Days 10 & 11 – September 29th & 30th – Grafton

It felt good to sleep in a little this morning. We will stay here until Monday morning to rest and regroup. We have been running for five days straight and we are in need of some quality downtime. This is perfect place to stop and catch our breath. We both really like this marina. It is new, clean and the staff is excellent. A courtesy car is provided for trips to the grocery store just down the road a piece. Total thumbs up for the Grafton Marina.

The town of Grafton is small but the city fathers have been very clever to make it a “destination”. Cute shops, restaurants and local pubs with live music make a visit to Grafton well worth the time. The town also comes complete with a local winery – a must stop for me.



There is a ferry that runs from Illinois to Missouri almost non-stop during the day. Mark and I were really disappointed that we did not think to take the ferry while we were in Grafton...oh well, next time.

I spent most of Saturday battling with Windows Vista on my new computer. To make a very long and X*&#%$ story short, I am bound and determined that I will master Windows Vista and be a better person for having fought the battle. I actually love the new look but having to purchase all new software and hardware so that it is “compatible” with Windows Vista is not how I wanted to spend my time or money. At least I can rest assured that Bill Gates is giving all my money to charity!


Sunday we went on a bike ride to see the town and to find the ice cream shop. We even stopped by the winery for another free tasting as there was a different person working and she would not have known that we stopped by earlier…Since everything on the boat should serve a dual purpose, I purchased a festive Halloween decoration.

Hours on the water: 0
Nautical miles traveled: 0
Number of locks: 0
Time spent waiting at locks: 0
Tomorrow's Destination: St Louis & Hoppies Marina
What we're listening to: 0
What we watched: Notes on a Scandal = excellent
Lesson for the day: It feels good to just relax
Obligatory knitting report: Mittens for Wunder Kids