Day 46 Starting up the Illinois River

      Off we go up the Illinois River to Chicago and the Great Lakes! Whoop! When we were nearing Alton, Illinois on the Mississippi River, the Admiral leaned over and said "We are actually going to make this work!" Yes, it was a little premature, but we both had known all along that the Mississippi River portion of our trip up to the Great Lakes was our real potential deal breaker, but we finally had the end of that segment within reach... We had both been thinking the same thing, but neither of us had brought up the topic until the Admiral broke the ice. Well, we had a good laugh and then went back to the serious business of piloting.

      We left the dock at 6:45 am and are heading up the Illinois River. Our destination for today is an anchorage at mile marker 59. The 59 is not to be confused with the forecast high of maybe 60 for a minute.  It is cool and rainy (photo at right) and that is the forecast for the day.  The photo shows my view from the helm for most of the day. We were bundled up on the flying bridge with the generator running, and the space heater aimed at my window to act as a defroster. Personally, I had 4 layers of long sleeved clothing on, but even with all of the windows tightly closed, we needed the extra heat from the space heater.

      We also had high water with trees in the water at the edge of the river. We are in the "yellow" first stage alert level with several more feet to go before an official flood stage. At this point we are doing well as the levels have peaked and should fall over the next day or so. Once into a flood stage at some point the locks would begin to flood and would shut down their operations. We would then have to seek a marina or safe anchorage to wait it out. For example, the photo at the left shows the Florence Highway lift bridge, which normally has a high water clearance of 28 feet. Today when the Admiral called, they had 17 feet of clearance and had to go up for Lucky Us to pass.

      The photo at the right is of the tow boat Ralph E Plagge with a typical tow for the portions of the Upper Mississippi and Illinois  Rivers that we have travelled to date. It is 3 barges wide by 5 long, and the locks so far have been 110 by 1200 feet. These barges are 35 wide by 200 feet long for a total of 105 wide by 1,000 feet long plus the tow boat for a nice tight fit in the lock. As we go up the Illinois River, the locks will get shorter, but I believe that they will stay the same width.

     We had one fun moment as we passed the (replica) stern wheeler Spirit of Peoria on her way down river. We checked, and they do run 2 and 3 day cruises south or down river from Peoria. They usually only go as far as Pere Marquette State Park just north of Grafton. They do not have over night staterooms so they rely on hotels or cabins on the shore. Looks like fun!
     We plan to stay at the city dock in downtown Peoria in three days, and we will be next to her home dock so maybe we will see her again.

      We made it to the anchorage at 3:35 pm and 15 minutes later we were securely anchored. After securing the boat for the night, we launched the kayak to take Lucky to shore to do her business. We were about 300 feet into a quiet (abandoned?) channel with enough current to keep the boat steadily pointed into the current. Since there was very little flow in the channel, there was a corresponding lack of debris as well. We had 4.5 feet of water under the keel so in more normal water levels we might not have gotten into this nice anchorage. I paddled into the current back to the mouth of the channel. There was a nice point of land with a gently sloping bottom so it was easy to beach the kayak. The sediment at the surface consisted of freshwater clam shells and small coiled spirifers (cone shaped shells). We had to wind our way around some large logs (3 feet in diameter) to get inland to some grassy areas, but Lucky assured me that it was worth the effort. The photo above shows us returning from our successful trip. I still have on three layers of clothing plus my life jacket, and I was none too warm.
      Though the rain ebbed and flowed all day, it never seemed to completely quit spitting at us. It is hard to believe that tomorrow is supposed to be sunny.  The Admiral has declared that after dinner tonight a hot shower and/or a hot foot soaking is in order. My only comment was to add that we would also go to bed early. I have learned never to argue with an Admiral...
     Well, today was a good start, but we still have about 270 miles to reach Lake Michigan. So near and yet still pretty far.