Sept 8: Going by the waterfront of Peoria, Illinois. Only one lock to go through today. After a summer of record high river and lake water levels, we are now encountering low water. The red nun buoy is on the shore. We’ve seen several buoys aground. Wonderful to see so many bald eagles.And immature bald eagles. Over the course of the next two days we saw dozens of eagles. To get to our next port of call the Guidebook said to turn left at the sunken barge.Our marina and anchoring choices for the next hundred miles or so were very limited. Most of the anchorages and the only marina with amenities were not an option due to the extreme low water. But the bartender at the Pekin Boat Club said we could tie up on their gas dock (all other docks were on land). Beggars can’t be choosers! 78 feet of boat on a 50 foot dock. (Photo credit: Brian Werder on Vahevala). The Pekin Boat Club bar and restaurant is to the right. You can see how low our boat is in comparison to the deck of the bar. In the spring when the Illinois River flooded, the bar tender told us boats were able to dock at the deck! A few hours after taking this picture the parking lot filled up with local patrons for the Friday night drawing of a private lottery. The winner automatically gets $100.00 but then has to pick a winning box among 40 boxes to claim the grand prize of $45,000.00! The winner Kim didn’t select the correct box so the pot gets to grow for yet another week. BTW, can’t beat the prices – no docking fees, beers were $1.50 and the Taco dinner was $5.00. Least amount of fees for dinner and docking to date. Sept. 9: No locks today – just a view of a former lock. Traveled 60+ miles to the next non-marina tie up.
Couldn’t get over the number of pelicans we saw today – all in the sky, none on the water. The white splotches behind the tug boat are Asian Carp jumping out of the water. I inadvertently got a picture of a monarch butterfly (lower right hand corner). Some of the carp actually landed on the boat’s stern deck. Don’t know if they’re good eating, but my guess is they’re not. Coming around a bend we came face to face with this 15 barge tow. No problem. With our AIS we know they’re coming so we simply call on the radio for instructions. A one whistle pass is port to port, and a two whistle pass is starboard to starboard. Scooting along the Illinois River – picture by Linda Werder on Vahevala. So the next “marina” was the Logsdon Tug Service. No amenities to speak of, they simply let you tie up to their barges for a dollar a foot. You’re on the honor system to place the money in a locked box. Creepy stairwell.We were second in line. More boats joined us (photo credit: Brian Werder).I went out on the paddle board to take this panoramic photo. First time I’ve been on the paddle board since the end of July. Where did the summer go?Sunset cruise on the paddle board (photo credit: Bob). Sept. 10: Eight of us Loopers left before sunrise to get to the next lock. We’ve been concerned about this particular lock (LaGrange Lock and Dam) for over 2 months. It has only been open at night and on Sundays due to extensive work being done on the lock. Going through at night is not really an option for pleasure boaters because the nearest place to tie up is 60 miles away downstream. We planned our arrival for Sunday and went as a pack (safety in numbers!). Thought we were seeing geese over head…but no, more pelicans!Didn’t know they traveled in formation. Got to LaGrange Lock around 7. Had to mill around for awhile. The lock master let us in after this tow came out. Lucky us!!! Some tows, like this one tied up to nearby trees, have been waiting for hours if not days to get through. Another 15 barge tow coming around the bend after we tied up for the night. Tonight’s barge tie up was at Mel’s Illinois Riverdock Restaurant. Great food – and no docking fee if you ate at the restaurant. So we are now about 40 miles north of St. Louis. Looking at the weather map we see Irma could be coming our way – but of course – not as a hurricane. Fingers crossed that all the homes of all the people in Florida get through the night with as little damage as possible.
Islandia Grabo's Blog 
Love the eagles!
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Sorry I missed you by a day in St Louis. On the plane now to head back.
Glad to hear about all the Illinois hospitality. And think what the great prices are doing for your $1 per mile alcohol budget!
Can’t wait to see you guys up at the River and hear more stories about your trip.
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