Wednesday, September 08, 2010 Location: Grafton, Il (about 20 mi no of St. Louis)

Sunday, September 05, 2010


We left our marina at 0730 this morning for the Peoria Lock. Shortly after we arrived, there were
6 pleasure craft waiting passage along with barge units under tow. The lock master advised us there would be an approximate 2 hour wait as a northbound tug and his barges had to complete the lock through.
We soon were on our way down the Illinois River again… this part of Illinois is mile after mile of corn
fields..most of the barge cargo is grain southbound and coal northbound to fire electric power plants.

Monday, September 06, 2010

Today, we tied up at a very unusual marina..working barges and tugs. We were lucky to have

our dockage in Beardstown, Il

a tug captain that gave us an extensive tour of a working tug. This size tug usually pushes 15 barges,

3 wide and 5 long..a tremendous amount of weight. We learned that the tug has a rudder in front of

the propellers as well as behind the propellers… both independent of the other, this design provides

the same control in reverse as in forward…plus the ability to move the tug boat directly sideways.

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

We are now 215 miles south of Chicago and tomorrow will be at the junction where it joins the
Mississippi River.

We can see that fall is in the air even if the weather is still HOT! The leaves on some of the trees have begun to change their color giving us still another change in the scenery. Every day seems to bring a change. The homes on this stretch of the Illinois River are built on stilts and very high to protect them from the river’s flooding. Many of the trees along the riverfront are standing with their trunks fully exposed due to high water; just 2 weeks ago this river was 12 feet higher than today. Erosion over the last two years of unusually high water levels has uprooted so many trees on the river banks. It is a shame that such a beautiful waterway is losing so many trees at such a fast rate.

in Hardin, Il

We have kept in touch with several boats that we travelled with in the past. Some are still “trying” to work their way down the east side of Lake Michigan. Per some locals, the weather up there is more like November weather and kept them marina bound until maybe Thursday. Even the car ferry, the Badger, cancelled service for 2 days due to extreme gusts and 10 to 12 foot waves. We were fortunate to follow

the advice of the route books and advance to Chicago before the winter winds started in September. They seem to be strong this year with over 50 deaths from rip-tide currents in Michigan this year.  One person was even swept off the breakwater in Ludington by a 20ft wave.