October 1, 2013 Alton Illinois

On the way to Alton Illinois

We brought in the lines and left the Grafton marina around 9 AM with Field Trip.  It was only 20 some miles to Alton and the uneventful trip tool us a few hours since we’re only moving along at about 7.5 mph.  I should point out that we are now on the Mississippi River having left the Illinois River back at Grafton.

Marina entrance is right after the bridge

We got within hailing distance of the marina at Alton and when I called them on the radio was instructed to head to the “T” end of H dock.  Nice since it’s a side tie and we are a bit too wide to fit into the slips they have there on the transient dock. 

Fuel dock with Field Trip in front of us

But first we headed over to the fuel dock.  There we pumped out and started taking on fuel but at a rate of 1 gallon every minute.  Most fuel docks can pump 10 gallons a minute.  So our 181 gallons took some extra time although I did notice a surprising increase in the flow rate after we switched from the starboard tank to the port tank.  No clue why that would have triggered a change but it did.  By the way we are still seeing about 2 miles per gallon even with the gen set running.  Of course we aren't galloping off in a cloud of dust either.  Trade off's 

Tied up at Alton Marina

We left Field Trip at the fuel dock and headed over to the "T" head on H dock and tied up leaving enough room for Field Trip to tie astern of us.  We found a few other looper boats here at the marina including  Arin E, Just Faking It, and a few others.

The harbor hosts here, Robert and Patty off of Orinoco gave a talk on what to expect down river.  Very informative!  After the meeting we went out to dinner and had more discussions.  We were luckily enough to seated near Robert which proved to be a windfall of information!   They have been through the loop routes many times and have been to the Bahamas’ where we are planning on going this spring.

Ironically Robert spent considerable time in Appleton running an airplane maintenance operation, and the couple on Field Trip are from Lodi, WI.  Small world?

   

We got back to the boat eventually and saw the last episode of West Wing before heading off to bead.  Since we aren't going anywhere tomorrow it was a sleep late night except for me who had to be up around 7:30 to figure out what to do if Hoppies marina couldn't take us on Thursday.

As it turns out the group of loopers that left from Grafton today for Hoppies would be kicked out if we all (4 boats including us) came in to Hoppies tomorrow since they only have about 300 feet of dock space.  There is reportedly some weather heading in tomorrow and being the kind hearted bunch we are, wont head out unless the group down at Hoppies decides to leave tomorrow morning.  9am is when we decide.  And lucky me is handling the call.  I am retired aren't I?