Beardstown and Grafton, Illinois

Wednesday, Oct. 29th we left at sunrise, 7:15, so we could go 108 miles to Beardstown. We had good luck today with 2 locks. Neither lock was open. The water was high enough so the wicket dams were lowered and boats just drive right over them and the locks are not used.

The night we spent in Beardstown was very interesting. We tied up to a working tug at their dock. We were awakened early in the morning when they started their generator and told Ivar they were getting ready to go out. We didn't stay around long enough to see if they really went out or just wanted to get us out of there.














The Harbor Marina at Grafton, Illinois has been our home for 3 nights. Diane and I went shopping a few times. Bob and Ivar washed the outside of the boat while Diane and I cleaned the inside. There is a great place to buy pies. Diane and I bought 3 pies-peach, apple and strawberry-rhubarb. They were still warm when we brought them back to the boat. Bob thinks they were the best things purchased so far on the trip. This weekend was high color and the town was extremely busy. Grafton has had 3 floods this summer and is grateful for a few nice weekends to bring people to town. There are boats in the marina that can't get out because their slips are filled in with sand, hence they can't lower the boat lifts, so the boats sit out of the water. Despite all the problems Grafton has had this summer, the people were very friendly and optimistic about the future.






Enjoying some sun!