, and her way forward in Jeremy's absence. Their son Jacob still works at Heritage, and we look forward to seeing him when we stay there later this month.

    Sunday, 5/18:

    For the first time in at least a month, we did almost nothing. I spent an hour in the engine room, found the disconnected wire, and replaced the fuse. Genset is ready to continue on. I also replaced snaps on  couple of our fender hangers with more robust hardware. Otherwise we sat around, listened to the Brewers finally win a game, and smoked chicken breast for our dinner. We enjoyed a bottle of Amy's dad's homemade cherry wine, and capped off another great week on the water!

     Next week, we will be here a few more days, then head up the Illinois River toward Lake Michigan. In the meantime, you can go back and read about our past adventures if you are just joining us, or head on over to the YouTube channel (all linked on the right side of the page) and watch our trip up the Mississippi River last summer! Take care, and Cheers!