Got the first 20 miles of the Mississippi under our boat--and it was very pleasant. Not nearly as much flotsam as the Illinois. Big rock cliffs along the shore, but we have to be careful and not gawk too much as there are 'wing' dams that come out from the shore into the water--used to divert the water away from the shore to lessen erosion. These are under the water--and you never know for sure what depth they are---just another little obstacle to watch out for. I had forgot to mention in earlier blogs about the 2 last locks we went thru on the Illinois. Always there is a dam at a lock, holding the water back--well, these 2 were what they call 'wicket' dams, and in high water they can lower the dams down [somehow] and then you just drive right over the top!! The lock is still there, over to the side but you just motor on past it!! Rather strange the first one we went thru!! We are now in Alton at a wonderful marina. The whole thing floats--even the office, bathrooms, swimming pool and hot tubs. There are roofs over the dock and you can see by the pictures that everything goes up at once when as the water rises. The long black posts are anchored into the river floor and everything just rides up and down on them. Rather an interesting design. The roof is keeping us cool and of course if it should rain, you stay nice and dry. The weather remains sunny and warm--so tomorrow we will head out once again. It may be some time before I can do another blog, as we have over 300 miles to go and only 1 marina where we will stop, but only for fuel.
First view of the Mississippi--that not really the colour of the water---its brown!!
heading into the Alton marina
everything rides up and down these posts--even the roof
see how the docks slide up and down and this is the colour of the water
the floating office etc--at times the water is much higher than the pile of rocks on the left.
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