Can it possibly get better than this???



The view off our stern when we woke up Saturday Morning at this anchorage off the channel on the Illinois.  We spent most of the afternoon finding a suitable anchorage for our two boats. This ended up being a great choice.  Only one tug went by in the night and waking up to this was breathtaking!

Flat calm and a beautiful blue sky

The last of the barges lining the waterway

Bald Eagle Sighting....First one of the entire trip!!  

Hydraulic dredging operation keeping the shipping lanes open

One of the last bridges and industrial plants on the Illinois

An abandoned River/Boat.  

Bob...still hanging in there!

Sunday morning hundreds of white pelicans in the sky.  It's hard to "get it" in this photo but what an wonderful sight.  White Pelicans are rare and here they were flying up out of the Pere Marquette State Park which must be their summer home.  It started with about thirty birds, then about 30 more joined them, and 30 more, and on and on...it was a truly incredible sight.  One just wondered if they were having a town meeting making plans to  head south. or just readying their flight skills with 'Zumba' for Pelicans...whatever they were doing it was AWESOME to see!

Our last anchorage on the Illinois, behind Mortland Island...18 miles from the Mississippi River

Our first sight of the mighty Mississippi River...which seemed very 'un-mighty' to us

The Illinois shoreline of the Missisippi

We made a right turn onto the Mississippi and arrived in St. Charles Missouri , about 20 miles north of St. Louis, yesterday along with Bob & Judy on Sanderling.  Gary & I decided to take the courtesy car and tour this historic town.

St Charles was the first settlement on the Missouri River in the 1760's. Daniel Boone lived here and Lewis and Clark started their expedition here. It was a starting point for many settlers that went west.  It is steeped in history, with well cared for buildings,  many that date to the late 1700's.  They now seem to house a myriad of stores and restaurants and the "country" theme is woven throughout. Main street is paved with bricks and the ambiance is of days gone by. A very nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Missouri is our first real taste of the 'heartland'....on our 25 minute drive into town from the marina on the Mississippi it was wall to wall farmland. Beautiful fields of yellowing corn stalks, dark green soy bean fields and silos and harvesters everywhere. This trip is an exceptional view into the America we only hear about on the television....it is so much more than that...so much more...and we are experiencing a minute portion.

St. Charles, Mo.  slideshow

Tomorrow we head out into unknown territory once again 

And so it goes........