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STL Checkmate Get Together Part II

I'm just kinda thinking off the top of my head here, but The Grafton Harbor is a nice place to meet, its on the Illionis side. The draw back is they charge like 8$ to park for the day, even if were only there for a couple hours while we wait for others. I don't mind paying the 8 bucks but just letting others know. If we had a specific time to meet somewhere (maybe Grafton Harbor), then another time to meet at a second place for those of us that may not have made the first meeting, so they wouldn't be left out. Enterprise Island is the main Party Beach now-a-days. AJ, I will FOR SURE have a cold beer for you, you deserve it for getting this good idea going!:cheers:
 
longshots saloon is another option. good food and free to dock on nice docks. speaking of docks the ramp at Grafton didn't have the docks out last weekend. makes it kinda difficult to pick up the passengers.
 
I boat in the Alton pool as well, very familiar with the area. I'm docked up past Kinders Restaurant near Two Branch area. Plenty of beaches are showing up now that we could get all the Checkmates parked next to each other. But not sure if mine will be ready, the new interior is getting put in and the guy is taking his time. :(

Jason
 
I hope he gets it done . I would love to see it in person. :thumb:
O' by the way didn't you know that winter is the time for that kind of stuff:poke:
 
I'll have to see what my work schedule is for next weekend. I have never been up there and honestly the big river scares me... I have no idea where to put in or how to get anywhere so I gotta be at least with someone who knows what there doing, and remember my pro mod motor isn't the most reliable thing out there so I guess I gotta bring the tool box and a paddle and keep it close to shore so I don't get run over by a barge.
 
By the way, are you guys thinking saturday the 3rd? Or Sunday the 4th? I read everything and didn't see and final decision.
AJ....lets make it final....Is it Sat the 3rd? That is good for me and seems to be the date for others too....What time are we meeting and where?
Fastpersuader...I know your scared of the big river, but you should give it a try....I'm scared of the smaller rivers because they don't have bouies to tell where the channel is!
 
Fastpersuader...I know your scared of the big river, but you should give it a try....I'm scared of the smaller rivers because they don't have bouies to tell where the channel is!

Kaskaskia does:thumb:

Regardless I'd like to give it a try but I can't promise, I may be busy the 3rd.
 
I like the big river. It is not hard to find good water to haul as$ on. Looks like to me there are some cool places to eat and have fun. The beaches are pretty nice there too. I don't know about the Fun Police ,but I am sure they are on the job.
 
Since it's been decided to boat the Alton pool, someone else is gonna have to determine where to get together. I've never taken the boat up that way. First one to respond that knows the area makes the call.
 
Yeah, I know winter should have been the time to do my upholstery restore, but money wasn't available then. Plus I thought he would be done with it sooner but he ran into some health issues in the middle of doing mine, so I had to wait.
But I stopped by last Friday and he said he would have it done by this Thursday but we will see.

As far as the river and access to it, my river lot is upriver between Winfield lock and Grafton area. lots of clean deep water to run hard and fast. Channel is nice and wide and well marked. I'm 12 miles upriver from Grafton and 10 miles down river from the Winfield dam.

If for sure my boat is done, I would be happy to guide anyone coming to join us. There is a nice marina near me called Johns Boat Harbor, plenty of parking and ramp fee is 10 dollars. It also has a gas. There are some nice beaches very near there and you can anchor out in shallow water and walk into the beach or even pull up to it. Plus the beach is out of the channel so the big cruisers wont swamp your boat like they do at the beach down closer to grafton area. Just much calmer up near me then down near grafton, that's why I and many other like it.

UPDATE: just checked weather forecast, isn't looking good, but then again its to far off for them to be that accurate..... ha ha.

Jason
 
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Yeah, I know winter should have been the time to do my upholstery restore, but money wasn't available then. Plus I thought he would be done with it sooner but he ran into some health issues in the middle of doing mine, so I had to wait.
But I stopped by last Friday and he said he would have it done by this Thursday but we will see.

As far as the river and access to it, my river lot is upriver between Winfield lock and Grafton area. lots of clean deep water to run hard and fast. Channel is nice and wide and well marked. I'm 12 miles upriver from Grafton and 10 miles down river from the Winfield dam.

If for sure my boat is done, I would be happy to guide anyone coming to join us. There is a nice marina near me called Johns Boat Harbor, plenty of parking and ramp fee is 10 dollars. It also has a gas. There are some nice beaches very near there and you can anchor out in shallow water and walk into the beach or even pull up to it. Plus the beach is out of the channel so the big cruisers wont swamp your boat like they do at the beach down closer to grafton area. Just much calmer up near me then down near grafton, that's why I and many other like it.

Jason
Sounds great to me.
 
OK. I'll call it. Lets meet at Grafton Harbor around 1pm. I don't put in there, but my wife and I will go there after putting in and hang out. It's a nice place with a nice resturant and has a pool and a gift shop and nice docks. I think it would be the best place to meet. It's right in the middle of pool 26 and then we can either run up the Ill. river or up the Mississippi..... So how many people do we have? 5 or 6 Mates? ....oh yea, and my wife wants to make sure there's gonna be other girls with the crowd...last time we went to a mudfest I thought my buddies were bringing there gals but it was a lil chilly and all the other girls stayed home so my wife felt a lil out of place.
 
I'll have the future wife with me, so there will be at least one other lady present. We might be bringing another couple, but not sure yet.
 
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