Rollin’ down the Illinois River…

Sunday, 8 September – IVY Club

We stayed an extra night to relax a bit. There was a lot of flooding last year. They had two ft of water

in the upstairs bar and restaurant, so they had remodeled quite a bit.
In the process, they found the old fireplace that had been buried in a wall. We returned to the No Wake restaurant for dinner. Al ate the Just Gross hamburger plate and got the Man vs Food prize (no, not a tee shirt, but a roll of tissue paper).

Monday, 9 September – Peoria Heights to Havana, IL – 48 mi., 3730 cum mi.

Warm, a little hazy, 75 degrees.  We called ahead to the Peoria Lock (our seventh lock coming from Chicago). It was quite busy, but they said they could get our four boats down between the barges coming up.

We kept our mast down, since there were still some 19 ft bridges
across the river. We passed several islands and anchorages, going directly to the Tall Timbers Marina. A little shallow, but soft bottom harmlessly churned up by the props. The whole marina is a floating dock, including the tiki hut restrooms, the office, and the (closed after Labor Day) restaurant. We found Integrity already there – they travel at twice our speed in a huge 56 ft boat. The town of
Havana was a short walk. Most of what we needed was at the Dollar General and the ACE Hardware store, but – after happy hour at the patio on the dock - we did enjoy dinner at one of the few restaurants open on Monday night.

Tuesday, 10 September – Havana to Beardstown, IL – 32 mi., 3762 cum mi.

Hot, 84 degrees. Integrity left early, trying to get as far as they could, in a hurry to get home. Since we planned a short cruise today, we slept in and worked on the boat, like wiping away spider webs, clearing a stuck shower sump pump, and rearranging stored lines to free our (soon to be needed) anchor rode. But it wasn’t long after 10 AM that we had a four-boat flotilla headed south to Beardstown. The

trip was more of the same Illinois River scenery. But the next port was quite unusual. No marinas are available in the 120-mi stretch from IVY to Grafton. There used to be a Beardstown Marina at one time, but they never rebuilt after the recent floods. Our dock was a

barge at the Logsdon Tug Service. They had two working tug boats tied to four barges, and they allowed us to tie up along side the two outside barges. No electricity or water, but a place to dock and access
to town via a steep staircase. Jeff, the tug boat pilot, gave us a huge fender ball he found on the river – reminded us of that AC/DC song about big balls.

They were so nice, giving us access to the workers break room, with shower and ice machine. Between the really nice dockhand and the girls in the office, we felt quite welcome. Our walk to explore the restaurants – many were not open on Tuesday night – ended up being a pub crawl, since the bars were indeed open, although quite empty. We especially enjoyed Mile 88
Bar and Grill where we met two lovely women (Brandy and Penney) who used to work there on weekends (after a week of working at the Cargill pork processing plant), but they bought the bar in August. The drinks were very reasonably priced. Their story was quite interesting, and the service was excellent. We wish them success in their new business venture!

Wednesday, 11 September – Beardstown to Grafton, IL – 88 mi, 3850 cum mi.

Hot, 75 degrees. Encouraged by Jeff, the tugboat pilot at the barge, we decided to try to get to Grafton today, so we left at daylight in a four-boat procession. The La Grange Lock (down 10 ft) had no barge traffic, so we had no delays. We did encounter several tows pushing barges upriver. Blue Moon has an Auto Identification System, so he has a display of the boats nearby, including the name of the boat and where it is.  That was very helpful. We hailed the tow by name, told the captain that we had four pleasure craft approaching, and asked how he wanted us to proceed. In each case,

he told us the best way to pass him, either on the one whistle (leaving him to our port) or two whistle (leaving him on our starboard). And
they were very appreciative of our communicating (knowledgeably) with them. The scenery down river continued to be rural, lush green, but slightly more
hilly. We passed the westernmost point on the loop at a bridge near McEvers Island.  It got quite warm in the afternoon, when the southern sun was no longer shaded by our bimini top. We rigged a shade with our side door screen clipped to the bimini and windshield. That helped for a while, until a wind gust knocked a clip into Charli’s lip. We put on long sleeve cotton shirts to avoid sunburn and took turns at the helm, switching drivers frequently and drinking a lot of water. We did make it to Grafton Harbor. And after

fueling up and docking, the swimming pool was a really refreshing treat. So was the cold white wine we bought at the general store. We stayed an extra day to relax, bicycling around town, peeking into gift shops, sampling beer and wine, and having lunch. We enjoyed a group dinner at Ruebel’s Hotel – the oldest hotel in town that was reportedly haunted. It had an old wooden bar that was imported from
Austria and survived a fire in the early 1900’s.  This was our last stop on the Illinois River. Tomorrow we go into the Mississippi.