Grafton...Indian word for "River goes faster than my truck"

Just got things working with Verison again! Here we are in Grafton. No problems. Great weather. As we were leaving our anchorage in Havana I noticed a railway that looked more like a roller coaster. It ran downhill for a couple of hundred yards and suddenly turned up towards the sky and stopped. Wow, must have been early attempts at space exploration. Just as we were passing it a rail car came shooting out of a building accelerating towards the ramp. It raced up the ramp and slowed to a stop. It then began a reverse direction, rolled back, I presume having switched to a parallel track and stopped back up beside the building it had emerged from. Great way to quickly get rid of empty cars while the next one is setting up for unloading.

Thirty five miles later Selah and Surona anchored out behind Bar Island. We jumped into the dinghies and headed for Beardstown for an early dinner. Linda, from Selah couldn't resist the opportunity to get a little fishing in. One of those ugly Ninja carp jumped right into her dinghy! Like any good wife she blamed Jim and told him to get rid of it. We took pictures and after bleeding in the dingy for a while the fish went back into the thin mud they call the Illinois River. Meanwhile Steve in Yesterdays dream was trying his hand at anchoring from an upstream approach. Having tried this earlier in Ottawa I can attest to the loss of self esteem you endure while you try to attach lines and the river pulls you around, making you look like a circus clown. As Jim waited for a bridge to open he backed up on his tow line for the dingy and sliced it. Cheryl got ahold of it with a pike pole and we towed it to the anchorage. We enjoyed pie and Ice cream on Yesterday's Dream before heading back to our boats. We told Linda "No More Fishing!

The next day we travelled about sixty four miles. A long day but the "Illinois Riverdock" was worth it. Good people, great food, aligator, Walleye, Brisket, Pork Steak, and Chicken and dumplings. I forgot to mention the Homemade Bumbleberry pie.

Next, twenty miles to Grafton where we meet up with the Mississippi River which seems to be twice the size of the Illonois and flowing at twice the speed we had become accustomed to. You could smell the fish sweating! Or that may be me, It's been a couple of days since my last shower.

Looks like rain. Maybe I'll get that shower I need.