Friends in low (water level) places!

 Monday 5/19:

     There's nothing like starting a week out on a quiet note! At least the geese thought so! 

    Monday really was a quiet day. I did boat projects, Amy worked, and then we walked downtown for ice cream! 

Tuesday 5/20:

    This turned out to be a long day. We were up and out the door by 0630. I had to take Amy to the train  station in Alton, for a meeting she had in Chicago. So I was unsupervised until she returned about 2130! Look out folks! :)

    Friends we met in 2021 at the AGLCA Rendezvous live in Alton. Keith and Lisa. Well Lisa has had some health challenges that have kept us from being able to connect. However Keith was able to make the trip up to visit! And he brought presents! 

    We sat around and caught up, plus visited Grafton Pub for Taco Tuesday, and a beverage or two!

    I also got to visit with a couple we met here last fall when we were passing through!

     Since we had the car twice (to drop Amy off and pick her back up) I did our provisioning on these trips. Which amounted to about 6 little bags of groceries, and 9 thirty packs of Coors, and 9 of Coors Light. Here's one trip to the boat.

    Now you may look at that and say Gosh they must be Alcoholics! Well first off we don't go to meetings, they do! :) But second, this supply will last us most if not all the summer and fall. We will likely re-stock the same way when we pass here southbound in October. $22 and change per 30 pack... best stock up deal I have found! And remember, we will be spending all of June and some of July in WI... if we aren't well stocked they might kick us out, thinking there is something wrong with us! :)

Wednesday 5/21:

    More boat projects, Laundry, fill the water, pump out the holding tank... yea this is the day you really want all the details of I'm sure!!  Lets just say this cruising life isn't all fun-in-the-sun! There is plenty of work to do, and today was one of those days. Starting up the Illinois in the morning.

Thursday 5/22:

    We pushed off the dock at 0630 and up the IL River we went.  Houses on stilts, car ferries, and lift bridges (Oh MY). That and the dirtiest water I have seen in years. I really forgot how nasty the Illinois River is. (Thanks Chicago)

     I was not happy with the conditions of the anchorage I had planned, so we continued to the 68.8 mile marker, an anchorage on the side of the river called Smith Lake. We arrived around 1700 and cooked on the Blackstone.  Very peaceful night, and with temps dipping into the high 40's overnight, it was windows open and no genny! Great sleeping weather!

Friday 5/23:

    Since we had gone further than planned, leaving at my normal time would have put us to LaGrange Lock about the time Amy had to start a work call... So instead of getting underway, I made breakfast! It was great temps to sleep in the cabin, but a little chilly to use the griddle outside. I cheated and cooked in the galley!

    We got underway about 0800, which would put us at the lock about 0930, just when Amy will be off her call. As luck would have it, La Grange had their wickets down, and was in the process of raising them. That left an opportunity for us to pass over the dam and not have to lock through! But with over half of them up, it was a bumpy ride.
 

  

  The rest of the day's travel consisted of a couple towboats, a lot of nature, and a serious waking by the most inconsiderate boater I have ever met on the rivers. I'll try grab a still off the video to share here before this publishes.

    We got in to Quiver Island anchorage near Havana, IL about 1530. When Amy was done with her work for the day we put the dinghy in, explored around a bit, and then went in to see Bob at Tall Timbers Marina. It is a great stop, just too small and shallow for Toscana. I hadn't been there since 2018. It was good to see the place and catch up with a great guy! We also met a nice couple Chris and Casey that just purchased their boat in MI and brought it down.  Originally they were thinking that would be their loop boat, but after seeing the cost of gas from bringing the boat there from MI, they're thinking they need diesel engines. Sorry, forgot the picture part! 

Saturday 5/24

I was up early so I got up and did some computer work and let Amy sleep.  She woke up just as I was getting ready to fire the engines.  We pulled the hook around 0700.  We were underway for only short time when Amy spotted a Bald Eagle.  It's always hard to get a good picture of them, but they sure are beautiful.

As we were making our way up river, we spotted another eagle eating lunch on the river bank.  Not the best pictures, but we tried!

As we approached the lift bridge, the person running the bridge was very friendly and wanted to know more about the boat.  He asked that we blow our horns as well pass.  He played us a little tune with this horns and we did our best to be creative with our reply.  He came out and waved at us as we passed.

 There were locals enjoying the river front and many waved as we went by.  Lots of beautiful nature in this section.  Amy went a little trigger happy with the camera (you can tell the days she's working vs. the days she's not).  😂

This tow needed a little assistance to get under the lift bridge.  It's a tight fit for the barges.

Peoria city dock was empty. It was too early for us to stop anyway.  

 

We saw several small local restaurants with small docks and boat ramps along the way.

 

We saw two BIG boats at a dock as we passed. 

Downtown Peoria 

We came across a kayak-er and they were in our wake and tried to keep up with us.  I was impressed on how well they did keeping up.  It didn't last too long and then went off closer to shore.

We couldn't figure out what the "lower" bridge was for.  Nothing we've seen before.  We are guessing it's support to repair the bridge and it looks like they are adding a center lane bridge as well.

We took some pictures of Ivy Club as we passed.  We will more than likely visit here on our way back south in the fall.

Amy prepped dinner by marinating the steaks, cutting up the potatoes and onions, etc. and got everything ready for me to do the cooking on the aft deck.  I had both the Blackstone going with the potatoes and keeping the crab in butter warm and had the steaks on the grill.  

Sunday 5/25:

 We shoved off Hamm's Holiday Harbor dock at 0730.  It was an overcast day with a chilly wind, so Amy was either inside or bundled up like a Nanook.

Another bald eagle picture.  We saw others as well, but it's just so hard to get a good picture of them.

The remains of the first lock on the IL River.  

A holiday weekend, there were a lot of locals on both sides of the bank fishing and camping.  Was a beautiful peaceful day even being on the chilly side.

New marina going in near Hennepin.

Debris on the up side of the bridge and an old piling.

You can tell when we got closer to and to Starved Rock and you can see the rock cliff along the river.  They are very pretty and even saw a cave from the river!

The upside of the Starved Rock Lock and Dam.  There were also a bunch of birds "hanging out" on a sandbar as we pulled away from the lock.

We went past Starved Rock Marina and Starved Rock Yacht Club.  It'd have been tight getting into either of these marinas for us, so we kept on going.  There were several kayakers out (all bundled up).  I know I wouldn't want to be in a kayak when it was that chilly!!

We pulled up to Buffalo Cliff Anchorage and found several boats already anchored and enjoying the long weekend.  We raised our "cocktail hour" flag and sat on the aft deck and enjoyed a beer and relaxed.  We only saw one "casualty" when someone dancing to "Sweet Caroline" fell in the water.  They were fine and got back on their boat quickly.  They all cleared out by dusk though and we had the place to ourselves to the night.  It's a beautiful anchorage and highly recommend!

    So that wraps up another week of adventures!!! Next week Amy takes over doing most of the writing here. We will be in port most of the week, then finishing the trip to Lake Michigan! Stay tuned!!! :)

The Little Engine that Could (atleast could more than last year!)

 Monday, 5/12:

    We took off for Little Diversion (23 miles) after a nice breakfast, and allowing the weather to straighten up a bit. The Miss isn't flowing as bad as last year, but has a significant hit on you anyway. But instead of doubling our fuel consumption to run 4mph, we are turning at a normal cruise and getting that and better. 

Tuesday, 5/13:

    Tuesday we got a later start with zoom calls lasting until about 0800. Made for a nice "moon set" over the train bridge...

     We worked our way upstream 35 miles to the anchorage we used last year at the 83 mile marker. Nothing special about it other than it is half way between Little Diversion and the Kaskaskia River lock. AN easy day downstream, but impossible upstream.

 Wednesday, 5/14:

    We were up again pretty early, underway by 0700. Not so early for me, Amy on the other hand, prefers not to witness a sunrise, she wants it fully shining when she arises! Current and water levels keep dropping, and speed ever so slightly increasing.  A new bridge is being built at Chester, IL. Chester is also the home of Menard State Prison. I told Amy I have been in there. She got a look on her face that I can't even describe! What have you not told me she asked. I laughed, I said I delivered a truckload of goods there back in my trucking days. And you actually drive through the gates into the facility. I don't believe she found that as humorous as I did! :)

     We arrived to Kaskaskia pretty early, about 1400. A very low-key evening, listening to the Brewers disappoint me as they have done so regularly this season. If there is rain in the forecast overnight, or the temps are 60 or above, we sleep with the AC on. 60 may sound low, but I'm talking about days we travel. The Engine Room is somewhat insulated, however that heat bleeds out into the rest of the boat over time. So < 60 and a breeze that first night is the only way to avoid AC. Anyhow, because of this we sat on Inverter all afternoon and evening until time to go to bed. We were not energy contious, as we would be running the genset overnight anyway. Well there comes Mr. Murphy, tapping me on the shoulder, reminding me that he always travels along with us. The Genset would not start. And I was not able to diagnose it at that point in the night. In fact I made it worse, blowing a fuse to go with the loose wire. 

    After washing my hands of the oil residue, and the whole problem metaphorically for the night, I started the main engines, and took them up to a high idle. We kicked on the master cabin AC, and let the alternators support the AC and do the recharge. Technically one engine could support the AC, but that didn't leave much for charging... plus I didn't want to over work 1, so I left them both run.

Thursday 5/15:

    When the sun was filly up, about 0530, I got Amy up, said lets get going.... since engines were running anyway. Besides then we could get to Hoppie's Marina sooner and plug in while I diagnose the genset with a clear set of eyes. 

    As it turned out, instead of diagnosing, we visited a nice winery in town when we walked in to mail off some MTOA Burgees. 

    The Blue Owl cafe is a perennial Looper favorite when stopping at Hoppie's, but we will sure advocate for equal time for the LaChance Winery! Great wine, Great food! And it is housed in a building that was built before the Declaration of Independence was signed. Quite a story! So no genset work until we get to Grafton I guess :) It's hard to find good help these days!

Friday 5/16:

    We got off the dock about 0615 again, with 58 miles to go, through St Louis, and 2 locks. We are both looking forward to a couple down days at Grafton to recharge. I can hear the throngs of tiny violins when I write this, but this boating life is hard work sometimes!

     Just as last year, our friend Mike Wallis stopped along the river on his way in to work to snap some shots of us approaching the I270 bridge on the south side of St Louis. Great shots as always!

     We have gotten shots of Toscana passing the arch 3 different times, so we really didn't think it was necessary this time, however friends John and Kim from Wild Goose were following us on Nebo and caught us on the Arch Cam putting along past. "We see you" was the text, accompanied by this photo.

 

 

    I had to get my "cheaters" out to see us, but there we are! We continued on to Chain of Rocks, Lock 27 (the southernmost lock) and were able to enter straight in the auxiliary chamber. We passed several tows in the canal on the top side, as well as another looper headed south. Rare to see that this time of year, but they may be segment looping, who knows.

    We continued on out of the canal, past the mouth of the Missouri River, and on up to Melvin Price, Lock 26, just south of Alton, IL. We were told we would be behind 3 tows upbound. That will take awhile. Well (inside joke) Captain Horseshoe struck again, the first tow was 4 empty barges, and was willing to allow us to lock with him in the same lockage! 

 

     But after locking through, we could see that our luck was running a bit thin. The sky to the west was getting dark. 

    We got about half way to Grafton from Alton, and the north edge of the storm found us. There was not an overwhelming amount of rain, but 60mph wind gusts direct on the Port side. Toscana heeled over a few degrees, but everything survived unscathed, except the AGLCA burgee. It took a beating.

 

    

    The storm was followed by sun and calm conditions to arrive in Grafton Harbor! We were ready for a rest! 

Saturday, 5/17:

    Grafton Harbor was hosting a Boat Show, a few new small boats, and some brokered larger boats. We even spotted one represented by Curtis Stokes. Then as we were walking down our pier, I turned to Amy, gosh that looks like Jill, Curtis' wife. So we walked over and sure enough, they had come to town for that ranger tug and another offering they have listed here! 

    It was great t catch up with them, Curtis has been doing this so long, he has seen and heard it all. Makes for fun conversations! 

    We had a busy day on top of this! We had lunch, and a brief mid day cruise planned with Mike Wallis and his mother Marilyn. Marilyn had a big time, even driving us for a bit! 

    After we said our goodbyes, we had an hour or two to unwind, then it was time for us to head over to The Loading Dock for dinner with Kristi Fowler, her daughter and her significant other. For those not in the boating community, Kristi's husband ran Heritage Harbor in Ottawa, IL for many years, and is well known and loved in the boating community. He passed away suddenly just under a year and a half ago, and Kristi moved back to the Alton area where she has family. We try to visit her when we pass through! We forgot to bring the camera, but we had a great dinner and lots of catching up and reminiscing good times from long ago. For those that know her, she is doing much better than last fall. It is a tough road, but she is finding herself, and her way forward in Jeremy's absence. Their son Jacob still works at Heritage, and we look forward to seeing him when we stay there later this month.

    Sunday, 5/18:

    For the first time in at least a month, we did almost nothing. I spent an hour in the engine room, found the disconnected wire, and replaced the fuse. Genset is ready to continue on. I also replaced snaps on  couple of our fender hangers with more robust hardware. Otherwise we sat around, listened to the Brewers finally win a game, and smoked chicken breast for our dinner. We enjoyed a bottle of Amy's dad's homemade cherry wine, and capped off another great week on the water!

     Next week, we will be here a few more days, then head up the Illinois River toward Lake Michigan. In the meantime, you can go back and read about our past adventures if you are just joining us, or head on over to the YouTube channel (all linked on the right side of the page) and watch our trip up the Mississippi River last summer! Take care, and Cheers!