Outstanding Harbor Hosts in Alton IL

Outstanding Harbor Hosts in Alton IL

From Grafton we tootled a few miles down the Mississippi to Alton IL – just across and slightly up the river from St. Louis MO. This is a town with history which we learned on our guided tour courtesy of Robert and Patty Mitchell, the AGLCA harbor hosts in the Alton Marina.  We actually met Robert and Patty in Grafton as gold loopers – the designation for loopers who have completed the trip once. Besides looping and cruising the Bahamas, Robert and Patty have lived on their boat for seven years and have a wealth of information and adventures which they generously share. As just a hint, Patty is a pilot who flew for United Airlines and search ‘n rescue for Montana among other things. She met Robert when she taught him to fly. Such are the priceless treasures found while doing the loop.

 

 

 

 

Best Bathrooms are in ALTON

Current loopers are finally catching up with us so we found five other looper boats in the marina. Patty and Robert organized a looper dinner at Mac’s a local restaurant.  After a narrated tour of the historic district in old Alton, eight of us enjoyed steak and potatoes. We have not been in a looper group this size since we left Marathon. It was interesting to compare stories since we had taken a different route than most of the other boats. We were taking notes since we hope to go back to that northern territory on future trips.

 

Just a few miles from the marina is the Melvin Price lock or lock 26 on the Mississippi River.  This is the second to the last lock before the long stretch to New Orleans, and it is located a few miles from the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers.  It is also home to the Great Rivers Museum.  We peddled our bikes down the level bike path for a visit and tour of the lock. This is one of the newest locks in the river system and is impressive in size.  Actually there are two locks and one dam at this site. The “smaller” lock chamber is usually used for pleasure boats and the larger for commercial traffic, but we found that is not always the case when we locked through the next day using the larger chamber.  The lock construction is a little different to the ones up river to accommodate the winter ice on the river.  The upriver gate drops into the water and the down river side has the more traditional swing gates. This allows the water and ice to be pushed out during the winter. These commercial locks operate 24/7 year round. The view from the top of the lock was a whole new perspective for us although we were disappointed not to see a barge lock through on our visit. I took a picture of the graphic explaining the reason so many barges run on this river system.

 

 

In Alton we also visited another famous restaurant called Fast Eddies.  The food is cheap – i.e. .99 cent burgers, but there is no take out and all food must be accompanied by adult beverages. We were told they open at 1 PM for lunch because the local businesses complained their employees would go for lunch and not return to work.  We got there at 1:10 and the place was packed, but the bartender assured us they did not open early – No surprise the place was originally operated by the Busch family as a beer parlor on the river.