Kate joined us about noon and took us to Avanti's, a cool Italian restaurant, for lunch. It was great meeting her after a couple of years of corresponding thru a small writers' group we both belong too. Check out her crazy quilt in the photo gallery. This gal has way too much talent for one person!

10/18/04- Monday, time to haul and fix the prop...

Lower leg of the Illinois

In retrospect...

Being stuck in Seneca was particularly hard on Ruth. Communications were bad, the weather was cold, windy and rainy, and we had no assurance as to when we'd be able to change the propeller. Once we got moving again things improved.

As we progressed down the river we found that the fixed prop allowed the engine to rev higher - almost 3,900 rpm. At that number we regained the lost boat speed over water.  After we got to Mobile we remounted the feathering prop and the rpm dropped again, though we didn't regain our original boat speed (different bottom paint?). I think the prop is a little too aggressive at 22 degrees.

The lower leg of the Illinois was much more rural and more pleasant. By now we were more comfortable with the tows - yet still respectful.

There was still a lack of safe havens for over-nighting - an issue we learned to live with most of the trip. Communication also remained a struggle. Cellular is designed for cities and highways - period!

Breaking all the rules

From our vantage point, tied to a trawler tied to a towboat being overhauled, we look downstream at three co-travelers rafted off a work-barge in a small terminal. Not recommended, but the next haven is hours away and we all arrived after dark due to lock delays. Thankfully the terminal extended safe haven to the group (good people make a difference).

10/20/04- Wednesday, Richard Hamms, proprietor, committed to an 8am lift. About 9 we hoisted and found the cause of our problems. The prop was snared in about 100 feet of heavy monofilament fish line. Apparently we had picked this up in Manitowoc or Port Washington - about the time the prop started acting up. It got on the shaft, around the prop and into the prop mechanism. I'm surprised the prop reversed at all! I couldn't move it by hand. We cut the line away and switched to to fixed three blade prop. Note to Miles, we lost .7 knot of the top end at 3,300 rpm. The feathering prop at 22 degrees appears to be more efficient! At least we don't have to worry about loosing reverse.

We tied to the public docks in downtown Peoria, 17 miles downstream from Hamms'. The dock is a no-no for overnight, but can't reach any of the marinas that are supposedly overnight havens. They don't answer their phones or the radio. We are sharing the dock with a 30-something powerboat that grounded trying to enter one of these marinas even though they couldn't contact them. Apparently the river is at one of it's lower stages.

We had a late lunch at Joe's Crab Shack (a chain) and walked the waterfront. It's one of the nicest downtowns we visited. Visited the public library and logged on to the internet to research and perform some transactions (our boat internet connection is too slow for anything other than basic e-mail). We shared the dock with a couple of guys taking a 35' Silverton Cruiser to Kentucky Lake. They were hauling gasoline down in 5 gallon cans due to the low water blocking their access to marinas (Hamm's was out of gasoline, only had diesel... lucky for us!).

10/21/04 - Thursday morning Ruth went to visit a paper mill while I cleaned up the boat. We left the dock at 9:15am enroute for Bath Chute, mm113, the only recommended place between Peoria and Alton, IL that could accommodate our 5' 3"draft. Our other two choices were silted in this year.

Our sole lock, Peoria, took us on arrival. After an 8' drop things were looking good.

It was yet another gray day - haven't seen the sun since the day we arrived in Hammond. The waterfowl didn't seem to mind, we saw 6 bald eagles and as many very large hawks in addition to pelicans, shrikes, heron, great blue heron and a variety of ducks.

Instead of Thursday it should have been called "tows' day". We passed 4 or 5 down-bound and met twice that number up-bound. A lockmaster told us that it's getting to the time of year when the upper Mississippi boats start switching to the Illinois River. A pair of meeting tows danced for a hour trying to squeeze by each other immediately behind us. One had intentionally pushed up on a mud bank to make room for the other - problem was the channel still wasn't wide enough. The tows are ponderous, we've seen it take 45 minutes for one to negotiate a turn in the river - talk about patience.

We got to Bath Chute about 3pm as planned, averaging about 10 knots when we were running without traffic. The chute was silted to about 2 1/2 foot deep. We had to find a hidey-hole for the night in the next two hours. We tried three little sloughs as we drove south - all were way to shallow. Ruth located a towboat dock in Beardstown and we headed there. It was somewhat protected by a railroad bridge but was right off the channel. A houseboat, trawler and cruiser had already taken shelter there. One suggested a low barge moored at the bridge. It was way too on the channel for me. I'd rather risk running downstream all night - figuring on dropping in behind a tow at 2 - 3 knots. The trawler radioed and offered a raft-off so we were soon tied along side him. It was manned by three Canadians heading to the Bahamas. After supper they invited us for drinks. Their stories, including beaching in the North Channel after holing the boat on a rock, would fill a book.

At daybreak we headed south, now part of a 5 boat convoy. Channel 13 was on one handheld radio to track the tow traffic and 68 was on the other for convoy chatter. Slowly we were integrated into the group. At mm81 we had a two hour wait for a tow in the LaGrange lock. A nine foot drop and we we moving again. The lock delays make your travel time totally unpredictable.

With our last Illinois waterway lock behind us the flotilla could plan ahead. It was 120 miles to the next marina that could accommodate us - that would mean running in the dark. No way! One of the boats had done the trip before and knew Dockside Restaurant had deep water - though along the shoreline. He phoned ahead and reserved 200' of dock space and made dinner reservations.

We motored south observing bald headed eagles and a wide variety of waterfowl. The sky remained gray but the temperature had risen into the 60's. Ruth and I carved jack-o-lanterns for Halloween as we followed the flotilla.  At 5:30 we arrived at Dockside to find some of the space occupied by a 60+ footer. After some creating docking we were rafted off a 50' trawler named Heart of Gold. We finally got to meet the crews of the other boats. We already knew Fred, Kay and Terry from Love Story from the night before. Quickly we met the folks from Good Times, Heart Of Gold and a houseboat. Over a delicious dinner we heard stories of stormy Michigan crossings (I swear I heard the houseboat tell of rolling over) and adventures with barges. Where to fuel was the number 1 topic (we carry enough for about 600 miles). Those who'd made the trip before shared anchorages, marina and waterway tips.

After dinner we retired to the dock for more conversation. C.J. and Tootsie, Good Times, had their grandson along. He was having a problem with an 8th grade algebra assignment and had a call into his teacher. Ruth volunteered me though I warned it had been a long time since 8th grade. It's amazing what you remember. I was able to give him some tips that resulted in his working out the problems. Now if I could just remember my name.

10/23/04- Saturday dawned warm and gray. It had rained lightly most of the night. A humid balmy wind was blowing upstream as we pushed off in the haze. The flotilla had 80 miles to cover. We only had 40 as we were stopping in Alton, IL to pick up mail and some electronics that were being sent there. With no locks left on the Illinois we covered the 20 miles to the Mississippi River in a little over two hours. The sun was breaking through regularly and the temperature rose to the high 60's. Boy that felt good!

On the "Big Muddy" we started encountering sailboats - many our size - SAILING! Was that cool! The water was deeper (26'), the tows larger, and the powerboats faster. Two large cruisers passed on plane throwing off 5' wakes - again proving that the size of one's boat and brain are not necessarily correlated. Most boaters slowed to pass or be passed thereby avoiding the dangers of tossing the crews around.

By noon we reached our marina, just above the Alton lock. The radio chattered with good byes as we left our new friends. Alton Marina, run by Skipper Bud's, is quite the operation - hot tub (open), floating pool (closed for the season), and everything else you could want - short of a service facility... and all this just a short walk from a Casino boat. Oh boy!

10/24/04- Sunday is a down day for us. One of our packages didn't arrive so we'll be here until Monday. Time to walk, do laundry, fix a few things, and add cargo straps to hold the mast tighter. Gary, a guest on PMS (Pack My Stuff) graciously offered to take us to a hardware store and automotive store to pick up some parts and the straps.

It's warm enough that Buddy can be outside and he's taken advantage of the opportunity to make new friends around the marina.