We had a very pleasant day on the river. By the Grace of God we called the first and only lock of the day and they said come right in - we locked through with 7 other pleasure craft and were on our way to Peoria -65+ miles today. Not very much recreational traffic - more barges. The biggest tow we crossed paths with was a 15 pack - each barge is 35"x195"x11" of draft holding up to 1,500 tons each so the 15 pack likely had 22,500 tons of cargo - almost as much as the Fitzgerald when she went down. Docked at IVY Club marina for the night and we'll be away from any marinas for the next 168 miles - hopefully just 2 cruising days. So no post tomorrow.

Sunrise on our way to walk the dogs.

Sunrise looking North East up the Illinois River.

Starved Rock Marina - very calm night but very shallow.

What could possibly go wrong.

We pulled right in to the lock as the last of 8 pleasure craft and were on our way.

This is an 8 pack - the biggest we saw today was a 15 pack.

Prop wash off the back of those guys pushing upstream is significant.

Many areas had barges lined up as far as the eye could see.

Netting protecting the driver and the video person from the jumping asian carp.

Guy in the tube had a hockey helmet and a fishing net to try and catch the jumping carp.

Rupert Stilzkin.

Hundreds if not thousands of pelicans today.


I meant to say they load and unload from one end to the other so as not to break the barge in the middle. All barge info credit to my brother Fred.

Lots of duck blinds lining the river.

 

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