Aug 18
Up early to make sure we get through the 3
rd lock
(Starved Rock Lock) which will be shutting down
for repairs on Friday until Oct 5.
Out of the marina by 6:30 with a couple other
boats hoping to get a quick lock thru but by 7AM another 7 or 8 boats had fallen in
behind us.
Sunrise behind us as we leave Heritage Harbor Marina and Ottowa
About an hour’s run to the lock
where we had to wait for an upbound Coast Guard buoy tender to come up.
By then everyone else had arrived so we wound
up taking a bit longer to get loaded. Still, we were out of the lock and had that
pressure of getting thru these locks off us by 9:30.
USCG Buoy Tender coming out of the lock
Still another
55-60 mile run but with the current giving us
a .5 – 1kt push we were making good time running the engine easy yet still
making a great 8.3kts .
Arrival time was
showing 4:30 PM so well before dark.
Not the most interesting scenery.
Tows and barges along the riverbanks, flocks of white storks in several
areas, plenty of bald eagles flying around, and some larger bodies of water like
upper and lower Peoria Lake which are big but very shallow and require close
following of the channel markers.
13
Loopers sitting at the Ivy Club now.
Tight quarters but we looked like pros backing
it in thanks to no current or wind.
This is actually a private club rather than a marina, but they have
always been very accommodating to transient loopers. Enjoyed a nice dinner and
drinks at the clubhouse looking down on “As You Wish”.
AS You Wish (the one with the kayaks on the bow) snug in her slip
Now that the three lock closures on the Illinois River is
behind us there’s a new concern.
A mishap
with a barge in a lock on the Tenn. River resulted in a major oil spill.
It was contained inside the lock but it resulted
in a full closure as they work to collect all the oil, remove the damaged
vessels and clean the oil off the lock chambers.
It is backing up loopers and we’re having a
hard time making reservations at marinas downstream.
We’ll need to anchor a few nights anyway,
but we have concerns as many of these
anchorages only hold a handful of boats, and if no one is moving you can see
how we quickly start running out of options.
There are times when this “pleasure boating”
thing sure can get a bit stressful!! I'm exhausted - time for bed.
Journey for Sept 18
I lived in Peoria for about six months, in 1990. I liked some things about the place, but it lacked any sophistication, whatsoever. And no good restaurants except for a steak place on the river, which would get wiped out in a flood.
ReplyDeleteWhat struck me most about the city was that it was your typical city surrounded by a beltway, but instead of suburbs, there was nothing outside of the beltway but cornfields. Also, the real estate market was filled with two-story boxes selling for $14,000.
Still, I feel an odd nostalgia for the place!