Rain!!

We, along with other parts of the Midwest, have been inundated during the last 24 hours, and more rain is headed our way. The Mississippi is forecast to rise dramatically here, and we Loopers have been advised not to go out on the river 3 days from now.  Flooding in July was unthinkable, and now here it comes again.

Loopers are piling up here at Grafton, as well as upstream from here on the Illinois. 6 of us boats plan to leave at dawn tomorrow and travel to Hoppie's in Kimmswick, MO. The last 2 locks on the Mississippi stand between here and there- Mel Price and Chain of Rocks. We will leave Hoppie's on Friday on travel to the mouth of the Kaskaskia or to Little Diversion.  We will be anchored out 2-3 nights, so no Internet. We might have to anchor somewhere on the Ohio- our next destination-  Green Turtle Bay, KY, is full until Monday.

This is one of the scary parts of the trip.  The towboats are huge below the Chain of Rocks dam- up to 35 barges!! Yikes! That plus anchoring- we are the greenest of rookies at that, plus we have a brand new (hopefully better) anchor.

Today we borrowed the marina's 15 passenger van, and 9 of us made a run to Jerseyville for groceries. Gotta run- thunder is getting close and it's a long walk back to our dock.