Grafton, IL – September 8, 2008

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We are staying in Grafton another day. We need to take a break from our long days of cruising and just relax a little. Darrell did some small jobs around the boat and Beth went to a small grocery store (Jimbo’s Grocery and Hardware) and did some sightseeing in town.

Grafton is a small town. There are some small boutiques here, but also many empty storefronts. They depend a lot on the tourists and boaters. The Grafton Harbor Marina is a very nice marina. It looks to be rather new and has all the amenities. They also have a very nice store.

Grafton is like many towns on the river, subject to flooding. When the big rains came in June, the entire town was inundated and is now recovering. To top this off, there is a 3 week road closure from Alton to Grafton, which is further affecting the tourist traffic.

Illinois has higher fuel prices due to tax, so we took the boat over to St. Charles, Missouri, only 5.5 miles away by boat where we were able to buy fuel at .50 a gallon cheaper. When you add 188 gallons of fuel, that adds up.

This is a picture of where the Illinois River joins the Mississippi. The Illinois is on the right and the Mississippi on the left.