Boot Key Harbor
"Marathon- the Heart of the Florida Keys"

An On-Line Cruising Guide for the Florida Keys & Cuba
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The restaurant and bar were upstairs in this building - small, rural, IL town. Friendly people. Uniquely, people came here to the bar by horseback! - and tied their horses under the structure. I learned here, for the first time, that one can get drunk at the bar, then tie themselves to their horse and the horse will get them home!
I've gotta get a horse!

Lower Illinois River - we stayed for the night tied to this "fuel barge" in the small creek off the river. The bar/restaurant is at the left.

Casino type riverboats along the IL River.

ALTON Bridge on the Mississippi River, North of St Louis. We stayed at the Marina just past the bridge for one night. (brother-in-law John & I since Lisa wasn't with us).

St Louis Missouri. ... Just passing by on the way to Cape Girardeau.

This sign turned out to be VERY important. It was just above St Louis on the Mississippi River. The chart showed a division with a canal and locks going to the left, and the main river to the right. The chart showed a navigable line through the main river without using this canal. The only problem is that the charts are wrong and haven't been updated for many years! If you go that way you'll go over a 4 foot rock dam! This sign points to the canal at left, which is the ONLY way to go for all boats. In the lock at the end of this canal, we locked through with two middle aged canoeists - unique. They had started from the top of the Mississipi in Minnesota and were canoeing ALL THE WAY TO THE OCEAN PASSED NEW ORLEANS!
 

Cape Girardeau MO, on the Mississippi River below St Louis and above the Ohio River confluence, was our second stop on the Mississipi River. Friend Larry Haertling hosted John Lockhart and I for an overnight stay. The painted wall on the river, above, shows the history and unique peoples of Cape Girardea, as does it's opposite side toward shore. At left we're docked at the Kidd Fuel dock for the night, right on the river. Larry picked us up, took us out and around town for the night. The tows passing in the night with their floodlights burning were impressive!