The Illinois River

 TRAVEL DAY 123 - Ottawa to Henry

October 12, 2023

7.38 Hours/ 45.3 Miles

    With the 3 locks and Chicago behind us, we were determined to make some miles. The Illinois River varies between being very industrial to somewhat isolated. Betty our trusty Volvo enjoys the 1+ mph current as she doesn't have to work as hard to maintain a fast speed. Fast to us is the 9.6+/- mph we are doing versus the 7.5 - 8 mph she would be normally be making.

    

Doe by the river

    Our travel day got us to Henry Marina, which is an old lock on the river. There is an interior basin with docks but with low river levels, it is too shallow for most of the Looper boats. Instead, the larger boats tie up to the interior old stone wall of the lock with a protective barrier of the outer stone lock wall minimizing the wakes from passing commercial and recreational traffic. This old lock was built in 1870 and was the first lock on the Illinois River. 

  

Tied up in the Old Lock (Henry Marina)

    Upon getting to Henry Marina, we had to go past the entrance, turn 180 degrees up river into the current and enter the narrow slot. We chose to go in nearly last to raft next to another boat so that all of our group could tie up. The new owners of Henry Marina were fantastic as they helped us coordinate the entry and get us all tied up and secure. Another long travel day, our group toasted our locking success and walked into town for dinner.

   

Ottawa to Henry

TRAVEL DAY 124 - Henry to Peoria

October 13, 2023

3.35 Hours/ 28.6 Miles

    Our crew was thankful for a short day as we one by one "peeled" off of each other and the old lock wall into the current of the Illinois River. Once out of the narrow opening, we moved about 150' to avoid the shoal and turned south to continue on to Peoria. 

 

Pau Hana

    The crew of Pau Hana originally planned to stay at a free dock in Peoria but then opted to stay at IVY (Illinois Valley Yacht Club) to be with the flotilla and get some much needed fuel and a pump out. We had been pushing hard and used much more fuel than we normally do.

 

Barges lining the riverbank

    At Peoria, the clouds set in and we weren't able to beat the rain as we one by one called IVY and got slip assignments. We wanted to get to the fuel dock before tying up but there were too many boats ahead of us. The plan instead was to move to the fuel dock early the next day prior to departure.

  

Dinner with the River Rats

    Near dark a group of us Uber'd to Peoria to a steakhouse for a hearty dinner. The tough travel schedule was starting to catch up with us and we "crashed" in our bunks.

  

Henry to Peoria

TRAVEL DAY 125 - Peoria to La Grange

October 14, 2023

9.73 Hours/ 87.9 Miles

    At 7:30 am we moved to the fuel dock for a pump out & quick top off of diesel. Now the F6 Flotilla leader, I coordinated with the other boats of F5 Flotilla so that we could all get through the Peoria Lock an hour down river. Unfortunately, though their leader agreed to that, they secretly moved down river quickly and locked through without us. It was an unnecessary move as they could have waited for us and we would see them down the river. 

  

Peoria Lock

   Our flotilla now is down to 3 boats, the F6 River Rats as we have named ourselves. Our crew enjoys traveling with the 2 other boats, Sidetrip (met in Leland, MI) and Runaway (met in Savanah, GA). We lost a 4th member when they mistakenly traveled outside of the channel shortly after leaving Peoria and had a possible problem with their prop. The River Rats miss "Better Together" and hope they can catch up. 

 

Remnants from another old Illinois River Lock

    Today was the longest travel day we have had and we had a lofty goal to make it through the La Grange Lock and anchor below it for the night. Barges, barges and more barges as we passed each one down river, chatting on the radio with each one of them. Every tow captain has been friendly and helpful. "See you on the one whistle Cap!"

 

Passing on the 1

    Passing the mutineers that left us behind at Peoria and about an hour from dark, we made it to the LaGrange Lock.  we hovered outside the upstream lock doors. A few conversations with the Lockmaster and I determined that there was no way to make it through the lock before sunset and we did not want to have to set an anchor in the dark. The lock was half way into a double tow which meant it would be at least another hour and a half before we could enter. I called the Lockmaster and told him we would anchor here for the night and call him first thing in the morning to secure a time to lock through. Suddenly the crew of Runaway experienced a transmission problem as the starboard engine would not go into gear. 

  

Pau Hana

    I moved the Troll up river some and dropped the hook about 45' from shore in a slight curve of the river bank. In 12' of water and our nose to the current, I could feel that our Mantus sunk well into the mud bottom and we were securely in place. We guided Runaway in beside us as he maneuvered the boat on 1 engine and the bow thruster, then Sidetrip dropped his anchor and tied alongside of Runaway. With 2 anchors down we were secure for the night in the waterway. 

 

Troubleshooting the shifter (Runaway)

    I helped Runaway pull his shifters out of the console and we secured some of the wire connections. This seemed to solve the situation.  An hour of docktales and again we crashed hard into our bunk. The crew slept soundly and secure with an anchor alarm set just in case the anchor pulled.

  

Peoria to La Grange

TRAVEL DAY 126 - La Grange to Hardin

October 15, 2023

6.7 Hours/ 60 Miles

    At about 1:15 am I was awakened by a significant wake hitting our 3 boat anchorage. An upbound tug passed quietly to our port and left us with an early wake up call. At 6:15 am I called the Lockmaster. He replied, "Cap, I have one coming downbound, and as soon as I get him through, I will turn the lock around for you, give us about 45 minutes." I made the call to the River Rats and at sunrise we had anchors up and we were floating by the lock doors waiting for a green light.

 

A good sign

    Our boats were able to get into the lock quickly and only our 3 vessels were lowered. The doors opened and at the horn we dropped the wall lines and headed out in single file in the order we went in. We continued to meet quite a few tows on this busy river, constantly checking the Simrad for AIS signals. Not long into the trip, Runaway's starboard transmission failed not engage and he had to make the journey on a single engine. With Pau Hana in the lead, Sidetrip stayed behind Runaway to monitor his progress in case something went wrong.    

  

The Crew gets a promotion

    A few hours in I let the deck crew take over boat operation so I could take a shower before we landed in Hardin. The scenery on the river is a little better on this stretch as we pass secluded areas and then old industrial structures.

 

Free dock at Hardin

   We made the free dock at Hardin, each vessel helping the next get tied up so that everyone had a spot for the night. We let Runaway have the dock first as he was the least maneuverable. Space was running out on the main dock but Pau Hana was able to tie up at the smaller City Dock just behind. Small boat wins again. There was no electric or water connection but it's always nice to be secured to shore. Our crews walked up the hill to Mel's for dinner. After our meal, we worked on Runaway's shifters again hoping we could get it fixed. I finally made a call to a mechanic friend and he walked us through some trouble shooting steps. He then said he would send a gauge to our next stop so that we could do more extensive troubleshooting and hopefully get the situation resolved. 

 

La Grange to Hardin