Dropping the lines
Thursday, September 14th. After taking one more day to do more planning and plotting, we officially ‘dropped our lines’ to begin our Great Loop adventure.
Taken at the Peoria Boat Club dock right before leaving.
Once we were out in the Illinois River, we knew our first lock experience was only 5 miles away. The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers regulate the lock and dams and the Peoria Lock&Dam Operator took us under his wing. (We had let him know this was our first lock via the vhf radio.) There was a barge locking through in front of us so the L&D Operator said we could tie up to the holding—very big—steel dock. We sure are glad we bought the huge ball fenders recommended when going through locks! Locking through was a breeze as we chatted with another L&D Operator while locking down about 10 feet. According to this fellow, he had heard there were 300 looper boats waiting above the scheduled four lock closures for maintenance just north of Peoria. This is why we chose Peoria to launch due to the estimated maintenance completion date of September 30th. The rumor now is the date may slip a couple of weeks to mid-October. This must be so frustrating for all the loopers stuck on the other side. The AGLCA has announced many times on their website for boats to register so they can coordinate with the Army Corps of Engineersto lock through boats on a schedule. We anticipate there will be numerous boats around by mid-October.
As we moseyed down the river we took in how calm and serene our day turned out to be. As we passed under a railroad lift bridge the lift operator waved and shouted for us to have a great trip. It was that quiet of a day. After 39.7 miles we originally thought we would tie up to the Havana Nature Center’s free dock but half the dock was on shore due to the low water level. Plan B was to anchor behind Quiver Island which was right by. There was NO quiver in the water whatsoever—picture below. We had a lovely evening with spaghetti dinner and a glass of wine.
Quiver Island anchorage
Friday, September 15. We continued down the river—much the same experience calm and quiet. The LaGrange Lock came into view approximately 40 miles down river. We were allowed to float through without tying to the side—very easy and met with another friendly lock crew. We thought we would anchor again and chose Buckhorn Island to anchor behind. When we began our entry, the water level dropped significantly and we stirred up a bit of mud. Recalculating quickly Darth backed up without incident. Looking at the options, we decided if we sped up we could make it to Mel’s Riverside Restaurant with a $20 fee to dock overnight. This sounded pretty good as we heard the brisket they serve is amazing. As we were heading down river we spotted a fellow looper flying the white burgee so we slowed down to say hello. They are from North Dakota aboard their boat Island Time, going slow and said they were heading to an anchorage that was 11 miles from Mel’s. We opted to continue to Mel’s as planned and hoped to see them sometime soon. The brisket did not dissappoint—pictured below. We had a very quiet night on their 100’ dock right on the river.
Mel’s brisket. For the record we had leftovers—so good.
Normally this dock would be full this time of year.
Saturday, September 16. We left Mel’s and decided to stop at Alton Marina only 31.8 miles away, taking it slow to take advantage of better fuel economy. This part of our jouney brought us to the Mississippi River. As we continued, we spotted the Our Lady of the Rivers Shrine—named for the fact that three major rivers: Illinois, Missouri and Mississippi, intersect within a few miles from the site. The history on the rivers is continual and exactly what interested us to take this trip. This statue is huge and reading from their website, an annual Blessing of the Fleet Parade is a big tourist attraction.
Our Lady of the River Shrine
We arrived at Alton Marina late afternoon and found out the Mississippi Earthtones Festival was happening right next to the marina. A fellow on our dock told us the band Jake’s Leg plays a tribute to The Grateful Dead—he also raved about the street corn, beer, and atmosphere that we didn’t want to miss. Honestly, it was the street corn that had us intrigued… its all about the food. : ) Beer was great, street corn delicious, and watching the people enjoy this local band we thoroughly enjoyed.
Jake’s Leg Band, seriously thought more men were dancing alone than women. Just an observation. : )
Today we plan to see the town of Alton, and head out tomorrow morning—destination to be determined.