September 21, 2012  Day 133     Grafton, IL          Total miles to date:  2758.5

We made some milestones today!  This was our longest travel day of 88.4 miles and we also completed the Illinois River when we arrived at Grafton Harbor which is mile marker “0”. 


We disturbed the pelicans!

The Marquette Hilltopper
3 wide and 5 deep!

Many  uprooted trees
along the Illinois River

We untied ourselves from the barge at Logsdon in Beardstown at 6:55 this morning and arrived in Grafton almost 10 hours later at 4:45 this afternoon. We encountered calm seas, clouds, sunshine, storms with thunder and lightning, gusty winds, light winds – in other words a little bit of everything!  We also passed several tow boats with barges today – the largest being three wide and five deep. 

Beach volleyball
on the Illinois River!

We had good luck again today at the LaGrange Lock – we entered with two other pleasure craft and didn't have to wait!


We saw many houses like this
on stilts - it does flood here -
but not this year!

There were three other Looper boats (The Zone, Took the Plunge, and Jet Stream) here today when we arrived and we were so exhausted we turned down an invitation to get together with them.  That must be a first!  We will do better tomorrow!  We had dinner in the restaurant at the marina as we were too tired to cook or go any farther. It was a good choice!

We will call Hoppies tomorrow and see when we can get in there. Until we know that we cannot make any plans to move down the Mississippi.

September 20, 2012  Day 132   Beardstown, IL  Total miles to date:  2670.1

We left Peoria! Our starboard engine is fixed and running better than ever!! We are happy to be on the water again and made an easy 74 mile run to Beardstown today. There was very little boat traffic – we passed one tow and barge and very few other boats.  The water was very calm when we left but the wind kicked in by mid-afternoon and we had 1½ ft. waves on the Illinois River!  We also had just one lock today - the Peoria Lock. When we arrived it was open for us, thanks to a phone call ahead of time. We did not have to tie up, but just floated in the middle with another small pleasure craft! We made the trip in 8 ½ hours by running at 9 mph which is faster than normal.

Tied up to a barge!

Another view of the barge next to us

Lots of steps to climb to the office

We are tied up to a barge at Logsdon Tug Service right on the Illinois River.  It is really a pretty neat experience.  One of the tow captains helped us tie up and then invited us to visit the flybridge of his tow.  There are no services here but we are grateful for a place to tie up for the night, and we can run the generator!  They charge $1.00/ft (cash only), so Joyce made the big climb up the steps to the office.  This setting just adds to the adventure we are having!

The ELCO - we toured this towboat
before it went back out to work!

There are three other Loopers here: Bama Belle, Attitude Changer, and Catmandu.  They arrived earlier in the afternoon and were here to greet us.

We had chili for dinner, then Bill plotted the course for tomorrow. Our plan is to make the long trip to Grafton. It is supposed to rain, but the forecast for Saturday is heavy winds, and we would like to get there before that and stay a few days.  If not, we can go to Hardin and tie up at a restaurant overnight. The other Loopers that are here are planning to do that anyway since it is closer.

We have heard good news that Lock 27 at Granite City is now open but there are reportedly over 44 tow boats lined up and only six got through today. There are Loopers stacked up in Alton, St. Charles and Grafton, so we will be part of that as well, delaying our planned arrival into Green Turtle Bay. 

September 19, 2012  Day 131      Peoria, IL      Total miles to date:  2596.0

Let’s see – this is night #6 in Peoria!  The boat has been rocking all day long in 20 to 30 mph winds! No other boats showed up today but that is not a surprise. This would not have been a good day to be out on the water. 

We had a very nice offer from the staff that runs the Spirit of Peoria River Cruise Boat that is docked here. They brought their hoses down to our boat and filled our water tank! We were so grateful for that as we were getting very low on water.  Joyce also received a wonderful offer from college friends Cindy and Dave Brown to drive over from Bloomington-Normal to take her to WalMart. That was so appreciated.  One hour in WalMart was productive enough to fill the back of their SUV.  Many thanks to Cindy and Dave for taking time out of their busy day to take Joyce grocery shopping! It is nice to know there are many good people out there!!

Another full day with the diesel mechanic.  But, at 6:45 pm the starboard engine started and no white smoke appeared!  At 7:30 he wrapped up everything and called it a success.   Hooray!!

Joyce spent some time calling marinas this morning and planning the next few days. Other Loopers have made it into Tall Timbers Marina in Havana, IL but the owner told us that really don’t have enough depth for us and he would not advise stopping there. So that means a 74 mile trip to Beardstown where we will tie up to a barge at Logsdon Tug Service. There are no services there but we will be able to tie up for the night a $1/foot. It is a common stop for Loopers!  After that we will make another long trip to Grafton, IL which is a large, full service marina. Our first stop there will be at their fuel dock!

We have been waiting for news updates of Lock 27 by Granite City which was closed earlier this week. We have heard that it may be 7-10 days and we have heard it may be only one more day until it reopens. We like the latter idea! The tows with barges are backing up on the Illinois River as are the pleasure boats.  Even if we had gotten that far, we would be stopped there – so we were stopped in Peoria instead!

 

September 18, 2012  Day 130      Peoria, IL      Total miles to date:  2596.0

We are now on night #5 in Peoria!  I think we may have to start paying property tax here or at least change our voters’ registration.  Once again the Loopers who arrived yesterday (Attitude Changer and Bama Belle) departed this morning.  (Spending one night on the Peoria River Walk wall is normal). 

Joyce did more reading to pass the time.  She also walked five blocks to what she was told was a grocery store to find out it was less than a mini-mart.  She came back empty handed but at least got a little exercise. (There is a WalMart across the river. That means taking two city buses each way and she wasn’t sure it was worth it!)

Bill spent another day in the engine room with the Caterpillar mechanic who installed the new gasket.  The engine had to be taken apart so it is a long process.  We will definitely be here again tomorrow!  Once the engine is back together they have to put fluids in and run tests, etc… Bill is pleased with the expertise of the mechanic and the fact that he is meticulous.  We are now hoping to leave Thursday!

Joyce managed to get a roast in the crock pot before the work began this morning, so that made dinner easier.

We are posting a picture of the broken gasket – an obviously break in the center! 



Our blown gasket!

 

An Asian Carp hunter boat pulled into the dock this evening.
Notice the nets to protect the crew! They use bows to spear the fish!

September 17, 2012  Day 129      Peoria, IL      Total miles to date:  2596.0



Early morning fog!

Yes, our fourth night in Peoria!  This is getting redundant.  Other Loopers, The Zone and Why Knot left by mid-morning after the fog cleared and once again we were alone.  But by late afternoon, Attitude Changer and Bama Belle had arrived to take their place. 

The Riverfront area is considerably quiet today since it is Monday.  Joyce did some reading to pass the time. When the stairs are up to the engine room, access to the galley is blocked, which was the case most of the day.

In the meantime, Bill spent the day in the engine room with the Caterpillar mechanic who diagnosed our “starboard engine with the white smoke problem”. (You can tell which one of us writes the blog!) After ruling out some potential causes, he discovered it was a bad gasket – not a good thing to hear – we were hoping for something minor!  Hopefully the parts are available and they can get everything replaced soon.  We will definitely be here again tomorrow and maybe Wednesday.

We had dinner on board (frozen pizza does come in handy sometimes!) and watched television, something we have done very little of since we have been on the Loop.

September 16, 2012  Day 128      Peoria, IL      Total miles to date:  2596.0

Yes, our third night in Peoria! The four other Loopers who were here yesterday left this morning as expected.  We had a productive day by ourselves. Bill fixed the forward head and the Electroscan and Joyce did some cleaning.   She also talked to Sarah on Our Time to catch up on their news, to find they are in Grand Haven.

Two more Loopers, Ross and Laura on The Zone and Darrell and Lisa on Why Knot, arrived about 4:00 and we made arrangements for dinner at 5:30. Most of the restaurants near the River Walk were closed on Sunday so we went to Joe’s Crab Shack. We had fun sharing stories of our Looping experiences, from customs to going through locks, etc. We first met The Zone in Britt, Ontario, and we first met Why Knot in Charlevoix, so it was nice to see them again!

Darrell & Lisa , Ross & Laura, Joyce & Bill

We will have the starboard engine inspected early tomorrow morning and until we know the outcome of the findings, we cannot make plans. The weather does not sound great anyway so we will have to wait and see what that brings.

September 15, 2012  Day 127      Peoria, IL      Total miles to date:  2596.0

Saturday at the Peoria Riverfront was a busy place. Boats constantly came in and out of the harbor area.  Many people were just out walking and stopped by to ask us how we got from Williamsburg to Peoria. So, it was a lesson in geography as we traced our general path for them.  We were happy to greet more Loopers who arrived in Peoria today: Attitude Adjustment, Betty L, Copesetic Too, and Louise.

Copesetic Too arriving

These Asian Carp just fly up on the dock
when a boat goes by -
glad they are the small ones!

We walked down to the Riverfront Market which is held on Saturday mornings.  They have a typical farmers market, plus baked items, pottery, crafts, etc. We stocked up on a few things and chatted with some of the vendors.  We went back to the boat and spent time cleaning the boat and working on maintenance projects. 


 We are docked near the
paddlewheel tour boat, The Spirit of Peoria

Four of Joyce’s college friends, Daryle, Alan, Cindy, and Dave who live fairly near Peoria came to visit us this afternoon. After a boat tour, and relaxing over appetizers, we all went out to dinner. It was so good to see them again. We enjoyed sharing our Loop adventure with them and listening to their travels in Europe.

We will stay in Peoria until at least Monday morning when we have our starboard engine issues inspected.

Dinner with college friends,
Daryle & Alan and Cindy & Dave