mvalwayshome

Good morning Cruisers!!  Did you get your rest in?  You better have.  We are planning on a 88 mile day today.  An early morning castoff in hopes of not waiting too long at the LaGrange Lock.  Down to the end of  the Illinois River and the beginning of the Mississippi River.  It is a cloudy humid morning.  We are hoping to beat the weather southward.  Let’s get going!!

As we are leaving the red barge, do you see the grey top barges?  No?  We didn’t either!!  They came during the night and pulled them from in front of our boats.  We did NOT feel, hear, or see anything during the night.  Fascinating!!

Leaving Logsdon Tug Service

Ok…the funny thing is later in the day, a fellow Looper complained about the huge barge at midnight that rocked them at their anchorage.  Could it have been the ones from in front of us??  hahaha  could have been.  Timing is curious!!

Sunrise as we are leaving Beardstown, IL

We had to wait almost tow hours after we got to the LaGrange lock.  They were busy locking through a tow.  Commerce first, remember.  Pleasure craft have the lowest priorities.  We are locking down 10 feet.  It still looks a bit windy, doesn’t it?  By the time the lock was available, there were 4 other Loopers that had met us at the lock.

Approaching the LaGrange Lock.

As we were waiting to lock through, I notices several flocks of white pelicans heading south.  Wonder what they know?  Beautiful V shaped flights.

This is the non-industrial view of the Illinois River.

Wing Island

Park and boat ramp

Kampsville Car Ferry – see the line of cars waiting.

Wayne called these “Tree Houses!”

We saw many duck blinds.  Some like this one looked in pretty good shape.  Others were damaged and needed repair.  Can the ducks really not suspect a square box in the middle of the river as being curious?

Duck blinds along the Illinois River

Brussels Car Ferry – Liberty Belle

Finally, after a 10 hour day, we got to Grafton Marina.  A beautiful sight to behold!!  We were put on the end of a T-Dock.  We met one barge going north, encountered 1 lock, and traveled with several other Loopers all going to Grafton for the night.  Great traveling with others on a long, sunny, and windy day.

Exhausted, we ate a light meal and went to bed!!  Rain is expected during the night.

Sunset at Grafton, IL

Good Morning, Cruisers and Loopers!!  We are planning an easy day today.  About a 35 mile day.  After the last couple of long days, it is time for an easy day, right?  We are expecting light winds in the morning hours of about 8 mph that will peak at 16 mph later in the afternoon.  Our plan is to get to Beardstown before the wind gets too high and makes docking more challenging.  We wake to low 60°F after the cold front moved through.

Leaving Tall Timbers Marina – off to the right – see the poles? That is the inlet

We had a blissfully quiet night.  Tall Timbers is a small marina that offers transient space.  A great stop on the way down the river.  A bit shallow for many boats.  We did churn up muddy waters on our way out.  Wayne was able to back out of our slip, do another 180 turn and head out.  Of course, all the boat owners ( many of them Loopers) had to come out to watch.  Masterful!!  I am still in awe of Wayne’s docking, turning, and undocking skills.

The part of the Illinois River is a mixture of industrial plants and trees.  Fascinating mixture.

Hold your breath!! They are filling a barge!

I am not sure whether this is a castle like in the Highlander movie? A fort with windows on top to fight against the pirates, the British, the Indians? or a Grain storage with breathing holes at the top?  Maybe a lighthouse with the light out?  It is tall, though.  Curious.

The Skipper Bob’s book on cruising from Chicago to Mobile mentions a stop, if you have time, at the Logsdon Tug Service.  It is a company that tows barges within a 40 mile radius.  They consider themselves the middle men.  They bring barges from local industry to this location for the big haulers to pick up and take up/down the rivers.

The Logsdon Tug Service offers a side of one of the barges parked outside of their river front for transients to stay over.  No services.  No electricity, no water.  Just a safe place to tie up for the night.  We first docked … since it wasn’t a dock… we barged our Always Home along the “grey top” barges in this picture.  When the other Looper came to stop also, we were asked to move over behind them to the “red top” barge.  The reason?  At midnight a tow is expected to stop by and “pick up” the two grey tops.  We wouldn’t want to have to move Always Home at midnight, would we?  Absolutely not!  Midnight?  OK!

Grey top barges are full.

I was given a tour of this tall tow.  Huge engine room.  No, I didn’t take pictures.  I was just tickled to be given a tour.  Up to the fly bridge 3 stories high.  A great view of the football field of barges this tow pushes down/up the river.

The barges similar to the grey top above holds the equivalent to 60 semi-truck worth of goods.  That means for every barge there is 60 less semi-trucks on the highway.  60!!

OR  Each barge holds equivalent to 16 – 100 ton railroad cars.  Who knew?!?!  It is amazing the complex commerce the rivers encompass.  I didn’t know these statistics.  The Logston Tug Service Manager/Owner was kind enough to tell us all about his service and the river system.

The barges traffic help keep the river clean and deep enough for other deep draft boats to use.  Otherwise the river would silt in over time and become less useful.  The picture below of the upriver railroad bridge is an example.  The right side, which looks newer (less rusty),  used to have a very nice marina behind it.  The sand and silt moved in and there is no longer a marina located there.  Just took less than 10 years for the river to reclaim it’s shoreline property.

You see that ruler near the tall pilings in front of the tow?  The ruler goes up to 31 feet.  Do you see the water line mark above the 29 number?  in 2013, the river crested at 29.8 feet!!  Amazing!!

The afternoon was rather quiet.  The few tows that came by pushing their barges really didn’t wake us at all.  The local fishermen in their little skiffs created more waves.

Looking up river

Down river from our back door

For you Verizonwireless users, this area is a very low reception area.  I thought our phones were broken or the service cut off at first.  Fascinating.  No wifi either.  Boy, am I a spoiled cruiser?!?!

Sunset in Beardstown 9

Good Morning, you Casino Boat lovers!!  We are leaving the old paddle boats behind and wish them well as we go on our way to Tall Timbers in Peoria, IL.  Another 60 mile day today.  Clear and sunny.  65°F to start our day.  What a grand view from the marina this morning!  The wind is still brisk around 14mph with gusts up to 18mph.

Sunrise in Rome, IL

Mr. Hamm uses this tug to clear his harbor entrance every morning to keep the silt and sand from building up.  We had plenty of water under our keel of just under 5 feet this morning.  What a great start to our day.

The last several days we have seen eagles, white and blue herons, and white pelicans dotting the landscape.  You can almost smell fall in the air.  HOWEVER, it is too soon for fall!

White Pelicans hanging out

We stopped at IVY for fuel and a pump out.  IVY stands for the Illinois Valley Yacht Club.  It is the last place to get diesel fuel going south along the Illinois River until you get to Grafton, IL about 170 miles south of here.  We slipped into their tiny basin.  Wayne turned the boat around almost on a dime and we carefully left the way we came in.  A bit shallow and we churned up some muddy waters but we didn’t get stuck.  We didn’t think we really needed the fuel to get all the way south, but it never hurts to fill up when you can.

IVY club house

Scenery along the Illinois River.  Commerce.  Industry.

This bridge looks pretty low to the water.  It is supposed to be 19.8′ tall but with the fluctuating water levels, we held our breath as we went under it.  There is no ruler on the side to let us know the bridge height.

Peoria & Pekin Union Railroad Drawbridge

Room to spare!  We held our breath.  We ducked down.  Maybe it helped that we added fuel just minutes before?!

We were told by the Peoria Lock that we would have to wait for lockage.  We did have permission to tie up to the wall outside and wait our turn.  I was able to snag a line over one bollard at the mid cleat pretty easily.  This one on our stern took 4 tries till I got around the bollard and under the bar so that Always Home could stay against the wall and not get blown about.  Not all locks will give you permission to tie to their outer wall.  Sometimes there are tows / barges in the way.  Sometimes there are tows/barges coming out of the lock that need the wall room to maneuver.  We were lucky today.

Peoria Lock wall bollard I was able to lasso

5 Looper boats were waiting to lock through.  The lock master drove his cart along the wall to let us know we could hover in the middle of the lock for the 8 feet discension if we wanted.  Because the wind was blowing pretty hard, we went to the starboard wall where the wind would blow us against the lock wall.  I put one of our mid cleat lines around a bollard and held us in place.  The other boats just hovered in the space.

Peoria Lock – going down 8 feet

No slime on this wall!!  See barges keep the walls pretty clean, don’t you think?

Peoria Lock wall clean of slime, mold, mildew

We made it to Tall Timbers in Havana, IL by 4 pm.  All 5 of us were going to the same marina.  Tall Timbers told me that we would be able to stay on their fuel dock since all the slips for full for the night.  We were happy to get a spot and being near the fuel dock meant we could leave first thing the next day without disrupting any other boats.  However, we were given a slip.   We were thrilled to be safe and secure, out of the wind and impending rain.

Good Morning!!  Did you go kite flying yesterday.  Today is another great day for the wind!!

I get nervous with all the wind and decided to stay put another day.  Hopefully, this will give us opportunity to rest, read, and plan the next several days along the Illinois River.  We heard the wind howl but didn’t feel it in our slip.  The herons were honking.  The carp were jumping in the water.

The owner of Hamm’s Holiday Marina started collecting old Casino paddle wheel boats in hopes of refurbishing them.  He never got around to that.  These old boats look wonderful. I imagine someone would want them for a restaurant or even their front yard.  Mr. Hamm told me that this marina was very busy in the early 1990s.  Then it just fell into disrepair when the recession and boating industry took a dive.

The wood working on these old boats is beautiful.  The coal stacks.  Awesome.

Nicest 2 casino boats in the basin

The owner also collects other equipment on his property…

I am sure there is a story about this huge propeller I found in the middle of the driveway…

Bent Propeller

No words can be expressed for this:

Troll at the end of the walkway down to the dock

Good Morning you wind lovers out there!!  I know you just can’t wait to fly that kite, take a balloon ride, or skydive in the wind.  Today is your day!!  We are expecting 15 – 20 knot winds and I am not looking forward to our travel today.  Everyone – that I have talked to – says wind on the rivers is “no big deal”.  Well, wind is wind.  We shall see how it goes.

It is a brisk 47°F this morning.  A bit foggy but we expect with the wind, the fog will lift pretty early and we will have sunny skies all the rest of the day!!  You can see a bit of the fog below.  We are placed on the face dock near two other Loopers.

Always Home in the foggy morning mist

20 minutes later the fog is lifting!! – or blown away!?

Ever since the Canadian waters, we have seen spiders on the outside of Always Home.  I believe I mentioned the spider webs that miraculously appear within minutes of standing still.  Since we have left the Lake Michigan waters, I have noticed less spiders.  Except for these webs on top of bushes.  I really like how the web collects the early morning dew.

We have a 64 mile day planned for today.  A bit of a late start but we were indecisive whether to stay and wait out the wind or to go and handle the wind best we can.  Do you see that blue sky??  How could we not cruise on a beautiful day like today??

8:45am – Clear Skies!! Time to go

Every time we see a house boat on the rivers, Wayne always brings up the subject.  See, we could have a house boat just like that!!  But, we wouldn’t be here on Always Home, would we?!

House boat vacationing along the river’s edge – camping out

You think someone really knows these barges are here??

Ransom barges parked along the river’s edge

Grain elevator

Our single lock of the day.  Three Loopers were in the lock with us.  Just 4 boats!!  Going down 17 feet.

Approaching Starved Rock Lock and Dam

The lock master gave us a line for the bow and stern.  We all locked through on the same side of the lock.  No problems.  Easy peasy!!  Do you see our AGLCA flag blowing sideways?  Hmmm guess it is breezy today, after all.

The one barge going north that we passed all day.  Looks new!

Scenery along the Illinois River

Scenery along the Illinois River

We couldn’t get transient dockage at a couple marinas we were hoping for.  Either due to the water being too shallow for our draft or because they were booked up.  No room in the marina for us tonight.  So, we decided to go to a marina that has 8-12 feet of water in the entrance and along the dock.  Hamm’s Holiday Marina.  Not a fancy place.  It has seen better days.  The marina is in a protected cove and once we were in, we didn’t feel the wind a bit.  The marina is known to have an interesting collection of old barges, boats, and paddlewheel boats.

Entering Hamm’s Holiday Marina

We are safe and secure for the night.