Great Loop Adventures Aboard Next Chapter: Last town on the Illinois River and the Big Muddy

Grafton

So the last town on the Illinois was a winner. We knew the minute we pulled into the marina. The good news was it was Friday and we had two days here. It’s funny how sometimes when you get that feeling it’s almost always spot on. This time was no exception. We arrived after a short 30 mile cruise so it was barely noon and we could hear music playing from the nearby bars.

The town was not very big but it had plenty to offer. We started by taking a ski lift up to a local winery where the owner had quite a vision. In addition to the winery there was a zip line course and one of those downhill luges. You know the ones on wheels where you control the brake and basically take as much as you dare. Well we had to do that and fun it was. No brakes for me baby!

Of course what winery would be complete without the token girly shop attached run by no other than the owner’s wife. The deck of the restaurant had sweeping views of the Illinois river a couple hundred feet below. Back down in town there was numerous bars and restaurants all with their own special vibe. One we found had $1 & $2 beers, seltzers and can mixed drinks. They said they had too much so they needed to lighten their inventory so wanting to show Marc that we were good citizens we helped them out. On Saturday we walked down to the Hawg Pit where they were having a Rat Rod car show. Some of those vehicles are wild looking. We decided to have Lunch there which after the fact turned out not to be such a good idea. Marc and I ordered the Home Wrecker. It was a 16” hot dog covered with BBQ and Queso cheese. What a gut bomb. Well it tasted good going down. That night we were at docktails when another Looper came over and invited all of us to the back deck. Turns out they were ending their Loop this year because their house in Florida got pretty tore up in the hurricane. They took all their food out of the fridge and cooked it up for everybody. There must have been 20 folks there. It was sad but a fact of life.

Alton

Sunday morning we left for Alton just about 15 miles down river. However leaving Grafton meant we were entering the mighty Mississippi. Grafton sets right at the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. This was the section most talked about with Loopers due to the swift current, underwater gear destroying wing dams and plenty of barge traffic some five wide and 9 deep.

Time to earn another boating stripe. We were forewarned that the river was down 9’ and going lower by the day. It turns out the weeks of never ending sunshine we have been blessed with has a downside. No rain in the entire Mississippi River valley. When we arrived at Alton we got a pump out and went to our slip. Sue and Marc headed off to resupply while I tended to some boat chores. They never end just like house chores. I guess because they always occur on the water they don’t seem so laborious. After lunch we headed into town to see what we could see. Now Alton was more