Alton, Il

October 13, 2001 - Alton, IL

Oct 13 report

We're still in Alton, and it's still raining. It was very hard to get out of bed on such a gross day, but we had to return the rental car, so we went over to the casino to have a buffet breakfast. Of course, it was too late when we got there. We only had a short time until we had to return the car, so we settled on McDonalds. Bev and I did laundry all afternoon, and Bev worked on her poem. Bill, Tom and I took the boat about 100 feet to the gas dock to get a pump out and diesel in between raindrops. And here is a little quote from Bev's poem:

The Mississippi River

Is an awesome sight-

Fast current and muddy

And dark as the night.

One would not choose

In this river to swim-

But Bill had a mishap,

Oops, he fell in.

And now to explain:

While refueling, Bill noticed that the dingy cover was full of water and he stepped over onto the davit to push the pooled water off the cover; the davit pulled out of the aft deck, and sent him flying into the cold, murky river. We heard a loud noise and came running. He was standing on the swim platform, soaking wet, just having pulled him self out. I guess he was lucky - just lost his hat and got a small scrape on the shin. We were relieved that he was o.k. I hope this will teach him not to fiddle with the dingy. He is the WEAKEST LINK! Good-Bye for today.

P.S. Rain or shine we are leaving for Kimmswick, Mo. in the morning.