Sept 10-12 Illinois River

September 10 . One of the first things you do is try to learn the river lingo. Landmarks on the right hand side of the river as you head down river are on the RDB (right descending bank). If a tow (he is not a tug) calls out his position he will use a landmark and say southbound or northbound even though he might be going west at the time. If a tow tells you to overtake him on the "one whistle" you turn to the right and pass him on his starboard (right side). Brandon Lock is our second big down lock on the River and it is only 2 miles from Joliet. I called the lockmaster about 8am and asked him when we might be able to lock through. As I mentioned before, all commercial traffic takes precedence and many tows have to be split up and locked through separately as they are too big to fit in the lock all at once. He said we could ride down with a "split" and he could take us right away (40 minutes that's right away to them). Three other boats from the Joliet wall followed us to the lock. Often you can't lock through with another tow as they sometimes carry hazardous loads. Our planned goal for the day was Ottawa IL approximately 40 miles away. Not much distance but 2 other locks stood in our way. After you are tied up in a lock it takes about 20-30 minutes to lower the water. Our next lock was Dresden. A call to the lockmaster indicated 1-2hrs wait. He said we could anchor off of the channel, so that's what all four boats did. It was a calm beautiful day and nice and warm. We cleared the last lock at Marseilllles late in the afternoon and arrived in Ottawa about 5pm. John Mobley a former looper is a resident of Ottawa and it's greatest ambassador. I had called him earlier in the day to see if there would be room at the free town dock. No problem he said. By the time we arrived a 60' Defever and two other 40' boats were there. John was there to greet us and made arrangements for us to raft off of one of the 40' boats (Arundel-- James Taylor and Rennie Criswell). The wind picked up and the temperature dropped 20 degrees but many hands were on deck to get us rafted off. Shortly after getting tied up a gentle rain settled in. John came aboard and gave us some great information about places to stop downriver in exchange for a vodka and tonic. We were ready for Mexican food so John took Judy, Don and I(Sharon wasn't feeling well) to a very good local Mexican restaurant. The picture is from our boat locking through with other PC's and a tow.

Sept 12. We arose on this memorable day to a bright sunshine. Looking at the weather forecast, winds of 15mph out of the west were predicted for the day gusting to 20mph. We didn't think too much about it hoping we would be in Henry IL about 40 miles away before they got too bad but Starved Rock Lock would be an obstacle. As we pulled away from the protected from the wind wall at Ottawa, the wind started to blow. Starved rock lock was about 10 miles away. As we approached Starved Rock lock the wind was blowing 20-25mph developing 1-2' waves on the river. To make matters worse the lockmaster could not give us a timetable for locking through. No safe place to anchor so it meant circling and traveling up river and back for 2 1/2 hrs before we got to lock through. In the meantime the wind picked up to 30-35 mph at times. The four boats that spent the night at Ottawa were travelling together and locked through together. The lockmaster said to stay well away from the wall as you went in the lock and then only get close to the lock wall when the boat ahead of you landed on the wall. Easier said than done- luckily the lock was long and we had plenty of fenders out. The lockmaster throws lines down to you and you hold on to them as they lower the water. Don holds the bow line and Judy the stern line and Sharon fends us off the lock wall. Departing the lock went well. Our next concern would be docking at the Marina in Henry. Where would our assigned dock be? The wind died down slightly as we approached Henry and the marina,which is set in a small protected cover. Luckily we were assigned a dock that was easy to maneuver into and we had a very easy landing. A small marina but very friendly and a restaurant and bar on site which we quickly took advantage of after getting settled in

September 11 An easy day. We are only going 40 miles to Eastport which is right across the river from Peoria. No locks! we took our time getting around. Town was just a short distance away. So I donned my newly acquired back pack and walked to the grocery store to resupply. I stuffed my backpack and them some but I only forgot one thing that was on the list the girls gave me. On the way I found a True Value store that must be the heart and sole of Henry as there is not much else there. My handheld spotlight was on the fritz so I bought another one at TV. The front of the store was hardware and the back of the store served as a parts depot for his Case-IH operations. Very well stocked and utilized his old building well. We left for Eastport Marina at 12:45 pm arriving in Eastport about 4:15pm. What a gorgeous ride. The river was so beautiful today. It is wide and the scenery is fantastic. You just glide through the water barely hearing the diesels purring. We got settled in after waiting for a very big boat to take on 800 gallons of fuel so we could take on 115 gallon. The last fuel stop until the Mississippi 194 miles away. Our treat tonight was eating at Jonah's seafood restaurant. Great food and a short walk. We are docked at a "party dock". We must have had 10 local people help us dock as we sterned into our dock. As I write this they are still having a good time. Statute miles covered so far 1002