Saturday and
Sunday 19 and 20 August 2017
What’s on the other side?
While wandering along the winding waterway of the Illinois River,
we would occasionally come to a short area devoid of vegetation on the bank and
would get a glimpse over the river bank of something like a power plant way off
in the distance. It became evident that
unlike some rivers we have traversed where there is little but more trees and
undergrowth for miles beyond the banks, the trees along this river were simply
a thin screen hiding what lay beyond. A
quick Google Earth check showed vast areas of land under cultivation which
justified the presence of the truly large grain loading ports which their
immense silos we saw along the river from time to time.
Our run up the river Saturday from Havana, IL to Peoria was pretty
uneventful with us doing a float through of the Peoria lock which was open and
waiting for us. Then we got held up by a
railroad bridge while the railroad people messed about with a few rail cars
they were shuttling back and forth. I
got ticked off when they would not respond to radio calls on the usual channels
and finally put out on the emergency and hailing channel, “Is there anybody out
there who knows how to get this railroad bridge operator to respond?” THAT got his attention, and he told me the
bridge would be raised shortly.
We ended up at the Illinois Valley Yacht and Canoe Club, known as
IVY. It is a nice facility, but the
dining room was closed due to parties scheduled for the room. I kindly member came by and took Mary a few
miles away to a store where she could purchase a few necessities. Then we satisfied ourselves with some snack
bar food.
Underway on Sunday the 20th and the leisurely hour of
0800 saw us make a good run of 55 miles running around 7.5 MPH average. We moored in a 20 foot long slip with our
stern sticking into the river at the South Shore Boat Club in Peru, IL. The place, like a lot of boating/yacht clubs
up here is member supported with this one having a decidedly less affluent
looking membership than yesterday’s experience
Nice people who were interested in the boat, huge by their standards,
and where we had been.
Tomorrow, Monday, will see us out of here early and running right
through the eclipse of the sun which will see us getting about 89% of the
eclipse effects. We have 49 miles of
waterway and three locks to negotiate to get to Harborside Marina in Wilmington
from which point it should be a one-day run of fifty miles and two locks for us
to get into Lake Michigan at the Chicago waterfront. The problem is that the weather is supposed
to deteriorate with thunderstorms tomorrow night through the first half of
Tuesday. Additionally, our planned Wednesday
run from Chicago across Lake Michigan to Michigan City, IN, our final
destination, would be complicated by brisk winds from the north meaning
possibly rough seas. Thursday looks much
better with nine MPH winds from the east predicted. So we are thinking of spending an extra day
at Harborside Marina to let the weather pass by, assuming we can get there
tomorrow.
