Log 12; Day 49; July 09, 2008; Heritage Harbor, Ottawa, IL

5:30 AM CDT
Location: Heritage Harbor, Ottawa, IL.
Weather: 68* with a beautiful sunrise coming up...predicted to be 83 and sunny with no rain today

Woke up about 4:30 this morning and could not go back to sleep, so I decided to get up and get the day started. I’m on my second cup of coffee and have checked all world headlines on the web...nice to see the market “try” to make a little comeback. Sun is just peaking over the trees here on the river...predicted to be a great weather day...great day to be alive.

Weather...has been almost perfect since my last update. Most days have been in the 80’s and very little rain. What rain has come has happened during the night or early morning. The 4th of July weekend weather was just perfect. The mornings a little cool and the days warm and sunny. I have also been tracking the river stages along the southern Illinois River and Mississippi to see when it will be ok for travel. The lower 24 miles of the Illinois River has been closed to recreational boats due to flooding for several days. The good news is the Mississippi has crested in all areas and has dropped over 7 feet at Grafton (where the Illinois River meets the Mississippi), but still 5 feet over flood stage. I’m sure it will be fine by the time we get there.

Daily routine...is starting to come together. Although there is no “normal” day, most days consist of me washing the boat in some fashion (or at least wiping down certain areas) and Debbie cleaning the inside or doing laundry. I also am continuing to work on my “to do” list for the boat which is never ending. Nothing really major, but a lot of preventive maintainance work and general upkeep items that will get away from you if you don’t keep up with them. But each day leaves us plenty of time for enjoying the marina life and also for Deb to spend time with her family in Ottawa. For me this is a way of life I have dreamed about, and planned for, so I could not be any happier.

Our future plans...are starting to take some shape. Although we are trying hard not to have schedule that is any way restricting I have roughed out some travel itineraries that make some sense. At this point we plan to leave Ottawa the week of August 18th, and take our time as we head down the Illinois; Mississippi; Ohio and eventually get to the Cumberland River near Grand Rivers, KY. From there we plan to spend a couple of weeks exploring the Cumberland River up to Nashville, TN. Next we want to spend a few weeks exploring the Tennessee River all the way up to Chattanooga (and maybe beyond), which is about 600 miles from where it starts in Paducah, KY. We have some friends who will join us for a few days along the way...but most of the time it will be just Deb and I on the boat. The only real reservations we have at this point are to be at Joe Wheeler State Park on the Tennessee River in late October...to be in the Ft. Myers, FL area in late December so we can fly home for Christmas...and be in Key West by January 15 to spend a month there. Quite a difference from my minute-to-minute schedule I had at work...and I love it.

Not much more to report at this time. Getting ready for our granddaughter Samantha to visit the boat this weekend, and then next weekend leaving for a weeklong houseboat vacation in Kentucky Lake with our daughters family. So a fair amount to do to get the Whaler ready because we will be trailering it down there to pull behind the houseboat.

While I have been jotting down these notes I have been doing several other things, so by now it’s almost 8am and time to get busy with boat chores. It’s going to be a great day.

I wish everyone could be as happy as we are.


BK.