Wednesday, September 08. 2010 Location: Grafton, Il

Arrived early, at midday, since we only had 20 miles to travel. Filled up our fuel tanks as places to purchase it will be sparse on the Mississippi River.

Enjoyed happy hour with looper couples we had come to know and others we met for the first time. Some are just beginning their journey and others are soon to complete the loop. But we all have so much in common and can really share in the experience.

Tomorrow we will rent a car and drive the 20 miles to city of St Louis as they have no marinas there and, otherwise, we would have to bypass the city. We’ll spend the day touring and also pick up an ordered water pump from West Marine. Ours is beginning to sound as if it is on its last leg and certainly don’t want to be without water. We’ll have it in case we have to replace it.

Friday, September 10 Location: St. Louis, Il

Our first stop was to visit the Gateway Arch which signifies the westward expansion of the U.S. It’s our nation’s tallest monument, built 40 years ago, and reaches 630 feet. We took the capsule like tram to the top for a view and some photos, toured the museum, and watched the movie of the construction of the Arch. We knew little about it before this and is so much more impressive when you are standing at the bottom looking up. Absolutely fascinating!

We toured the old Union Station, which was a major railroad station from 1880 – 1975, and admired the architectural design; is now used for an indoor mall with, unfortunately, quite a few empty stores.

a new looper?

Then, off to the St Louis Zoo for the next several hours. The predicted rain bypassed us and left us with the perfect day for visiting our outdoor friends. We were pleasantly surprised, that in today’s economy, admission was free.

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.

This is why the radar and mast were lowered.

Tuesday, 31 August, 2010 Location: Joliet, Il

There’s additional new info..a lock 131 miles south of our location, the Peoria Lock and Dam, is closed Mon-thru Sat 7am to 5pm for maintenance, open only between 5pm and 7am and all day on Sunday thru October….This is going to make our journey even more exciting..a major backlog with commercial barges having priority over personal watercraft. We cannot travel this route in the dark, so plan on waiting our turn, for however long it takes, this Sunday.

in Joliet

Once we found out the hours at the Peoria Lock were reduced and the likelihood of us not being able to lock through until Sunday, a perfect opportunity was created to get reacquainted with a wonderful coworker of mine (Tiki) when I worked in Chicago reservations with Eastern Air Lines. Donna and I had been keeping tabs on one another since the beginning of our trip, trying to work out a rendezvous – this was perfect, and she and her husband, Bill, did not mind the 3 hour drive to visit us. They arrived early afternoon, we talked and talked some more, then had a great dinner buffet at Harrah’s Casino right across the river from where we have tied up. Thank you, Donna and Bill, for a great visit. I know we will see you in Tampa. (Mary, know you are jealous, but we did wish you were with us.)

Tuesday, August 31, 2010 Location: Joliet, Il

After locking through our first “Lock” southbound, adjacent to the Navy Pier, we began our trip into the heart of downtown Chicago travelling under 40 bridges in the first 5 miles amongst the towering buildings. It was truly awesome. 9:00 in the morning and the city was abuzz with cars and people going about their business. We hope the many pictures we took help to show the beauty of the sun lighting up the buildings as we passed through this beautiful city that we lived in 38 years ago.

In total, we passed under 55miles before we reached the junction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal where we continued south and the river quickly changed to industrial waterway with numerous barges being pushed by a tug. We experienced several anxious moments when we passed a train four barges long and two wide, and also seeing more barges up ahead along the river wall. The tugs control the river. We always ask them what they want us to do. This is their domain and they set the rules. We have circled in the river for up to 30 minutes while they reposition a barge on or off their grouping and have been assured that this will be repeated quite frequently and, possibly, for greater time periods. What an education we are getting in all phases of boating.

Along this same route there is a half mile area where a permanent electrical barrier has been installed designed to prevent and the slow the spread of invasive fish species, known as Carp. Boats were only permitted to enter one at a time and we had to stay inside for safety. We recently learned that the Carp could grow to as much as 100 lbs which would create a significant safety problem for boaters. The sound of the boat motors causes to Carp to jump out of the water, oftentimes landing in the boat and causing injury to boats as well as boaters.

At one of our southbound locks, we were advised we would have an approximate two hour delay while a tow with several barges has to separate half of his barges for lock passage…then comes back and get the other half and locks it through…then connects the two halves back together. So, wait we did without incident and made to our tie up rather early for the night.

Monday, August 30 , 2010 Location: Chicago, Il

After numerous attempts we were able to obtain dock space in Chicago harbor, arriving early Saturday am.

As soon as we were settled, we headed out on foot for Michigan Ave and walked north as far as the John Hancock building – about 4 miles with a stop along the way for some lunch. Our walk included the section known as Millionaire mile which is where you find many of the upscale stores. Chicago is one of our most favorite cities and being there again brought back so many happy memories. We re-visited the Water Tower Hyatt Hotel where we celebrated our 10th anniversary while living here in 1981 and passed through many shops. On Sunday, we toured the Adler Planetarium located adjacent to the marina, but time did not permit a visit to the Aquarium and Science Museum that were also on the grounds. This is cause for another visit in the future. Sunday evening we celebrated our return to Chicago after all these years with a spectacular dinner at Lawry’s Prime Rib restaurant with friends. A very special treat for anyone visiting this wonderful city.

The city streets and bike paths were constantly busy with thousands of people just out and about and enjoying the beautiful “hot” weather before their winter arrives. This city never sleeps and they definitely have a beautiful city to enjoy. It’s sad saying goodbye to this grand place.