Enjoying Grafton, Alton and St. Louis

9/19 Karen and I made reservations to rent  a car from the local Toyota dealer. We had plans to go to St. Louis and sight see. While on the way we met a couple “Skip and Marge” from Minnesota. They had similar plans so we split the rental. We got a RAV4 which was a great car. As it turns out Skip and Marge owned a company that built boats and actually sold Island Packets. On top of that they owned and sailed the same boat model as Last Mango. They are currently heading to their home in Florida on a 22 to 24 foot runabout with twin Yamaha 70’s. They spend their nights in a hotel and can really move if they need to. They said they only saw two other boats on their way down the Mississippi from Minnesota until they arrived in Grafton.

Skip and Marge

Closeup of Clyde

Karen and her new friends.

She loves her goats

We had a great time at Grants Farm and Grants White Haven home in St. Louis. Unbeknownst to us Marge was a fountain of knowledge when it comes to horses. She explained why the horses and trainers were doing certain things. The day went by fast and before we knew it was late and time to go home to Last Mango. We arrived in time for a party for 2 looper couples that had just completed their trips. It was a potluck with the marina supplying the fajitas.

9/20 Kind of a lazy day listening to college football games and napping. It’s a tough life. We went for a bike ride to the Pere Marquette State Park and came back and hopped in the hot tub. Made some patty melts, watched more college football and slept like logs.

Karen and Sampling at Grants Farm

Skip and I going over Garmin Blue Chart.

9/21 Went to breakfast with 20 other loopers at the Pere Marquette State Park lodge. Good buffet and great company. Came back and cleaned/waxed the boat. Karen sewed bike covers for the Dahon bikes and met more loopers as they arrived in the marina. 

9/22 I re-packed Last Mango’s stuffing box. The UPS shipment arrived at 1:15 and the box was repacked by 3:00. Not too difficult to repack but access to the area is tight. I will have to wait some days for the skin to re-grow on my knuckles. Wednesday’s trip to Hoppies will be the test of the new packing job.

9/23 Woke up and went for a run and short workout. Feels good the weather is perfect. Made a smoothie with the Tailgator and my boat neighbors weren’t sure what I was doing. It was a great smoothie and it’s a great product.  The day was spent putting Last Mango back together again for the trip on the Mississippi. We have roughly 60 miles to go and two locks. We hope their won’t be too much barge traffic and the locks go quickly. We will be traveling with 3 other boats tomorrow. 2 are faster one slower. We will be out of touch for a couple of days and next time you hear from me we should be on the Ohio River, Yeah. Hopefully it will be a peaceful debris less trip and Karen will have a good time. She’s enjoyed the camaraderie of the past week. Many Loopers we have met already left but everyones been great. Hopefully we’ll see them further down the line.