We had a 20-mile journey between Grafton and Alton. A series of beautiful limestone bluffs curve along the river with interesting caves and overhangs. I caught a glimpse of the Piasa Bird, a huge pictograph on one of the cliff faces which represents the legendary “bird that devours men”. On the other side of the Mississippi was “Our Lady of the Rivers”, a huge statue of the Virgin Mary. She gets her name from the fact that three rivers - the Illinois, Missouri, and Mississippi all meet within a few miles of each other.
We got settled in the very nice Alton Marina. Rae and I took off to check out a few stores in town and found some interesting history along the way. Alton is home to the last of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in their famous race for the Illinois Senate in 1858.
We ate at several restaurants while there, two of which are worth mentioning. Fast Eddie’s Bon-Air had a great, fun, bar atmosphere with live music. They offered a limited menu but what they had was very inexpensive and good – and I’m talking $2 hamburgers and $1 fries. The building itself was built by Anheuser-Busch in 1921 to serve as a watering hole on the Mississippi and was called Bon-Air. However, it was sold ten years later as a result of changes in the law that prohibited breweries from owning bars. Fifty years later, Eddie Sholar purchased and expanded the Bon-Air, which was renamed to Fast Eddie’s Bon-Air. Today, the bar is the number one volume bar for Anheuser-Busch in the Midwest.
The second restaurant worth mentioning was Gentelin’s On Broadway which was an upscale-casual eatery and was delicious! We were joined by Sandy and John, Seascape, whom we had not seen in quite a while – it was really nice to catch up with them.
Overtime has a new shine to her! David waxed and shined her and she is looking good!
We visited the National Great Rivers Museum located at the Melvin Price Lock and Dam. It was a great little find! Lots of interesting facts about the bluffs, birds, dams, tows, and barges. We took a tour of the lock and got to see a tow lock through. David also drove a tow with barges through St. Louis on a simulator they had! He didn’t hit any bridges – yay!
Since there is no docking available in St. Louis, several loopers had hoped to go into St. Louis from Alton. Unfortunately, the verdict on the acquittal of former St Louis police officer Jason Stockley came down and rioting broke out in St. Louis. We were advised not to go into St. Louis. A few did anyway since they had U2 concert tickets only to find out the concert had been canceled and the St. Louis arch was closed.
Over the next few days, more loopers arrived. The night before we departed, we had a huge dock party with more loopers together than we’d seen since the Joe Wheeler rendezvous last October.
Did I mention it’s HOT? I mean hotter than it’s been during the last year! Who would have guessed that in mid-September we would be experiencing 90+ degree weather - the hottest days of the entire last year in Illinois? Crazy!
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