The Lady Jayne Looper: Havana day 2, Anchorage in McEvers Island, Alton Illinois

We stayed in Havana one more day to do a little maintenance. Taking a long bike ride to the grocery store and the Pamida department store filled the pantry; On main street we found Grandpa's restaurant; good food and a lot of fun talking with the locals.

Said goodbye to marina owner Bob and took off for a 73 mile trip to McEvers island where we dropped anchor for the night. The setting was beautiful.

Our next day took us 70 plus miles on the Illinois River to the Mississippi River and our next destination, Alton Illinois.
Alton is in the St Louis, Missouri metropolitan area; it is a pretty, progressive town.

Yesterday's trip to the anchorage was very primitive with very few signs of human influence.
Today's trip started the same way but as we traveled on we began to see more houses, fisherman and industry.
Of course there were lots of tugs pushing 12 to 15 barges at a time. The power and size of the tugs are truly amazing.
We talked on the radio to each and every tug captain asking for instructions as to where he wanted us to be. When meeting or passing we want to be sure to be in the area they designate; they take 1 1/2 miles to stop and cannot get out of our path!
The Alton Marina is one of the best we have stayed and also one of the least expensive. Their facilities include a pool, two hot tubs, laundry, showers, restrooms, and covered slips.