On Sunday Oct 29, our leader Dave on Hygge (pronounced Hewguh, Scandanavian for cozy life if you’re wondering) herded us all into the lock at Brandon Road at 0730, what he called “civil daybreak” - when it’s somewhat light out but the sun has not yet risen. There were eight of us traveling in company - one of the vessels that had arrived in Joliet the night before decided to wait for friends on other boats before moving on. We split up four per each side of the lock while the lock descended about thirty feet. One lock down!
At the next lock (Dresden) we ended up having to wait a couple of hours while many barges and a few tows moved through both upbound and downbound before they let us in. Most of us just anchored off to the side while we waited our turn.
In the lock we all ended up on the same side, four boats along the wall and four rafted one each to them. It was approaching late afternoon when we got to our last lock at Marseilles, where we split and rafted in a similar formation as the first lock. By this time the baton of leader had been passed to Dan because he was literally leading the flotilla, and because he was at ease as well as familiar with communicating with the tows we encountered along the way. We got through Marseilles, and as ‘civil twilight’ moved into night time, everyone headed over to Heritage Harbor Marina where Kristy calmly talk us into our slips with the friendly familiarity of someone who knows what Loopers go through moving from Joliet through those first three locks. The Marina had many deckhands waiting to help tie us all up and help get our power connected; the end of this long day couldn’t have gone any smoother. At 8:00 that evening, Kristy’s husband Jeremy, the harbor master, held a two hour seminar on what we needed to know about the next ten days of our Great Loop journey. We sat with notebooks, busily taking in all the information about towboats and anchorages, towns and marinas, from Heritage Harbor all the way to Paducah KY. Most helpful! A big shout out to the folks at Heritage Harbor Marina for all they do for Great Loopers!
On Monday, two of our flotilla decided to stay an extra day, and the one vessel who had considered joining us ended up staying behind as well to deal with some engine troubles, so we were down to six. We were up and out at civil daybreak, to travel the six hour-ish journey through the Starved Rock lock to the small town of Henry, where we all spent the night at a rugged but very friendly little family-run marina that once was itself an old lock. It consists of a small basin with several slips and a long concrete seawall.
The smaller of our flotilla spent the night in the basin while those of us longer than thirty feet stayed along the rock wall. Dan and I walked up the hill into the charming little town of Henry and had drinks and dinner at Grandma’s Bar and Grill. (How could we pass up such a place?) We inquired after Grandma and were told she would be checking in at some point. Expecting an octogenarian, we discovered the forty-ish woman who stopped at our table asking if we were boaters, was Grandma. By the way, they had excellent burgers and fries.
Tuesday morning (Oct 31) we were down to four vessels in our flotilla. One stayed behind in Henry, the other opted for a different destination than the rest of of us. Today was forecast to be the coldest day we’d all encountered so far, with not just freeze warnings, but very windy, and possibly accompanied by snow. We all set off for Peoria, where a free dock with electricity for our night time heaters awaited. The dock was indeed there, but none of the pedestals had working electricity. What can you do. Dan and I set up our propane heater and tossed another sleeping bag on the bed. We went into town to take a swing through the Riverfront Museum and then the visitor center/museum of Caterpillar next door. It was too late in the day to consider doing more than looking at what was free to peruse (the entrance lobbies and the gift shops) but it was a warm respite from the wind and snow flurries outside. We went out to dinner that evening in a nice little restaurant right next to the river, along with Dave and Nancy from Hygge and Matt and Kathy from Katmat.
Today we all traveled through the Peoria Lock and on to an anchorage at Quiver Island, near the little town of Havana, Illinois. It was an easy day - a half-day’s cruise, and our first anchorage together. Dan created a group text to brainstorm the next few days’ cruising plans. I think we’ll be traveling in company for a while. We are all looking forward to being in warmer weather, including Tommie. Here she's found a warm spot on the dashboard.
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