Well, it’s Friday and our last night at Alton. We stayed here for a few days so that we could get our contact cards and so that I could have internet for work.
No other Loopers are here, so it’s quiet.
Greg starts to get a little antsy when we’re been someplace for a while. There’s not a lot around at this time of the year and he starts to feel like it’s been an eternity.
I don’t mind it as much but I’ll be glad to be on our way tomorrow.
I have some photos of our journey that I would like to share.
HALLOWEEN COMES EARLY IN HAMMOND
The skeletons were guests at a restaurant we went to in Hammond. It was only the beginning of October, but places were decorated.
I looked back at our Hammond posts to see if I had talked about our last day there.
We had quite the adventure. You will know this is not unusual if you are following our posts.
We still had the cards that would let us into the marina and had to return them to the office if we wanted our deposit back ($20 per card). In hindsight, we would have been better off forfeiting the $60 and heading on our way.
We motored over to the courtesy dock, which was tricky since the path was narrow, it was windy, and we only had one engine.
We were coming in to starboard when the wind caught us. We started blowing towards the other boats and Greg was doing everything he could not to ram them. We ended up turning so that we would dock on the port side. In all the confusion, I dropped a line and it went into the water and around the propeller.
With the noise it made, Greg thought we had run aground.
We managed to dock without hitting any other boats. That’s when we realized the line was gone.
We called a diver to come and take a look. The pictures you see are the mangled remains he retrieved from the propeller.
It cost us $300 for his time and effort.
SUMMER IN CHICAGO
It was hot that day in the big city. I had to cool off in the fountain on the way to the stadium.
We’re starting to take selfies on this trip. It’s not something we normally do.
Tall Timbers
I really liked Tall Timbers. It was peaceful. Or was it?
We didn’t see an alligator during our stay, but we appreciated the warning.
PORT CHARLES — THE MARINA, NOT THE SOAP OPERA
On our way out of Port Charles Marina, we saw a boat that had run aground.
We had actually suffered the same fate on our way to the Marina when we reached the corner of NO NO NO and NO NO NO NO. We didn’t realize that was the address until after we had received our information package.
We are very grateful for our Towboat US membership.
Lunch and a Show
On our second day at the Marina, we borrowed the courtesy car without incident and went in to St. Charles for lunch.
One of the things that tickled my funny bone was a truck that was picking up some porta potties outside the restaurant.
He parked across the driveway, blocking the exit, so we had no choice but to wait until he was done.
What I really appreciated was his hustle. He was practically running back and forth putting the potties on the truck.
One of the things we wondered about was the grey receptacle on its side on the sidewalk. There was a pool of liquid flowing from it. The liquid didn’t look yellow (thank goodness!) so we wondered what the receptacle was for.
It turns out it was the handwashing station from inside one of the potties.
Mystery solved.
