September 30, 2008: St Charles, Mo

I did not sleep much last night anchored out in the river because I could hear things hitting the bow of the boat in the passing current. This morning, we were up at sunrise in the cool air with the pink mist lighting up the river. We have 20 miles to go and not much time. But the ride was very interesting and the weather was perfect. We passed the Mark Twain Preservation which was a bird nature area. The park seemed to be entertaining a busy convention of white pelicans. We saw several floating logs lined with pelicans, and then saw hundreds on the shore.

We saw small ferries providing constant passage across the river where there were always cars waiting for their turn to cross. They weren’t actually powered boats, they were floating platforms moved across the current by little tug boats.

Our ride took us by Grafton, the next city of any size, that sits at the mouth of the Illinois River. We passed the large Grafton Marina, the heart of the local boating community, and full of beautiful boats. The terrain suddenly changed and the banks became high land and cliffs. So scientifically, this terrain was the very reason that it was taking so long for the flood on the Illinois to recede. North of here, the river passage was wide and lined with tributary lakes. Flowing south, all that water had to go through a narrower river concourse hemmed in by the high land around Grafton to reach the Mississippi.

By 9:00 AM we had reached the broad Mississippi and turned north to our destination in St. Charles, Missouri. The St Charles Marina had an industrial feel to it, but was safe, had power, and was out of the river current. Tom had time to meet with the Meridian warranty folks, before piling our suitcases out on the dock to catch the taxi to the airport. We are excited to be on our way home for a couple of weeks.