With our little engine mis-adventure over with, it was time to move on. The night before our departure, Steve and I went to the looper briefing to see which boats were planning to leave early in the morning, so we could co-ordinate with the lock. At the time, only one boat, Jewel, was interested in an early departure, so we made plans to "meet" on VHF channel 68 the following morning.
We were up bright and early (except for the bright part, sunrise is now around 6:15) the next morning, and got set to go. At 6:00 everyone checked in on channel 68 who was leaving early that day. Steve called the lock shortly afterward, and found out that we had a window to go. So we started engines and were wheels-up by 6:30.
Sunrise on the river. Chrisie took this shot of us leaving the marina.
Misty morning on the river.
The trip to the lock was pretty smooth, just a little mist on the water. Louise noticed some "steam" from our exhaust, but given the conditions, this was just due to the cooler outside temperature. Indeed, as the sun came up the steam disappeared, but always good to be vigilant, especially since we just had our "incident".
Going down for the second time in the Starved Rock lock.
We passed through a long section of river where the banks had been scoured by floods. Looked like Fangorn forest.
After safely navigating through Fangorn, we came upon an ocean of green. There was a solid cover of trees and vines everywhere. Did not see any elves though.
We got locked through pretty easily, and as we exited the lock, Louise poured some champagne overboard at the site of our breakdown in order to appease Poseidon and the other sea gods. Since we were making good time, with no lock delays, we continued along smoothly past our initial planned destination at Henry and ended up on the municipal docks at Peoria. This is the headquarters of Caterpillar, and they had a huge office building and museum beside the docks. It must be fate! Unfortunately, we arrived after closing time, otherwise I would have liked to go through their museum.
There were two other boats on the docks ahead of us, All In and Lady in Red. There was not much dock space here, so we rafted on Miss K behind Lady in Red. We visited briefly with Randy and Kirsten of All In, and a bit longer with the crew of Lady in Red, Al and Renatta. Before we turned in for the night, I checked the engine and engine room to make sure everything was holding together. You hear me baby? Hold together.
The bridge here at Pretoria was Litt Up.
The next morning we were up and ready to go at 6:00. We all cast off to get ready to go, and then Steve called the lock, only to find out that they were getting repairs done and we would have a two-to-four hour wait. So, we all tied back up again where we just cast off from. Note to self - call the lock first.
Chrisie and Louise walked around Peoria looking for a coffee. The art work was pretty interesting and eye-catching. Lots of metal and/or plastic art pieces. They even came across the Caterpillar headquarters building.
Too bad we had to leave. We wanted to get some Cat swag.
Some of the artwork they had here in the park.
A couple of hours later, Steve called the lock again and was told that we should come ahead, as there was a tow waiting. But, since he wanted to lock up, the lock could take us down first. So off we went, and waited for about half and hour above the lock. During this time, I got on the VHF and organized all the boats in terms of the order we would go and who would tie to who. This plan was based on the layout of the previous locks we had done in the system. As it turned out, this lock was different, and we ended up just tying to the lock wall like on the Saint Lawrence.
Along the way we did some toilet paper testing. Boat and RV toilets are touchy, you have to be very careful with them because bad things happen when they malfunction. You must only put human waste and toilet paper in, and the toilet paper must be "special". It has to tear easily and break down quickly in water so that you don't clog any parts of the system. Access is difficult if you have a problem, and this is one system you don't want problems with. We have a really good toilet onboard, with a macerator. This is a motor that grinds everything from the toilet, at the toilet, then pumps it into the holding tank. This is a nice system, because it should limit any problems to the immediate area of the toilet. But, as mentioned, you don't want any problems.
To reduce the chance of a clog, we use the special RV toilet paper. Normally this stuff is like gold, it costs $4 a roll and they roll the paper really loosely, so the rolls don't last very long. Well, about 10 years ago Louise bought three cases of RV toilet paper at Costco in Sudbry for a very cheap price. This was good stuff, it dissolved easily and each roll was tightly wound. Over the years, we have still not used all of it up, but we are getting close. So, the last time we shopped at Walmart, Louise bought some of their cheapest 1-ply tissue to see if it would work. She had done some research on the myth of RV only toilet paper and found out it was just single ply toilet paper. Now was the time to test it, as we were out of the "easy access" RV rolls, the rest of the case was in deep-storage in the engine room.
When ya gotta go ya gotta go. We were underway and Louise needed toilet paper. But, before she could use it in our magic toilet, it had to pass the test to see if it was worthy of our throne. We compared a piece of our RV paper to a piece of the Walmart cheapo stuff and they both tore and dissolved in similar ways. In the photo above we put each into some water to compare how they reacted, the RV stuff on the left, the cheapo stuff on the right. With those tests done, the cheapo Walmart stuff passed, and Louise could then "finish up the paperwork".
The plan for today was to go to an anchorage called Quiver Island, which was the location for an old coal terminal. Initially we had hoped to go further, but after the delay in the lock, this would have made for too long of a long day. As we got close to the anchorage, I got on the radio with Steve, who now wanted to go further. We told them to go ahead, as we were tired and did not want to boat all day long. However, Steve and Chrissie decided to anchor with us at Quiver Island.
The anchorage was an old coal terminal that is now used for wind turbine offloading. Not the prettiest place, but it was safe. Initially Miss K anchored and we rafted to them, but the wind picked up forcing us to each anchor separately for the night.
The next morning, we got underway with a bit of mist on the water, which burned off fairly quickly. Again, we discussed on the radio our next destination, and it turned out we were each headed to a different place. Miss K wanted to go to an anchorage called Willow Island, which was about 8+ hours away, while we wanted to stop in Beardstown after about 3 hours. So, we agreed to part ways.
At Beardstown, we both stopped at Logston's Barge Service, us for the night and Miss K to allow their dog Carter to poop. They had trouble with him the night before, he would not poop on the shore when they took him in by dingy, and was not trained to use the boat stern yet. So, walking around on a "real" shore did the trick. We then said goodby, as they were going to continue on. It was a very sad moment, as we had spent a lot of time together the past month. We knew we would be parting ways, but did not expect it this soon. However, this is boating. Sometimes the boats have to go separate ways. It is what it is.
At Logston's we tied up to one of their tugs. How cool is that!
Logston's Barge service is a tug boat company. For years, they have offered dockage to transient boaters. We asked how this got started, and were told it dated back to the 1960's when the Army Corps of Engineers installed the nearby locks. This caused silting in the area, that forced a nearby marina to close, so the Tug boat company offered the use of their barges as a short-term help. Well, this became a "thing" and now here we were, tied to a tug boat!
OK, we were in a small grocery store in a small town in the middle of rural Illinois, and you could buy Timmy's. No drive through though.
All In was here from the previous night, and soon another boat, Jewel arrived. We talked briefly with Rich, who was on the boat, before Louise and I went for a walk to buy some groceries at the local town. The town was deserted, even on a nice Saturday. We got our groceries and walked back to the boat, stopping for ice cream at a Mexican taco shop. Everything in this town was Mexican, they had two Mexican restaurants, a Mexican bakery and taco shop, plus the grocery store had a special Mexican section and signage in Spanish.
From time-to-time we have seen signs like this on stores and other buildings. Very different attitudes towards guns here compared to Canada.
Back on the boat, we went over to Jewel for barge-tails, and had a great visit with Rich and Melanie on their boat Jewel. As the sun went down however, we had to cut it short, as we did not want to walk back to out boat in the dark. The barges and tugs have lots of cables, fittings, brackets and chains everywhere, and you really have to watch where you walk. We did not want to go through that mine-field in the dark. Back on the boat, we watched an episode of Rings of Power, then turned in for the night.
Just before supper, I had met the people on All In and Jewel to make arrangements for the next morning. The plan was to "meet" on VHF 68 at 6:00, then we would call the lock to find out what was happening. We got up in the morning to find that it was very foggy. We called the lock anyways, and were told that there were three tows waiting, but because of the fog, no tugs were moving and if we could get to the lock in time, they would lock us through. We conferred with the other boats, and we were each apprehensive, but all agreed to try, so off we went.
I volunteered to go first, followed by Jewel and then All In. At first, it was fine, the fog was thin enough that we could see both banks, but eventually it got thicker. We were all running with our navigation lights on, and I was sounding the horn every two minutes. We were listening for other boats horn's as well. All In had lowered their mast to go under bridges, so could not use radar, but Jewel and iFloat both had radar running. Jewel also made a securite call, and we found out that ahead there was a tow parked across the river.
This is an example of an AIS display. The little boat-shaped icons are other boats that broadcast using AIS. Our GPS is a touch screen, so by touching the icon it opens a window which shows the Boat's name as well as details like size, course, speed etc. Very helpful to identify the tug boats to talk to them on the radio. Our system also transmits, so the tugs can see us coming. Very glad we invested in this safety measure.
AIS turned out to be our most important tool. With it, we could see the tugboats ahead, and they could see us. As we approached the parked tugs, we called each one on VHF to make sure it was safe to pass, and to get instructions from them about passing. I was using the autopilot to steer, as it was better than me at keeping the boat straight in the fog. The first tow we passed was on the shore, but using his engine to hold him there. As we passed, his wash started to push the boat around. I switched off the autopilot and went to manual, since Otto is not very good in turbulence. This was pretty stressful, as I could not see anything and got vertigo, I had no idea where we were going. I stopped the boat out of the wash, then using the GPS and radar I was able to get the boat back on track. Jewel was close to us, so was able to follow, but All In had lost sight of us. Jewel used a spotlight to guide them towards us.
With the first tow passed, we continued on in the thick fog using autopilot. That first encounter freaked me out a bit, since it was so easy to loose track of where we were in the conditions, but we were committed so on we went.
The next tow was parked across the river, and on VHF told us to do a port-to-port pass. As we approached the tow, I could see on AIS that he was on the right bank, even though his instructions suggested he should be on the left. As the front of the barge came into view, the tug captain got on the VHF and told us to stop, as there was not room to pass him. He then used his engine to straighten the barge in the channel so we could pass. Very nice. We continued on when he told us it was safe, and the rest of the trip to the lock was uneventful. Jewel got on the radio with the tug, who commented that we should not be moving in the fog, and Jewel agreed that this was not the smartest decision. He was right, the next time it is foggy, we are not taking chances. Why does experience always arrive after you need it?
As we arrived in the lock, the fog cleared, and it was easy to tie up. The lock was having trouble however, as their signal lights were not working correctly. Once we got in the lock and the doors closed, there was some kind of delay before the water went down.
When the doors started to open, we started up our engine to get ready to go, but the doors stopped half-way open. We could hear the lock guys on the radio trying to fix some issue. After about 10 minutes they got it going again and we eventually left. Overall we got a big head start by leaving in the fog, since we had passed a couple of tows and it looked like the lock might be twitchy, but it would have been smarter to just stay where we were until the fog cleared. Mental note to self: don't go out in the fog.
We continued along to our destination, the Mel's Riverdock restaurant. This is a small restaurant in the middle of nowhere that has made a dock out of old metal tanks welded together on the river. You can stay overnight for a flat fee of $25. We got in around 3:30, and it turned out the restaurant was closing at 4:00 for a special event, one of the servers was participating in the Miss Calhoun pagaent at the local fair and the whole staff at the restaurant was going out to support her. She came in second in the end. Not bad for her first try. so we had an early dinner with the crew of Jewel. As we came out of the restaurant, we met the crew of All In, who had arrived about 45 minutes after us. They had to eat at a different restaurant. Amazingly, there were 3 restaurants here, but pretty much nothing else.
Riverdock restaurant. Doesn't look like much but the food was good and everyone was friendly. Of course, we were the only non-locals in the place, so everyone knew we were on the boats outside, and were asking where we were from. Everyone was nice to us, and we had a good dinner with the crew of Jewel.
At the restaurant the locals had all driven in on custom cars and trucks.
The work on these classics was really good.
They really like Chevy here.
Very cool, but I wish I had one of those trucks.
After dinner Rich, from Jewel, and I helped Randy, of All In, raise their radar mast. Then the crews of all three boats got together for metal-tank-dock-tails until the sun went down and it started to get cold.
The restaurant here served breakfast starting at 7:00, so we all decided to go there for breakfast the next morning. It was foggy again on the river, so we were not going anywhere anyway, so why not a a nice breakfast to start the day! We treated ourselves to an excellent breakfast of massive omelettes. I think they used a half-dozen eggs in each! None of us could finish, so we each took boxes back to our boats. By the time we were done, the fog had mostly burned off so we headed on down the river.
There was an emergence of mayflies when we woke up at Riverdock. We did not notice at first, but we made it worse by turning on lights when we were getting dressed in the morning. These things stuck on the boat pretty much all day, and we were still washing them off several days later. Louise had fun picking them off and throwing them towards the river. The barn and tree swallows would swoop down and catch them.
After passing a tow, we entered the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. As soon as we did so, our speed picked up noticeably, as the current in the Mississippi was very strong. The tows here were an order of magnitude bigger than the ones on the Illinois, and the wash from the tugs was incredible. We had to be extra careful when passing to stay out of their wash for as long as possible. By early afternoon we pulled into Alton marina, got topped-off with fuel and set into our slips.
Cliffs on the port side as we entered the Mississippi.
Eevee having a snooze on the back of the boat. She likes to sleep in the sun outside.
Boat name of the day: Topps Optional
