It was a pleasant morning at Tall Timers Marina with cool temps and friendly company. Several of the other Marinette owners came over and struck up conversations. We prepared the boat for todays voyage and motored over to the fuel dock to fill the tanks. While paying our nearly $1,000 fuel bill we were treated to “free” muffins….those were the most expensive free muffins we’ve ever had!
We departed at 8:30 am to start our planned slow cruise to Peoria by seeding the throttles at 1600 rpm’s that was pushing us along at 8 mph. Depending on the time it takes us to get through the one lock on our path this would put is to our destination 42 miles up river between 1:30 - 2:30 pm. The sun shone brightly warming the cool morning air. This has Erik quickly out of his jeans motoring along from the Flybridge in his skivvies…sorry ladies no pictures! Lol
Didn’t get get any good pics but if you zoom in you can see a bald eagle on the shore We expect to see lots of them on up the river
We maintained discipline by keeping up our slow pace the entire trip allowing us to get a whopping .9 mpg going up river. Feeling extravagant we dined on gourmet peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fresh cucumber spears and sun chips for lunch. As we got to within 10 miles of Peoria the industry and barge congestion picked up as it seems to around any bigger city. We did also start seeing more runabout type pleasure boaters and even saw the only person water skiing that we had seen since leaving the Kentucky Lake area.
Lots of barges
Kayakers out for a Sunday float Or maybe on a longer adventure?
We made it to the one lock that we would be traversing today, Peoria Lock and Dam, at 1pm. Radioing ahead to the lock master at a couple miles out we were told to ‘bring it on up’ and they would prepare the chamber for us. We love getting that response. The lock was a very small lift of only about 3’. Riva officially has a favorite lock as she had a friend, Max, to converse with on the ride up.
Riva’s new found friend, Max
Notice Riva yapping a LOT
Max sitting quietly ignoring her ;-)
Large gates just outside of the lock walls The lock master informed us they are for blocking the dam when performing maintenance
Four miles upriver from the lock we came to downtown Peoria and the municipal free docks. There were no other boats at the docks and we easily slid into one of the only spots for larger boats. Often free docks or walls in river cities exist but it is uncommon for them to have full electric service for boats as this one does. Technically there is no overnight docking here, but, Navionics reviews state that “everyone ignores that”. So, we will give it a try. The worst that could happen is that we would be awoken at night and asked to move. If that should happen there are several good spots for anchorage nearby.
Since we got settled in early we discussed possibly going to the Riverfront Museum and Planetarium that was very near the dock. We ended up opting out of that idea and instead went for a bike ride along the riverfront trail and stopped in for some yummy ice cream; toasted s’mores for Renee and mint chocolate chip with Oreos for Erik. When Erik grows up he thinks he wants to be an ice cream flavor designer, or, a saxophone….we’ll see.
Back at the boat we showered up, relaxed, did some planning for upcoming days and even napped for a bit before fixing dinner. Tonight’s menu included penne pasta with a garlic sauce, smoked sausage and red onions. Did the belly and tastebuds right but left us both with some serious garlic breath. It was with it!
After a big dinner we jumped back on the bicycles and rode along the Peoria Parks River Trail about 2 miles. The riverfront area was nice but not many people or activity. The trail dropped us out close to the area of a 7pm AA meeting that we stopped in at. The meeting hall was in what appeared to be an old historic building that was very nicely restored. Bob, the chairperson, turned out to be the only other person to attend the meeting. He was an interesting fella and we had a nice small meeting between the three of us. Wherever two or more of us are gathered we have fellowship!
Easy Does It
True statement!
Unity-Service-Recovery
On the ride back from the meeting the riverfront had come alive with many more people enjoying the beautiful breezy evening. Folks were walking, playing volleyball and there was even a group of eight or so people roller dancing to music around a monument in the park. We had several groups of visitors throughout the afternoon and evening inquiring about Happy Destiny and our trip up the rivers. It is always enlightening and uplifting to strike up conversations with the local people.
At a rec center along the bike path there is about twelve volleyball courts that were all being utilized in some sort of league or tournament on our way home
Memorial for Dan Fogelberg along riverfront trail His birthplace and childhood home was Peoria
The remainder of the night was spent walking Riva in the park and enjoying a peaceful night on the aft deck with each other’s company. We will be retiring early to get a good nights rest in preparation for a planned long cruising day tomorrow.
Riva is worn out Livin a ruff life!
Our view for the night The lit up bridge added some nice ambiance
“There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—that principle is contempt prior to investigation”
Erik awoke dark and early at 3:45 am. There were lights from the lock that we anchored next to as well as some movement of the boat from a barge being loaded into the chamber from up river. Since he was up, and was too tired to try his hand at fishing last night, he baited up a hook and threw in a line. No luck on any big catches but he did donate a couple of shrimp to the cause.
morning light before the fog set in
Renee and Riva came up from the bedroom at about 6am and Erik brought Riva ashore to do her morning routine. It was a wet morning from the dew and a fairly dense fog had set in.
fog just starting to set in if you look closely at this pic you can see Happy Destiny in the back on the other bank of the river
Happy Destiny at her anchorage
Nonetheless, we wanted to get an early start toward Havana in order to hopefully make it before the farmers market closes at noon. We set off from our anchorage at 7am and pushed our way through the fog. Fortunately, Happy Destiny has radar which allows us to see everything on the river. It works well in locating everything from the shorelines to other vessels and even the channel marker buoys. A very nice upgrade from what we didn't have aboard Aquaholic.
Love watching the varying birds
We scooted along quickly again today and arrived in Havana at Tall Timbers Marina at a few minutes after 10am. The owner, Bob, greeted us and helped us into our slip. Without wasting too much time we unloaded the bikes and headed out into town to find the farmers market. "Farmers Market" was likely a bit of a poor description for what we found. Unfortunately, it was VERY small and only had 3-4 vendors with hardly any produce. We did purchase a bandana for Riva and a dozen small ears of sweet corn. Sweet corn was our primary objective so although the market was a slight disappointment we will consider it a win since we now had corn to cook with dinner. We continued our ride through and out of the small town for a bit and went to the local grocery where we stocked up on provisions; we had been getting low on food. Back at the boat we ate a bite for lunch and we were both exhausted so we sat in our recliners and napped for an hour or so. Rested and refreshed we ventured out again to check out the town a little closer. Havana is a cute little town. The main street has some neat building and a few cute shops that we went into.
Main St Havana
Nice mural on the wall of this interesting water tower
It turns out the water tower is still functioning and serving the community built in 1882 They just don't make things like they used to
We wandered around the marina for a bit talking with some of its members. There are four other Marinettes who call this marina their home ranging from 1966 models up to 1989 models of varying sizes and layouts. Neat to see that many of our favorite boats in one place. We enjoyed a dinner of grilled pork chops and fresh corn on the cob on the aft deck. Our slip in the marina was nice because there was ample late afternoon/early evening shade provided by a stand of trees just off our side.
Yummy fresh sweet corn
A fellow Marinette owner walked up to us as dinner and provided us with four garden grown cucumbers to add to our selection of veges Cheaper than the market this way :-)
A selection of fellow Marinettes in the marina
oldest one was this 1966 32 foot express cruiser
this one had an impressive custom, large swim platform on the back
After dinner we walked the docks and hung outside of the restaurant for a while conversing with members of the marina about boats and pointers on where to go on the Illinois River. One gentleman in particular was very knowledgeable on all the route all the way up to Chicago and he provided several great suggestions. The remainder of the night was spent on trip planning, talking to Derek about our upcoming rendezvous in Joliet, and catching up on the blog before heading off to the awaiting pillows.
Another restful nights sleep at the well protected marina dock was had. On awakening an hour or so was spent visiting with Phil and Sue as they prepared for their departure to continue down river to Hoppies. While boat preparations were being made Lulu came over to our aft deck for some ply time with Riva. By 7:30am ‘Callin in Gone’ had departed the dock and we sat and also watched our other looper friends depart as well. At 8am we readied our boat and pulled over to the fuel dock to fill our tanks in preparation for our departure. By about 8:45am we were pulling out into the Mississippi heading up the last 20 miles or so before we would be turning off into the Illinois River.
Field Trip headed to Hoppies!
Callin’ in Gone headed to Hoppies!
Departing Alton Illinois The two large boats are the Argosy Casino
Passed some other loopers, Frida Cat and Knot In A Hurry(another Marinette!) They are also headed to Hoppies I believe.
Our Lady Of The River
The landscape now changed to where there were high walls and cliffs on the Illinois side of the river while the Missouri side became flat
It was a simply gorgeous morning with flat, calm waters and very comfortable temperatures; almost cool. The currents now had slowed considerably to what we estimated at 2-3 mph. We played a little with our speed and did calculations determining that our best efficiency was at about 1600 rpm pushing us upriver at about 7.9 mph. We had a long day planned of approximately 100 miles but were in no hurry since we would be anchoring out at our planned destination so we figured we would just take our sweet time meandering along and enjoying the scenery on a glorious day! Renee took the helm while Erik cooked a hearty breakfast of omelets, sausage and toast to fuel our bodies.
Grafton Harbor lighthouse
Confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers Left turn to Minnesota Right turn to Chicago and Lake Michigan Decisions…decisions We stuck with the plan and veered right
Calories
Renee stayed at the helm for several hours while Erik worked on catching up on a couple days of blogs. The slow and steady pace allowed for gazing through the binoculars to check out the wildlife and scenery.
Renee maneuvering an oncoming pass with a barge on the now narrowing Illinois River Such confidence!
After a few hours and when the sun had warmed the air Renee laid out on the front of the boat and Erik took over navigation.
Ahhhh….
The birds now are taking on what we would consider more of a ‘sea’ look. Sea gulls and these were a flock of pelicans
This area of the Illinois river has many small homes and cabins, all up on stilts to avoid regular flooding
We OBVIOUSLY need a better camera! Field of sunflowers 🌻
Confluence of the Mississippi with the Illinois River Right turn onto the Illinois and we now have completed our jaunt up the Mississippi
At about 6pm we had the realization that if we kept up the slow 8-9 mph leisurely cruise up river that we would not make to our desired destination of the La Grange Lock until after dark. We weren't thrilled with the idea of locking through at night so we decided to pick up the pace to 16-18 mph for the last 2+ hours and 40 miles.
Burning petro but cruising along nicely
We arrived at La Grange Lock well before sunset, however, we were told by the lockmaster as we were approaching that there was a large double barge in the chamber and it would be at least 1.5 hours before he could lock us up. We took advantage of the wait time and dropped the dinghy to take Riva to shore since she had been aboard by this time for approximately 10 hours.
Pit stop for Riva while waiting on to go through La Grange Lock
Back on the boat but with time still to kill we lit the grill and cooked up chicken and shrimp for dinner. Our timing was good and shortly after cleaning up form dinner the large barge exited and the lockmaster radioed us telling us we could come on into the lock. The lift to the pool above us was a whopping 2 feet and went quickly. This was fortunate since the mosquitos were out in full force and both of us suffered a few bloodsucking bites.
Riva says, "is that shrimp you're grilling for me?"
A pretty sunset
We were able to set anchor just off the main channel just opposite of the lock chamber. By this time it was pitch dark. We installed the navigation lights on the dinghy and Erik took Riva back over to shore to do her nightly duty, but, not after putting on long pants and shirt and dowsing up with insect repellent. We were tired from the long day and retreated to bed.
La Grange Lock from our boat at anchorage We were too tired for the lights to bother us sleep tight
We had a restful night sleep and awoke around 6am. The rain had ended but the river level remained high appearing that it would crest in a couple of hours at 9+ feet higher than it had been when we arrived. However, it did appear that the quantity of floating logs and debris coming down the river had decreased which was a positive sign. We sat and drank our usual morning coffee and decided that it felt like a GO day with plans to cruise about 42 miles further upriver to Alton Illinois.
At 8:30 Ray from Hoppies came down and helped us to move the boat up the dock (barges) to the fuel pump. When he turned the fuel pump on to prepare to fill our tanks gasoline came shooting out of a small hole in the hose spraying five feet onto the dock. He quickly turned the pump off and saying a few choice words. Not having a replacement hose for the pump, we improvised and used some good foil tape and a couple of hose clamps that we had aboard to create a temporary fix to the hose. After fueling up the tanks we were ready to shove off.
departing Hoppies Marina
Anheuser Estate from the water
About 25 miles into the cruise for the day St Louis and our first glimpse of the Arch came into view. St Louis is a very busy port city with a lot of industry and busy barge activity.
interesting sculpture/yard art of a huge set of legs diving into the water
reminiscent of the leg lamp, only on steroids, in 'A Christmas Story'
St Louis and the first glimpse of the Arch We enjoyed a playlist of songs mentioning St Louis on our entry into the city including some W.C Handy, Nat King Cole, Judy Garland and Huey Lewis
getting closer
There she is...the Gateway Arch
As we were approaching the downtown we were fortunate to have a tug and small barge navigating upriver as well right beside us. Erik slowed to the same speed as tow and radioed 'Allison Rachel' on the VHS inquiring whether he would be kind enough to snap a picture of 'Happy Destiny' passing in front of the Arch. He quickly responded, "pen in hand go ahead with your phone number". Within second the captain was out on the front of his tug snapping multiples of pictures of us as we passed in front of the Arch and very soon after we received text messages of about 10 pictures! Perfect timing...Yay!
'Happy Destiny' made it to the gateway to the west! Here in just a few miles we could choose to hang a left on the Missouri River and continue out west?!? Maybe next time! :-)
Huge thanks to the captain of 'Allison Rachel' for taking the time away from the helm to help a fellow boater out by taking and sending us pictures We may be a nation divided in some ways, but, we are all still one! Spirit of America!
'M/V Allison Rachel'
Just outside of St. Louis we came upon the Chain of Rocks Lock and Dam. Not much of a lift but you enter a canal that runs the length of the "Chain of rocks". Aside from having to wait a little bit for a southbound ??? boat that never showed up 😂😂😂 we got through fairly quickly by floating instead of tying up as we usually do.
Chain of Rocks Lock and Dam was only a 6' drop and the lockmaster instructed that if we wanted we could just float the descent rather than tying up to the floating bollards
Short time lapse video floating the descent and exiting the lock
About 10 miles north of St Louis we came to Mel Price Lock and Dam which will be our last lock on the Mississippi River (this time). Here at Mel Price they have the National Great Rivers Museum that seems interesting. You can also do a dam tour. Unfortunately, we were busy doing other stuff when we made it to Alton Harbor and did not take the time to do these things.
Getting ready to pull out of Mel Price Lock The floating logs and junk were crazy at the exit of the chamber; the worst we've ever experienced Good thing that our Marinette is an aluminum tank!
Two miles north of Mel Price lies Alton Illinois and Alton Harbor which was our destination for the day. Our plans are to stay here for two nights. After several fairly long cruising days it was time to relax more, catch up on a few things and enjoy the marina swimming pool and two hot tubs. We were greeted at our slip by a friendly older dock hand who caught our lines, connected us to electric and then spent a good 10-15 minutes giving us a tour of the marina and amenities. It is customary to give tips to dock hands. Depending on their service we usually tip $5 or sometimes $10 if they are providing exceptional service or helping with a pump out. As we were pulling in our slip Renee handed Erik down money to give the dock hand a tip with. Erik assumed that Renee had given him what she expected to give as the tip; actually she just handed him a ten dollar bill, a five dollar bill and five one dollar bills. Erik handed the tip to the guy without realizing this.....he got a good tip from us. No wonder he spent time and attention on us. lol
After settling into our spot and organizing a few things on the boat we ventured off to explore the marina. We had seen on Nebo, a boating app that we utilize, that there were several other Great Loop boats at the marina. Walking the dock we came upon Russ and Lynette aboard 'Field Trip' as well as another couple who were also loopers. Russ is a recently retired high school math teacher after educating kids for 41 years in Arizona. Get it....Field Trip for a retired teacher? And as a kicker the name on the back of their dinghy is 'Hall Pass'. lol. We love looking at boat names and could probably write an entire blog on favs. We sat aboard with them for an hour or more chatting. It turns out that we had met them at the AGLCA Fall Rendezvous held annually at Joe Wheeler Sate Park in Alabama back in 2018. The boating community seems to turn a big world into a small world :-) Other friends of ours (Phil and Sue Spainhour) aboard another Marinette are expected to be pulling into the marina tomorrow morning. Back in 2018 at the Rendezvous the Spainhours and us had already acquired our boats. Phil and Susan were in planning stages and had not left their home in Nashville yet. Russ and Lynette were still boat shopping and planning as well. Dreams have come true and many great adventures have been had by all three of us!
Alton Harbor lighthouse
We had some burgers on the boat for a late lunch/early dinner and headed off on foot to head to an AA meeting we had located on 'meeting finder' (apps sure make boat trips easier for us). We were greeted in usual recovery fashion with many smiles and handshakes along with inquiries on where we were from and about our trip. The meeting had a weekly rotating format with this weeks meeting being a 'The Four Absolutes' meeting. The four absolutes (Honesty, Unselfishness, Purity, Love) were loosely adopted as AA principles from the Oxford Group as were many of the premises of the twelve steps. Tonight's reading and discussion was on 'Love'. Nice to get in a fix of recovery and fellowship.
TGCHHO
It was a beautiful evening for the walk back to the marina while taking in the old school architecture and sweeping landscape of the Mississippi River. Back at the boat we enjoyed the leftover half pieces of pie from the previous night before heading off to bed.
