On Down the Ilinois River

Wed Sept 19th
After a peaceful night in Joliet, we left midday for the Brandon Rd Lock (a 20 ft drop). We were the first in a line of 7 "Looper" boats (all way bigger than us; still haven't seen a sailboat doing this trip). Really warm and sunny again - 88 degrees. When we got to the Dresden Lock, we were last in the convoy having been passed by all the big guys! The lockmaster was originally from Tomah, WI so we chatted a bit with him. We anchored for the night at an island that was unnamed on the charts; we named it "Mosquito Island".

Thurs Sept 20th
The night at anchor was very peaceful; not so the morning! 1) Eric hit his head really hard on the companionway; 2) Ginger "did her thing" in the dinghy on the way to shore to "do her thing" and 3) we ran aground getting out into the channel! After numerous attempts to free ourselves by setting out 2 anchors and winching/powering ourselves off, we were finally successful after 4 1/2 hours!! Thank goodness Eric was with us - thanks Eric; glad you didn't drown!
At Ottowa, IL we were ready to stop for the night. The Mystic Bond people were nice enough to invite us to raft off them (that's tying to another boat with lots of fenders out for you non-boaters). We treated ourselves to a few libations and dinner ashore after a hard day! Walked for a few groceries, heard the Brewers lose on the radio and crashed.

Fri Sept 21st
Walked to the hardware store; saw the statues and site of the first Lincoln/Douglas debate and left at 10am. We went through the lock at Starved Rock. We got a kick out of the variety of tug names: everything from "Gladiator" to "Twila Marge". The day was quite uneventful until we attempted to dock at Chillicothe. We were unsuccessful at tying off Sonata (a 42-ft trawler) or pulling in at the end of the dock. We finally rafted off Cat Tales (a 44-ft trawler cat) but hit bottom every time there was a wake from a tow or passing boats - not great but not much else we could do at that point. It was another hot day in the high 80s.

Sat Sept 22nd
I'm excited to take a break in Peoria and visit old friends (and not just to sleep in a real bed and take a real shower!) Steve and Patti picked me up but had to leave Eric and Paul behind to tend to the boat. They still couldn't tie up at the dock after the two boats left so they ended up putting out a bow anchor and tying the stern to the pier. The mode of transportation from the boat to land was pulling the dinghy back and forth using a line hand over hand, quite efficient really. The problem was the wake created by all the passing boats which jostled the floating pier around like crazy; managed to break an oar lock on the dinghy that way! They worked very hard at toting diesel for the engine in our 5-gal. can and toting water from a park in a 5-gal water jug.

We had visitors from Bloomington that afternoon: Paul's dear cousin, Sandy, and husband Yogi. They picked up dinner to have onboard and gave us lots of fun things like silly string (one can for each), gummy worms, a snake bite kit, head nets for tiny bugs and a big can of bug repellent. We're set now - thanks guys! We hit the DQ for ice cream then Eric and I got picked up for another night on shore - what luxury! Cap'n Paul had to tend the ship.

Sun Sept 23rd
Eric headed off to Normal, IL to catch the Amtrak back to his real life in Milwaukee (thanks again Steve for driving him). We found out there was enough water at the IL Valley Yacht Club (IVY) in Peoria to handle our boat so Steve, Paul and I made the 2-hr trip over there and got a slip; so nice not to be bouncing off the bottom of the river! Even though I'm sure the IVY Club has lovely facilities, we headed back to land and enjoyed a lovely dinner in an air-conditioned house with our good friends. Paul gets to shower - yay!