Alton, Illinois

                                                        Alton, Illinois

                                               Our flotilla- we are on the right                   

                  

Mayflies

           Tugboat - they are huge!!  Sometimes they have locomotive engines in them.  We passed one that was pushing 25 barges at a time.

            We woke up this morning to our boat being covered with Mayflies.  I’ve never seen these at home. They are about 2 inches long and have big wings.  This is the second morning in a row our boat has been covered with them.  They only arrive in the middle of the night and then most of them disappear in the morning.           

                                                                  

            We had a short, easy trip of 18 miles today to Alton. This marina is great.  They even give you a 50% discount for being a Looper. There is a great pool, 2 jacuzzis, and the restrooms are so nice you feel like you are at spa.  There is a cute downtown and even a paddleboat turned casino on the water.  We went to a fun place downtown for dinner, Mac’s, with all the loopers and our boat host.

                                                                       

Casino on riverboat

This evening the looper boat host gave a talk about what to expect in the next 250 mile section. This is supposed to be the most difficult section of the whole 6,000 mile Great Loop.  After you get through Saint Louis and a place called Hoppies Barge where you tie up there are no services. No towns or gas, no marinas,  you have to anchor each night, no cell service,  and vessel assist does not help you here.  It is exceptionally shallow this year - only 3-4 feet in lots of areas so most the usual anchorages have disappeared, lots of sandbars and floating debris, locks, tugboats and barges.  Yeah, we are waiting for the good part too!  Can’t wait for tomorrow!