Illinois River

9/6/07

We departed Joliet, Illinois with the addition of Kathy Fiegel. We now have a boatload of helpers. There is someone to steer, to navigate, to cook, to sleep and to make comments about the others. The river is getting wider and cleaner and prettier. We went through the Brandon Road lock right away. Again with the “lock luck”. This one went down 32 feet. We felt like pro’s. In the next day or so they are going to watch Rolf and I do it for ourselves and see how it goes. That will be interesting. Due to a shorter trip we finished up before lunch and are in a nice little marina called Harborside. Very well protected but shallow. We touched bottom both coming and going. They sell these little houseboats that are small but come with a pontoon boat included. They have 500 square feet for $150,000 plus $500.00/month dockage/condo fees.

The water at the marina tasted awful. Bob was making faces all day and Kathy S was thinking it tasted just like home on the farm.

And of course with this group, “a good time was had by all”. Probably you don’t want to hear about all of us trying to rush for the showers first to see who gets the hot water.

9/7/07

Awoke to predictions of severe thunderstorms so we relaxed and slept till they blew over. Started out about noon and arrived at Ottowa about 6PM. On the way we passed our baccalockiate degree. Kathy & I handled the boat and all lines as the others looked on. No problem.

Ottawa is a charming little town. We went out for fish and came back to find the boat had been broken into. The guy only took a 6 pack of Miller Lite. All the cameras, wallets and computer just sitting out and he only took the beer. We called the police just to file the report. Don’t think they will send out the CSI troops to find the used beer cans.

9/13/07

We left Ottowa and headed for Sheehan Island. Nice anchorage. Quiet after the Sunday crowd left. Sort of like Peninsula Park does. Then traveled to Henry. What can I say about Henry. Very quiet town. The water on the dock was not potable. Sort of like Algoma for those reading from Wisconsin. Stayed for two days then headed out to sea (excuse me, river). Trying to get into a nice marina in Peoria called IVY (Illinois Valley Yacht Club). They said there was no room. So we tried to stop at Hamms. Eek! That’s where the fun began. We sort of drifted out of the channel when getting fenders and lines ready and ran hard aground. Also it had been a quiet day with no tows in sight. So, of course now comes a tow bearing down on us. It was a regular fire drill. We had to quickly pump up the dinghy, (aerobics), get the spare anchor out, get oars ready, throw the dinghy in the water, put on the outboard, attach the anchor to the chain and rode. Then Rolf had to go out and throw the anchor in the water a ways from the boat and come back. Then we kedged ourselves off. For the non-sailors in the group we had to get the anchor line around the winch and winch Norske out of the mud by hand. By the way, it seems like a heavy boat. So we did all that just in time to get out of the way of the tow. Then we headed for Hamms channel. As soon as the tow went by, oops, ran aground again. So the drill started all over. I was wondering when I was going to get some exercise so this fit the bill for that. Finally we had the dock attendant come out and show us the channel. When we got there we asked for a pump out and he said they were closed for the winter. Winter? He had also already removed his channel markers. Forgot to tell us that when we called ahead. So of course we left and went back out to the river to the IVYC who didn’t have room for us in the first place. Got fuel and a pump out. We tried to look sad and they said we could stay on the wall. Very nice place and glad to be there. Actually nicest facility so far.

            The next morning we found ourselves on the bottom. The river was being lowered so we had to be moving on quickly. Apparently they need to lower the level to be able to raise the movable dam and get the level back up. The dockmaster said we might be trapped in Peoria for 2 weeks until the water came up. We again winched ourselves out finding water depth of 4.9 feet in the channel. Next we found a nice quiet anchorage behind Duck Island south of Peoria. It was so narrow we needed a stern anchor to keep in the channel. Too bad we had to leave Peoria so fast cause I was happy to finally have a great internet signal and be able to answer emails. So all of you that wrote, I will get to them soon as able. Also when we have some electricity will try to add some pictures.

 9/18/2007

On 9/14 traveled to the Tall Timbers Marina in Havana, IL. Quiet small town with a nice marina. So different in that there is a high water and a low water entrance and all the docks and marina building are on floating piers so they can just go up and down with the river. They even have a floating DJ pier for special occasions. The high water entrance is pretty impressive. It starts at the shoreside bathrooms passing through a hot tub to get to the marina. Here is a picture of Kathy talking to the kids. You can see the upper flood entrance in the background.

We stayed at the Havana marina for the weekend. On Sunday, Jere and Diane Bremer joined us. Diane left the next morning to take her parents to Florida but Jere will stay with us for the week.

We left Havana on Monday morning and traveled about 60 miles. A good days work when you are traveling about 8 mph. Found an anchorage under a railroad bridge and set the anchor. Piece of cake, or so we thought. The current was going one way and the wind the other. So the boat wandered around and got the anchor line snagged around the keel. Oops. So more problem solving for us. We worked for quite a while but finally got it free and no one needed to go in the water. We then added a stern anchor. That one has been really easy to set and digs in. Of course it dragged twice. Finally we decided we didn’t especially care if it set or not and as they say in Sheboygan, “just let it.” It kept us in place and had a quiet night.

On 9/18 we went to pull up the anchors in the morning. Needless to say neither one wanted to come up. After we talked to them for a while with winches and things they came up. Lo and behold, the forward anchor was holding a big rock, probably the only one in the river. And the aft one had a big stick. I guess they wanted to stay there. The weather feels like we are getting further south now. It has been quite windy every day which feels good because it is a warm wind. We are used to hiding behind the dodger when it is windy. I didn’t read about the wind in Illinois and don’t know if we are in a weather system or for some reason there is a lot of wind normally. The leaves are still green here but if you look hard you can see just a little tint.

Also we have talked about seeing the Asian carp and Rolf has been worried they would jump in the boat. I have not seen any yet but Rolf and Jere saw a few today. They were not particularly close to the boat. I occasionally keep a look out but nothing. Although there was a power boat docking when we were in Ottawa and he said one jumped in as he was docking. That was about 2 slips down. Close enough. This picture is from riverbill.com. The wife was trying to get a picture of a carp jumping in the distance when another jumped just past the man's head.

We are now at the Grafton Marina at the junction of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. The next stretch will be business only at we go down the Mississippi and up the Ohio. There will be long distances without fuel stops and with currents either with us of against us. We are all stocked up with food, fuel, and booze.