Small Town, Big Town

Tuesday (Aug. 26) was a very short cruising day for us--only 16 miles--and that turned out to be a good thing because we encountered a couple of delays. The first was due to weather. Thunderstorms were in the Clinton area until about mid-morning, and we weren't able to get underway until after 10 a.m. Our second delay came about 15 minutes into our cruise. When we were just a short distance from the first (and only) lock of the day, we got a very loud "engine overheat" warning. We pulled off the channel and were able to tie up to some tire-clad posts near the shore so that Lon could investigate. Fortunately, it turned out to be an easy fix--removing vegetation from the raw water intake of the engine cooling system. A quick lock through and two hours on the water brought us to the very small town of Sabula, Iowa for the evening.

Downtown Sabula has seen better days--
there wasn't much going on

This and the gas station
seemed to be the busiest
 places in town

Island City Marina was an OK place to
spend the evening

Abandoned storehouse(?) along the
waterfront near the harbor

We left Sabula rather early on Wednesday morning (Aug. 27) and had a beautiful cruising day to Dubuque, Iowa. We breezed through our one lock of the day, and did not see a single tow with barges all day. Other than a couple of fishing boats our only maritime company was paddlewheel tour boats.

Meeting "Twilight" as
 it heads downriver

The Spirit of Dubuque out
 for a day cruise

We have been enjoying the scenery during our river cruising, and it seems to be getting better the further north we go. There are lots of islands, and river bluffs make the occasional appearance. We have also seen quite a few white pelicans; they're beautiful in flight. According to one of the lock masters, the local fishermen aren't too thrilled to have the pelicans and cormorants as competition for the game fish--I'm not sure what kind of solution there can be to that particular problem.

River bluff country

Pelicans and cormorants have their own island

Sandy beach with a volleyball net--it must be one
of the local hangouts on weekends

Because we had been cruising for nine days straight--and the weather forecast for Thursday did not look good--we decided to take a "day off" and spend a couple of nights in Dubuque. The Port of Dubuque Marina is quite new and very nice, but it's nearly empty because they are a transient boater-only marina and apparently there aren't that many transient boaters out and about during the work week.  

CARIB II (left) and one other cruiser in the
Port of Dubuque Marina

The predicted all-day thunderstorms didn't materialize today, so we were able to spend time exploring Dubuque's attractions. We skipped the casino, but did visit the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium, which was located adjacent to the marina at the port.

Part of the National Mississippi River
Museum & Aquarium Campus

Lon "catfishing" at the museum

There's an alligator in Iowa!

The William M. Black steam-powered dredge boat.
Retired from service in 1973 because it was a fuel hog,
requiring large amounts of oil to generate steam

We also got on our bikes for a ride around downtown and a few of the surrounding neighborhoods. We partook of the cheap thrill of going up the side of a steep hill in an old funicular rail car. The Fenelon Place Elevator, 296 feet long and with a rise of 189 feet, claims to be the shortest and steepest railroad in the world. The current railway dates to 1893.

The view looking up from the rail car--
much easier than trying to cycle the hill

One car descends while another
comes up the hill

Dubuque is a fairly large river town, with a population somewhere between fifty and sixty thousand. Its neighborhoods have a large number of historic homes, many of them very large, which speaks to the wealth that must have existed here. Even today, Dubuque is apparently doing better economically than many other small cities.

A beautifully restored home . . . 

 . . . and one still looking for
a little TLC

Main Street Dubuque

The weather is still looking a bit unsettled for the next few days, but we think there may be some breaks tomorrow that will enable us to continue to our next proposed destination, Guttenberg, Iowa. As we do, Illinois will be left behind and Wisconsin will start to share the river with Iowa.

Mud and Thunder

We are making steady progress up the Mississippi, although some days have been easier than others. Tonight we are at a wonderful marina in Clinton, Iowa, which is pretty close to the midpoint of the eastern boundary of Iowa.

Friday, August 22, was a nice, relaxed cruising day. We had 37 lock-free miles from Keokuk to Burlington, Iowa. Along the way we passed Nauvoo, Illinois, which has great historical significance for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) as the town to which Joseph Smith led the Mormons to escape religious persecution in Missouri.

Our view of the Nauvoo Temple

The only downside was that we were not able to use the marina in Burlington because their harbor was just too shallow for our boat. We had to settle for a tie-up on the courtesy dock for "Big Muddy's Bar & Grill". With the high heat and humidity we weren't too crazy about not being able to plug into electricity, but the generator allowed us to use the AC in the evening, and even after we turned it off at bedtime the boat stayed pretty comfortable during the night.

Dinner at the restaurant got us a dock for the night

Nice buildings, but not much was
 happening in downtown
Burlington on a Friday night

Saturday's (Aug. 23) cruising was a different story. We left Burlington just after 6 a.m., knowing that we had at least 50 miles and two locks to contend with before reaching a municipal marina in Muscatine, Iowa that we might be able to fit into. We were happy to get through the first lock of the day without any difficulty. A few miles past the lock we noticed that we no longer had clear skies and that dark clouds were rapidly building to the south and west. The weather radar looked ugly, and when we heard a towboat captain say over the marine radio that it was raining too hard to see between the two bridges (in Burlington) we knew we had to quickly find a place to tie up. We were very thankful to be near an industrial building with several mooring dolphins, so we quickly tied up to one that was nicely padded with tires.

Our port during the storm

Two hours later we were finally able to start moving. Between the storm delay, current that wanted to push our speed under 7 mph, and a 2 1/2 hour wait at the second lock of the day, it took us nearly 11 hours to get to Muscatine. We stirred up mud and the dock was a little short, but we made it work and we were very happy to have electricity again.

CARIB II in Muscatine Municipal Harbor

Historical marker in Muscatine's Riverside Park

Sunday (Aug. 24) was finally a day when there was no threat of rain, and it brought the boaters out onto the river in force. It was the most boats we'd seen in quite some time.

Boaters in the Quad Cities area

We got a leisurely start to the day and managed the 31 miles and two locks without undue stress (other than dodging boat wake here and there). The most difficult part of the day was the hot and humid effort it took to get the electricity in our somewhat "tired" marina to work. The best part of the marina was that it was immediately adjacent to a very good restaurant that had live music playing outside. And the sunset over the river was spectacular.

The Captain's Table Restaurant
 at Marquis Harbor

A peaceful end to our cruising day

The heat and humidity are still at dangerous levels here, so we started cruising just before 6:30 a.m. to take advantage of the cooler morning weather. Thunderstorm threats are back in the picture, although the various weather services can't seem to agree as to the timing--morning or afternoon? We got right into our one lock of the day, then it was nothing but smooth "sailing" to Clinton.

The stressful life of CARIB II's captain when the
First Mate is driving

Finally, a "real" marina--good depth (i.e., no mud), good docks, no funky electrical issues, and clean toilets/showers. And another really good restaurant on the property. Around 2 p.m. a severe thunderstorm rolled through the area with high wind and LOTS of rain. So glad to already be tied up and not have to scramble for refuge. Afterwards Lon spent a few hours trying to remove the vestiges of the spiders and other bugs that have made themselves at home on CARIB II during our time on the river.

We did a short walk into Clinton tonight--the Dairy Queen was calling to us after several days of towns and marinas with no ice cream. But we have to admit that the courthouse in Clinton was pretty impressive, too.

Clinton County Courthouse

Getting a "Blizzard fix" in Clinton

Thunderstorms are in the forecast for the next several days, but we hope to be able to keep moving if we can just figure out the right weather windows each day.

Three Days on the Mississippi

We left Grafton, IL just after 6 a.m. on Tuesday, August 19.

A slightly misty Grafton at 6 a.m.

There were several reasons for the early departure. Our original schedule called for us to stop at a marina about 42 miles and one lock upriver, but when we tried to call the marina on Monday all we got was a "disconnected number" message. Plan B then became a marina in Rockport, IL, which was another 25 miles and one more lock further on. Not knowing what kind of cruising speed we were going to be able to maintain, or what we'd encounter with the locks, made it imperative that we give ourselves as much daylight for cruising as possible.

It turned out to be a smart move. We pulled into Two Rivers Marina after an exhausting 12 1/2 hour day.

Lon with CARIB II at Two Rivers Marina in
Lockport, IL

It took us two hours to get through the first lock, delayed in part by barge traffic in the lock and in part by a thunderstorm that came upon us just prior to the lock.  Thankfully, there was an out-of-business resort in the vicinity with a floating dock that we were able to tie up to while the storm passed. It took another two hours to get through the second lock of the day, due entirely to barge traffic. There was a LOT of barge traffic on the river on Tuesday. There was also a lot of debris floating down the river, so it required a great deal of concentration to avoid hitting wood that had the potential to damage our prop.

The cruising was much less strenuous Wednesday (Aug. 20) and today.  The distances were shorter, we got through all locks (two each day) with no waiting, and we weren't dodging debris.

Passing a dredging operation in progress

This US Coast Guard vessel was
 checking buoy placement

Barges waiting outside Lock 19 for a "lock down".  Thankfully,
we had just left the lock (coming up) and didn't have to wait for them.

Evidence of the impact of river flooding is everywhere. We continue to see dwellings on stilts, although here it seems as though the buildings are not merely summer cabins, but are actual houses. We know that "home" can be an emotional thing, but we wonder how much sense it makes to live this way.

Stilt houses on the Mississippi

Even stilts can't guarantee a dwelling
 will escape flood damage

Sandbagging the building at the lock

We spent last night at a marina in Quincy, Illinois, and tonight we are at the Keokuk Yacht Club in Keokuk, Iowa. Neither marina is within walking distance of the related downtown. After only three cruising days it's apparent that the Mississippi River segment of our trip is going to be less about sightseeing on land and more about time on the river. We're moving at a relatively slow 7 mph, which naturally increases the length of the cruising day; the time to get through locks is unpredictable; and it is now too hot and humid to contemplate taking the bikes down for a spin. As well, it is difficult to find marinas that can accommodate a boat our size (not huge by Florida standards, but bigger than the small runabouts and pontoons most often seen here), which can lead to more miles per day than we might normally wish to do. We also have to admit that we are starting to get a bit of "get home-itis" as St. Paul draws closer. It will probably be easier for us to make stops in the Mississippi river towns next fall when we're cruising down river on our way back to Florida--at least that's what we're telling ourselves.

Getting Ready for a Right Turn

Our planned 99-mile cruise on Friday (Aug.15) turned into 120 miles when we saw how much rain was forecast for the weekend. We didn't want to be stuck on a restaurant dock with no electricity or other services, so it only made sense to put in a couple more hours and push on to the marina at Grafton, IL.

Cruising is peaceful at 6:15 a.m.

It's all flood plain in this
part of the Illinois River,
so cabins on stilts were common

Another carp tries to hitch a ride

We got through our one lock of the day in excellent time, and with a slightly higher than normal cruising speed we were able to pull into Grafton Harbor just as it started raining around 6:30 p.m. Done with the Illinois River--another milestone completed!

Grafton Harbor is a wonderful marina and has been a great place to spend the past few days resting up from our time on the Illinois River and preparing for the next phase of our trip--the Mighty Mississippi. It's an old river town that has seen its share of floods.

The 1993 flood high water mark on a Grafton building

Grafton lighthouse on the Illinois River

Shopping is always available

This part of Illinois and Missouri is also touting itself as a destination for wine. Grafton has a number of wineries, and vineyards are cropping up in the area--although there is still a LOT of corn.

We've been fortunate to be able to connect with several friends during our time here.  On Saturday (Aug. 16) we were visited by St. Paulites Dan and Noreen Bunde, who were in St. Charles, Missouri (just across the river) for a few days.  Dan was Lon's best friend during Lon's early childhood on the East Side of St. Paul, and he's also my dad's second cousin--which makes him my second-cousin-once-removed (I think).

Dan and Noreen Bunde and Lon by CARIB II

On Sunday (Aug. 17) we spent several hours with good friends from our marina in St. Petersburg, sailboaters Dennis and Shara Taylor. They spend six months in Florida and live in a suburb of St. Louis during the summer months. We had a lovely time with them in the historic river town of St. Charles, Missouri. St. Charles is the third oldest city west of the Mississippi River and was the first--albeit temporary--capitol of Missouri. It was also the place from which Lewis and Clark launched their expedition in 1804. The downtown is full of beautifully preserved buildings. The Festival of the Little Hills was taking place, so the town was packed with craft vendors and people.

Preserving the past

Beautiful buildings and festival crowds

While walking through the downtown we ran into Dan and Noreen. Noreen's brother and sister-in-law own the shop "European Accents" in St. Charles, and Dan and Noreen were helping them out during the festival.

left to right: Noreen Bunde, Dennis Taylor, Dan Bunde, Shara Taylor,
Lon, Pat in downtown St. Charles, MO

Today was a day for completing a variety of tasks: taking Zipper to the vet in Jerseyville, IL (she has a UTI and is now on antibiotics), grocery shopping, laundry (fun, fun), and getting the boat ready for cruising with a pump-out of the waste tank and topping off the fuel tanks.

Docktails this afternoon were spent with Rolfe and Harriet Wall, as well as with Loopers from two other boats here in Grafton Harbor: Bill and Connie Bowman and Ray and Arline Cutro.

Arline Cutro, Connie Bowman, Ray Cutro, Bill Bowman

Afterwards, Lon and I joined Rolfe and Harriet for a "farewell" dinner at "Aerie's Winery" in the hills above Grafton. Beautiful views!

The small island in the middle of the photo is the
approximate confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers

The Mississippi River as seen
from 238 feet above Grafton

Lon, Pat, Harriet, and Rolfe at Aerie's Winery

Tomorrow will be "Looper Exodus" from Grafton Harbor. The other three Looper boats will continue the Great Loop route by turning left on the Mississippi River to head south toward St. Louis and then the Ohio River. Lon and I will exit the Great Loop route by making a right turn on the Mississippi to begin the final leg of our journey this year, the 600-plus miles up the Mississippi River to St. Paul. It will be interesting to see what we will encounter with respect to river currents and barge traffic.