Travel Day 49 to Grafton, IL 9/16/21

Grafton is located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. We stayed at the Grafton Harbor Marina which is located at mile 0 on the Illinois River and 219 on the Upper Mississippi River. The marina is filled with liveaboards and Looper transients. This was a great place for a long stay. They also offer looper discounts for staying there. There was a pool that is on a floating dock, laundry, a terrific gift shop and New Orleans style restaurant that was delicious. The courtesy car came in handy to get to the Walmart for provisioning. Hal also used the car to get to a hardware store.

Grafton has the largest flag on the Illinois River.

The first night in Grafton we went to the concert in the park. We brought our chairs and listened and chatted. It was the last one of the season. a wonderful fireworks display was held afterwards.

Since we had an extended stay we were able to have Buffer Dave detail our boat. We moved the boat to a covered slip for Dave. He did an amazing job but in order for him to finish Hal had to stay a few extra days, but it was definitely worth it.

The second day we were there we ate at the Grafton Winery and Brewhaus with a large group of loopers. It was great to meet up with Ray and Lisa Henry on M/V Scout, an N37. We also met Christi and Rick on Inked Mermaid, DeeDee and John on War Eagle. After our meal we took a quick but unsuccessful walk to get ice cream. The store had closed 10 minutes before we arrived.

We had several dinners in the Oyster bar, the restaurant on premises. It was that good!

Everyone told us to go to Aerie's for dinner. They have a gondola and ski lift running to get there. Unfortunately they only run Thursday to Sunday and we went on Monday, however they offered to drive us since we were a party of 10. They picked us up in a van and brought us up the hill for dinner. The views were incredible, however the meal was just adequate. The waitress was wonderful but the staff put the chairs up in the restaurant before we even had our bill!

We had docktails on the covered dock near Jackpot. Dean and Janice from Blue Barnacle, a GH37 joined us.

This was a planned long stop so that I could fly home for my infusion. We found a man to drive me to the airport. He was really nice and told me all about his career in the air force, army and St. Louis police department. The flight was uneventful and quick. I had a wonderful time in NY seeing my children, Evan and Sydney. I was also able to see some friends and get amazing sushi. The infusion went well with no complications. When I flew back Hal was in Alton. left without any issues and made it to Alton without me.