Chapter 3 - Day 3: Hams Marina

4:05 am
Monday, September 06, 1999
Day 3

Great day yesterday.

We left Hams Marina (mile 178) about 6:30 to a beautiful sunrise. As we headed out there were guys in their blinds hunting ducks. The river was a little hazy, but we could see enough to keep track of the red and green buoys. (the ones that mark the channel-you knew that---right?)
I decided to stop in Peoria to top off the fuel because the port fuel gauge showed that I had already used a 1/4 of a tank. (we had 178 miles before we could get fuel again so I was concerned). I also have a flow meter that keeps track of fuel used and it said that I had only used 49 gallons so..........rather than wonder, we stopped at East Port Marina (mile 164).
As it turns out the flow gauge was right and it took 51 gallons to top off the port tank. In total it took 110 gallons, and cost $ 170 which included $5 to pump out the holding tank (septic)

The haze stayed with us and at 9:30 we entered the Peoria Lock (mile 157).
The drop is only 9 feet, and they let us float in the middle while they took us down.
As we made our way south there was quite a bit of boat traffic so I had to keep it at about 1000 rpm, and 10 mph, so I didn't make a large wake. Our plan was to get to mile 46 and drop the hook, but at 4:00 PM when we got to the La Grange lock (mile 80) they were just putting in a south bound double.

We asked the lockmaster how long of a wait, because we told him we may have to go back to Beardstown to have a place to spend the night. He said it would be 2 hours, but we could tie along his lock wall and wait, and once we were through the lock we could tie up to a barge they had on the bottom side. We knew we didn't have enough light to make it mile 46, so we did as he said, and stayed the night tied to a barge-- that was tied to the bottom lock wall. For dinner Darrell grilled some pork chops, Debbie made some rice, and we were set for the night. We started to watch a movie, but I had enough, so I was in bed by 8:30.

This morning, at 3:30 am one of the ropes on our bow started to squeak. Why after all night it started then-- who knows, but I got up to fix it---which I did----and just decided to stay up.

Yes, this will be a long day!

Now I'm on my second cup of coffee, typing this note, and watching the weather channel. There are a lot of things I love about this boat, but having the on board satellite system is high on the list. Normally on a trip like this you're out of the loop, because you don't have a good way to get information. Having the satellite TV gives us a way to keep up with things, but especially the weather. I'll admit I am a weather channel guy, but it helps so much when it comes to planning a safe trip. If I can help it, I don't want to be anchored out somewhere if severe weather is coming.

Speaking of plans. Today we are going to finish our trip down the Illinois River to the Mississippi. We join the Mississippi at mile 218. From there we stop for fuel, go through two more locks, and on to Hoppie's Marina at mile 158. Like I said---long day.

One last note before signing off. Deb said to apologize to everyone (again) about any misspellings, and errors in grammar. Actually I thought I had been doing fine, but she must have spotted something. Funny how this happens.

BK