Grafton, IL to Ellis Grove, IL

Miles Traveled 101

Total Miles Traveled 6716

Day 364

The marina was invaded by Mayflies this morning, I’m glad they don’t bite.

Sunrise on the Mississippi River.

Our Lady of the Rivers Shrine, this 50’ shrine was built after the disastrous flood of 1951 as gratitude for the water stopping just short of flooding the village of Portage des Sioux.

After passing through the only two locks we will encounter on the Mississippi River, we passed St. Louis, Missouri.

This was interesting; it was along the river……your guess is as good as mine.

Mississippi River south of St. Louis.

We averaged between 11.5 and 12.5 mph with the swift current but had to constantly watch for floating debris.

The tows had to push against the strong current heading north.

These barges are full of rock, I don’t think they could have added another bucket full before sinking them.

This was our longest day since our Florida Gulf crossing but we are trying to take advantage of the strong current, and stay ahead of possible thunderstorms.  There are no towns and only one marina after passing St. Louis.  The marina consist of tying up to one of  three barges along the river, so staying there we would have been exposed to barge traffic wake, and floating debris coming down the river.  We turned east into the Kaskaskia River and tied to the lock wall for the night.