Todays word: EDUCATIONAL. I suppose I could’ve come up with some other words appropriate for the day; just get to the end of this post and hopefully some of you will learn something.

We had visions of a hearty breakfast in Grafton before we took to the water, but it seemed every restaurant was operating on off-season hours. So we settled our sights on whatever we could find at the Grafton market next door; a sign on the door said “New Operating Hours: 10am to 6pm”. So, it was on to audible 3 – bp breakfast burritos! We ate on the Eagle’s Nest veranda then headed back to the boats in the harbor.

The day started with a 10mph east wind, which due to the bend in the river was right in our faces. We weren’t catching many breaks on the wind. I kept my eye on the distant power plant whose steam emission acted as the world’s largest telltale. The rising exhaust started the day around a 45 degree angle, then lowered to about 30 degrees indicating an increasing wind, but after an hour or so it started to rise again to indicate relief from the wind was on its way.

We cruised past some beautiful bluffs that stretched for about 5 miles from Grafton. Once the weather calmed, I heard church bells ring on top of one bluff and saw a steeple; I imagine there must be some quaint village up there that I’ll try to investigate one day.

For the past two days we’ve been seeing a lot of vultures; it almost seems like the same pack is following us and they pick up one or two members in their kettle with each encounter. Mudd’s niece Kelly said he wouldn’t survive this journey, and maybe the vultures sense we’re on borrowed time. Right now our #1 objective is to not be consumed by vultures before reaching St Louis.

Our destination for the evening was the Alton Marina; they informed me we could rent space to stow for the night at $20 apiece, though they deemed this a courtesy dock rather than a transient slip. I liked the nomenclature better, but “courtesy” to me meant free; however they let us camp on the lawn and gave us a key for 24 hour access to the shower rooms, so we were delighted with the arrangement. The office closed at 5 so we would need to make some progress to get there in time.

Once Alton became visible we could see storm clouds brewing to the west. It looked like the clouds and our path would converge simultaneously at Alton. As we got within 2 miles, the air smelled like rain, and a short while later it started to sprinkle. We continued our approach to Alton until the rain got a little heavier, and then Alton disappeared from view under the cover of heavy rain. We chose to wait in a sheltered island cove for the storm to pass. So, my luck of umpteen days with no rain somewhat ran out, but the light dousing we received on the edge of the storm was nothing like the downpour a mile ahead of us. Note: I received a text from lone canoeist Kevin later that day; he was in the lock 1 mile downstream of Alton when the storm dumped an inch or more of rain; we were indeed fortunate.

At the marina we paid for our stay then visited the restaurant/gift shop on site. We decided to defer lesson #1 for a bit (immediately change into dry pants and socks) so we could dine casually before they closed. Although they had PBJ on the menu, we opted for chicken salad sandwiches, loaded tots, and frozen drinks for dessert. We’re still burning a lot of calories, so intake is crucial.

A mural in the bathroom referenced the flood of 2008. I’ve been amazed by the various flood years, and some areas are flooded while others are normal. In Hamburg, mayor Steve referenced the flood of 1993, which seemed to be a record high water year for many locations, but he also talked about 2018 being only 14” lower than that, and 2015 18” lower, etc. it seems every 3-5 years is the span between floods anywhere along the river.

After dinner we set up on the lawn in the parking area at the marina. A sign indicated the area to be pet-free, but I nearly set up my tent on top of a large pet deposit. The ground was nice: it was good to be on soft grass and free of sand for a night. However the scrappy trees provided not quite enough shade from the halogen lights overhead.

It was Friday night on the last day of summer; there were a few dock parties happening amongst the boat owners. But, there were no curious onlookers to the guys on the lawn; nobody wondering enough about the story of these transients to come and strike up a conversation. So, there would be no dock party invitation for us tonight and instead we would face another early retirement, but it was a truly satisfying day.

In closing today: Interesting factoid that Joe Circelli shared with me about a week before I left Batavia – we have now entered shark territory! (Scientists find sharks 1,000 miles from Gulf of Mexico) That’s right; apparently the bull shark has a metabolism that is able to store salt that enables it to survive for long periods in fresh water. In fact, they figure it was a bull shark that inspired the book Jaws since one of the New England shark attacks was some ways up a river. A large bull shark was once found stuck in a bait trap in Alton! So, in addition to barge traffic, water moccasins, centipedes and scurvy, I now need to start watching for fins! Today’s obvious playlist addition: Jimmy Buffet sings Fins