Day 353/354 Port St Charles, MO & Rockport, IL

Now we have are own Burgee!






Jim & brenda Hampton off "Dream Catcher" just starting their adventure!




Clarksville, MO





Wide open rollers at the dam



















A little current on the Old Mississippi!






These were pictures when we had dinner at the Aeries Resturant in Grafton. It was located high high up on a bluff.












Great new friends Heidi & Kelly York





Grafton IL is a happening place on the week-end due to the many waterfront Pubs that provide music all week-end. A stand on Main Street provides fresh vegetables, canned products and more important is fresh baked pies daily. The staff at Grafton Harbor (AGLCA sponsor) is very efficient and friendly. I spent hours on the bridge of Noah Genda watching all the traffic coming in and out of the harbor. It is the busiest marina I have seen with boats getting fuel, coming in to eat at the restaurant or local boaters leaving or coming back to their slips. Those dock boys ran their behinds off catching boats that come in with no lines or fenders ready.
While we wait for the flooded river to go down, we chose to spend 6-nights at Grafton Harbor and take advantage of the pay 4 and get 3 nights free. We enjoyed the harbor swimming pool, on site restaurant, courtesy vehicle and spending time with several “Loopers” coming and leaving Grafton Harbor.

Our friends Brenda and Jim Hampton from the Quad Cities started their “Great Loop” journey Thursday 8/26 and arrived in Grafton yesterday. We spent some time catching up on their first 3 days traveling down the flooded Mississippi. We are so happy for them, starting out on a new adventure to enjoy the beautiful American and Canadian waterways. They will meet so many new wonderful friends on the journey.

We both departed Grafton, IL this morning in a light shower and headed across the river to Port Charles Harbor (St Charles MO). This is where we had our first boat repair done. (You remember the rock story after our first anchorage, don’t you?)

We had our 2nd Gold “Loopers” Burgee sent here to Port Charles Marina since we crossed our wake a few miles ago and wish to display our celebration flag the rest of the way home. We also filled up with diesel fuel here for our last leg heading up the flooded Mississippi River. This has been the most reasonable fuel cost per gal for the last year. $2.68 gal. Entry in to Port Charles Harbor has changed from a year ago. Call the Marina on channel 16 or cell for harbor entry instructions. The previously used channel entry has been filled with dredge spoils and is no longer a safe course of entry. DO NOT Use the old routing from main channel south of the harbor or you'll find yourself aground.

Jim and Brenda Hampton “Dream Catcher” came to our boat with champagne to celebrate our completing the loop and the beginning of theirs. We borrowed the Harbor courtesy car and with map in hand headed out to find the restaurant “LOCO”. We were a little turned around on the country roads (I had the map but hey, we only missed 1 turn) After flagging down a pickup truck and following their directions we finally made it for a bite to eat. It was worth the long trip because we didn’t stop laughing the whole way. Jim wondered if the meal was for breakfast. We had the mgr print out specific directions for the return.

Port Charles Harbor is also an AGLCA sponsor and an absolute pleasure to stay at their facility. Fuel and dockage is very reasonable and the staff is just plain first class. Huge accolades for Paul Hopkins, family and staff. They offer a full service yard and their workmanship is extremely professional.

We departed Port Charles Harbor at 6:15 to reach Two Rivers Marina 61 miles and 2 locks away. We drove right into both locks so that was a plus but it still took us 10hours traveling at 6-7 mph fighting the horrendous current and watching for floating logs and debris. The dam rollers/gates were all of the way out of the water at locks 24 and 25. The river is flowing fast with absolutely no restrictions. Anyway we’re here now at Two Rivers Marina in Rockport, IL and in the air conditioned boat so we’re happy campers! Quincy, IL tomorrow is our goal.