We departed the Starved Rock Marina at 8:15 am and headed down the Illinois River to the north side of Peoria, Illinois. Our trip was 65.0 miles and about 2.1 miles later we arrived at the Starved Rock Lock. We passed through the lock with 5 other Loop boats (picture at right). In the picture we had just passed under the Utica Bridge, and if it looks kind of like a race, it was. Well, sort of a race since we happened to be the first boat out of the lock, and we were the slowest boat. I did managed to "teach" several of them what a slow pass is. When a boat approaches from behind and calls to ask for a slow pass. the lead boat slows down and the following boat also slows but not quite as much. They then glide past and accelerate once clear. As the other boat passes, I turn to get behind the other boat (and inside their wake). Once past, both boats can then accelerate and neither boat has been rocked by a large wake. It only takes a minute when done well, and several boaters thanked me for the learning experience. The Admiral did note that two boats did not call, and instead they passed us at cruising speed giving us a rock and roll trip through their wake. Go figure? What does a 1 minute slow down really hurt? Oh well...
In another mile we passed the Starved Rock State Park, and as we passed the landing at the park, we say the (replica) steamboat Spirit of Peoria leaving to head back down river to Peoria. The boat comes from Peoria in a day trip and the passengers stay overnight at cabins in the park. The boat had just left at 9:00 am for the return trip to Peoria. It was quite a sight, and we followed her for about 30 miles, which made for an enjoyable trip watching the paddle wheel churn up the water until we reached our planned destination in Henry, IL. We had a reservation at the Landings at Henry Harbor on the north side of quaint old town of Henry. Since the water level in the river was low, they could only accommodate us on the wall of an old, abandoned lock. We tried it out, but we decided not to stay there. The setting was pretty inside the old lock, but we would had had to tied the boat to trees about 15 feet from the water. Also, the power poles were 15 feet or more back from the walls of the old lock. Normally, we hook up two 30 amp power cords, but with this distance we would have had to put our two cables together end to end to reach one outlet. So, I made the decision that we would move and find another marina down river. Once again, it was the Admiral to the rescue as she got us a dock at the National Marina on the north side of Peoria. It added something like 28 miles to our trip. However, we were making very good time thanks to a down stream current of about 2 mph.
We passed one small town where we saw a small tug race out and pull up alongside a large tow. We could see people on both boats handling boxes of groceries. Later we heard the small tug call another tow and tell him that he was ready to pull along side to deliver groceries. Anyway, it was pretty cool to watch the tug get resupplied on the go.
We have been seeing more White Pelicans as we progress down the Illinois River. White Pelicans spend the summers in Minnesota and Wisconsin (as well a Canada) and fly south for the winter. When they are swimming, they appear all white, but they have black wing tips and black on the underside of the wings that are visible in flight. This particular flock seems almost like they were practicing forming a "V". So, perhaps they were getting ready to migrate south (?).
After docking, we walked about a half mile to a "classic" burger joint that was also hosting a trivia night. Although the day had been beautiful, by that time it started to mist a bit. In spite of the drizzle, the burgers and trivia were kind of a fun way to end another lovely day on the water.
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