On the morning of September 9th we walked to Havana, the small town where Tall Timbers Marina was located. Downtown was about three blocks long. As we were leaving the marina, we were "carped." The fish flew onto the boat and started flapping around on the back deck. Even with rubber gloves, I was unable to throw the fish off.  While I took the helm, Tony successfully removed the fish.  It was very smelly. (We have since found out it is illegal to throw a live carp back into the river.   We guess you need to let it flop around until it dies, then throw it off. Yuck!) We spent an extremely hot afternoon and night anchored off Bar Island near Beardstown. We left our anchorage early and locked right through our last lock, LeGrange, on the Illinois River.  According to the weather reports, it was going to be another temperature record setting day so we decided to go the 85 miles to Grafton.   Along the way we saw a fawn swimming across the river to its mom on the other side. (If you look closely at the picture you will see its head.) We docked at Grafton at 5:20. Sea Fever and Meandering were glad to see us.  We had dinner at the Big Kahuna.  We were not cooking after that long day.  Wednesday was spent cleaning, going into Grafton, and hanging out at the pool with Ken and Kathy trying to stay cool.  Today (Sept. 12) we left the Illinois River behind and we are now on the Mississippi. We have not seen Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn yet. We are staying a the Alton Harbor. It is a beautiful marina and there are eight looper boats here. We walked into town and saw the square where the last Lincoln-Douglas debate was held. There are statues of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas in the square.  From the marina we also have a beautiful view of New Clark Highway Bridge spanning the Mississippi. Please do not worry if we do not post for awhile, we understand that probably for the next four or five days, we are not going to have good cell or wifi coverage.

Carp Imprint on Dinghy Cover

Havana

                                                                           Havana

                                                                           Havana

   
                                                    You can just see the fawn's head

Entering the Mississippi River