We left our Twelve Mile Island anchorage at 7 am and arrived at the Alton Marina in Alton, Illinois, at 11 am. We had completed our passage on the Illinois Waterway and began the portion of the trip on the Mississippi River at Grafton, Illinois. It was a lovely morning and we enjoyed the river, but we were ready to spend a few days at a marina to restock, do laundry, clean the boat and rest. At least Maureen was hoping for some rest – Gale’s plan was to rent a car, drive to Iowa, pick up his parents, bring them back to Alton so they could see the boat, take them for a ride, put them up in a motel and then make another trip to Iowa to take them home.
Once we were settled into our slip next to Ally’s Cat at the marina, Maureen called the local grocery for a ride to the store and Gale began to clean the boat. It wasn’t long before Maureen was back from her shopping trip, putting groceries away and continuing on a few chores. We quit at 3:30 pm for showers. Gale was picked up by the rental car company at 4 pm and back at the boat by 5 pm. We had promised ourselves a nice dinner in town tonight. We were told that the place to eat was Tony’s and we could get there by taking the Argosy Casino shuttle and then walk one block to the restaurant. While on the shuttle, Gale started a conversation with the driver and the other three passengers who were all casino employees and they concurred that we should eat at Tony’s rather than the casino. We took them at their word and were not disappointed! Gale ordered the house specialty, Tony’s Peppercorn Steak, and Maureen had the seafood pasta. Both were excellent and we had lots of leftovers to take back to the boat. We walked back by way of the casino, stepped inside to lose $20 at the slot machines, and then took the shuttle back to the marina.
When we arrived back at Blue Heron, we saw that Don and Ally of Ally’s Cat were home, too, so we visited with them a little bit before retiring for the evening. Don and Gale made a tentative plan to meet up in Kentucky Lake where we would help each other step our masts.
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