Illinois Adventure

On our way home from Illinois, we planned to go by St. Peters, a northern suburb of St. Louis, to see Brycie's cousin and her family.  As we were going south toward St. Louis, our GPS kept trying to route us west, so, we finally decided to see where it would take us.  Well, it took us to Grafton, Illinois, a small town on the Mississippi River.  As it turned out the river had been flooding the lower-lying areas.  The GPS told us to turn left and "take Ferry."  What do you mean "take Ferry" we asked.  Guess what?  It meant exactly that.  So, us flatlanders boarded the Ferry on the mighty Mississip' and headed across to the other side.  We had no idea where we were but were confident the GPS (which we've named "Gordo") would steer us right.  We went 15 miles or so, and lo and behold, another Ferry, which was closed for business.  We waited a while, along with some other cars, and after a bit, they opened the gates and let us on.  Across we went on another river.  We're still not sure where we were.  Once across the second river, we had to drive several miles in 6-8 inch water covering the roadway.  Then, all of a sudden, we came around a corner and were in St. Peters.  We almost felt like the Griswold's in National Lampoon's Vacation.  Jim got to play the part of Clark Griswold, and Brycie got to play the part of Beverly D'Angelo.  No one was available to play the part of Cousin Eddie.

This is the first Ferry at Grafton, Illinois

Some of the warning signs

Notice the house and the water in the garage.

The river was completely over the banks.

Here we are getting ready to board the second Ferry.

Yep, there we are.

Right in the middle of the Mississippi River

Brycie enjoying the adventure.

Gordo the GPS has us right smack dab in the middle of the river.

Here is what we had to drive through.