The mighty Mississippi River

October 30, we left the Illinois River and entered the Mississippi at Grafton, IL - within the first few yards we ran aground interpreting the channel markers "a little wrong". Chris got us off the sand bank quickly and there we were - in Alton, IL on the Mississippi. We spend Halloween in Alton since it was raining all day, and we decided that we are not in a rush (we are still in work mode and rushing everything we do, it takes a while to get used to, this retired life). We got a grass carp (I have to point out that we did not catch one) - a fisherman gave it to us, and it was absolutely the best fresh water fish we have eaten in a while. The fall colors are stunning. The scenery at the lower Illinois River changed a lot it is not flat anymore - limestone cliffs surround us now. We stole some crab apples in Peoria and made crab apple jelly - the best one we have ever had (of course) and we picked wild pecan nuts at an overnight anchorage; we are adjusting well to this sailor life (free stuff is good stuff!!). The mornings on the river are breathtaking, the fog slowly disappearing when the pink sun slowly burns a hole through the fog. We saw deer, several bald eagles (one with a fish in its talons), a beaver, a groundhog, two coyotes and thousands of birds.

Chicago to Peoria - the first FIVE days

Here we are - in front of the beautiful skyline of Peoria on the opposite river bank. The river here is up to two miles wide. Very impressive - many sloughs (or billabongs as Chris calls them) that attract all kinds of wildlife. We have seen thousands of white swans, two coyotes, a bald eagle, about twenty wild turkeys and so many other birds, such as ducks, grey herons, Canadian geese (not that they are scarce in Chicago) and cormorants. Our First night we anchored in an absolute beautiful little inlet and watched the moon rise in all its beauty, while (of course) we had a glass of Champagne and a candle light dinner. Life really does not get much better. We are very happy and thankful that our second start is going well. We have some inverter troubles and have to wait in Peoria for spare parts to arrive. We will go on with our river cruise on Sunday, Oct. 30th.

The Locks are something else. The first lock, which came unexpected (thanks to our great navigator, that would be me, Margit...) had a forty feet drop. A little stressful, specially since huge barges come from all directions, other pleasure boats try to compete with your space, the dog tries to run off the boat to look at the seagulls and do her business in the nice grass right in front of her nose and Chris tries to tell me to tie the lines differently than I had intended. Well, we had a great time when we came out of the first one. After that, the next twenty locks were a piece of cake.