No more locks!

We made it to Alton, Illinois yesterday.  We can now give tours of the Alton library as we spent most our day there. We were grateful to have the use of their computers to do some venue searching for our next event at Baton Rouge.  We also made a groceries visit and grabbed a bite to eat at the Raggin Cajun which got us in the Halloween spirit as it was decorated from light fixture to chair leg in cob webs.  We now spend most our canoeing time creating Halloween costumes.  We have come up with some interesting outfits that will surely be posted Halloween day.  Stay tuned.
 We have finally waited through our last lock today.  It proved itself to be the hardest of them all.  We had a ten mile canal to paddle through in order to reach the last lock.  The paddle was long with no current and a headwind, something we did not expect, but the determination of our group was put to the test again and we made it in good time. Celebration was much needed after this long wait of completion, so we docked at the base of the St. Louis Arch leaned backed and took in the view for a few minutes of relaxation.  We now look forward to swift rivers with no locks to interrupt our peaceful flow.