We thought the Eries Canal and Trent Severn Waterway had barges. That was nothing compared to the Illinois River. There were barges everywhere — BIG ones. Double wide, four long. We had to wait 40 minute at one lock and 4 hours at another. After Joliet, we stopped at Heritage Harbor in Ottawa, IL It was Labor Day weekend so was a bit crowded with local boaters going up and down the river. We left there on Monday, dodging scores of local boaters and stopped at the City dock in Hennepin. It was a very quiet and peaceful dock. There were no other boats there. Oh, and our generator stopped working again. We’re getting so used to that we aren’t even surprised anymore. From Hennepin we stopped at Warf Harbor in Peoria because they were doing maintenance on the lock and we would have had to drift around in front of the lock for an unknown amount of time. As it turned out, they were just finishing up the next morning. Warf Harbor was ‘interesting’ because the approach was very narrow and shallow. But they had haul-out capability. We had our boat hauled to try and figure out what the rattle was coming from our port engine lower unit. The crawler lift was ‘interesting’ too. It was driven out over a rail extending over and 26′ above the water. Left Peoria on Thursday and stopped at Tall Timbers marina in Havana, IL Lesson # 12: When asking the dockmaster what the approach depth and dockside depth is on the radio, assume that’s his best guess. On a river with locks the info is not always current. We discovered that. Fortunately when a barge went buy, the water in the little bay raised just enough but we still dragged through some mud. This place was the only stop for gas and we needed some. Bob the owner was super friendly and gave us a discount for helping dredge the approach canal. It was a peaceful night on the dock except for my worrying how I’ll get the mud out of our engines. That night I ate a shoe. First one I ever had. It was at Babes Run Restaurant. Diane had a mushroom swiss burger and I had a Philly cheese state shoe. It was HUGE. Friday we motored to Beardstown and discovered they don’t have gas. Havana was the last place to get gas (unless we ate Diane’s cooking) before we reach the Mississippi about 120 miles away. So we went back to Havana, got gas and then motored back to Beardstown. Saturday we left Beardstown and stopped at Grafton, IL where teh Illinois River meets the Mississippi. They have a winery, craft brewery and lots of bars with music. Sunday we did a short ride to Alton, IL. This was a great marina with covered slips and all the other nice amenities. It was so nice, we stayed an extra day. Several other Loopers stopped there as well; three were from Florida.
Maybe they should load the barge a bit more evenly?
First production car built in America. The Duryea
When we were first married, I told Diane I would give her the moon. It took 51 years but here it is.
All that traveling made us thirsty. Notice Mocha eyeing my beer.
Ever wonder how the tugs are attached to those barges? Ropes
Some marinas have courtesy cars.