9/8 - Hardin, Illinois

Our next boat

Mel's River Dock Restaurant (George's newest favorite place to eat.)

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While lifting anchor at 6:45 a.m., a large screw in our anchor stem roller sheared off making raising the anchor difficult, but George and Charlie determined that a replacement could be found in a few days. We then called the lock-tender at La Grange Lock (our last lock on the Illinois River) who told us to come on ahead and again we floated in the middle of this lock, rather than tying to a rope or bollard. The scenery was lovely and rural as we traveled south on this end of the river, and we saw turtles sunning themselves on fallen tree stumps, many blue herons, white pelicans, and even a bald eagle along the way.

We were headed on a 65 mile trip to "Mel's Illinois Riverdock Restaurant" which, from everything we had read, had terrific food with an over-night dock right on the river. The dock wasn't quite what we had pictured, but it was really quite adequate for us.

The simple-looking restaurant was on a hill behind the dock, and George, Charlie, and Helen decided to head up there and check out the menu. They were quite pleased and enthusiastic upon their return to the boat as they not only got to meet the famous "Mel", but he also gave them samples of some of his cuisine.

Brisket was one of the specialties for tonight's dinner menu, and we did enjoy it very much, but ended up bringing much of the very large portions back to the boat in "doggie bags". The cooking was "down home" with ribs, fried chicken, potato salad, sweet potatoes, and cucumber salad just some of the excellent dishes to be had. We finished off with apple pie and ice cream, walked back to the dock, and watched "Farewell to Arms" as our evening's movie. (Another movie with a happy ending.)

9/7 - Bar Island Anchorage

A typical bend on the Illinois River

Ferry Service across the Illinois River

Sunset at Bar Island Anchorage

Since we did not have a large number of miles to travel to our anchorage location on the Illinois River, we did not leave pretty Tall Timbers Marina until 10 a.m. The weather continued to be delightful with warm temperatures in the high 70s and low 80s, light winds, and sunny skies. We only saw three barges with tugs in the 35 mile trip and we entered the quiet spot (except for the carp jumping around) behind Bar Island, just outside the channel, at about 2 p.m. Despite the fact that this island was not very large, we were sheltered from the barge wake and "Reflection" remained steady at anchor. It was a wonderful, quiet Labor Day afternoon with each of us finding our own spot aboard to read, nap, or watch a movie. After cocktails George barbecued chicken on the grill for dinner followed up by our watching "From Here to Eternity" as our evening entertainment.

9/6 - Havana, Illinois

Peoria Ill.

Tall Timbers Marina

The Blue Heron Bar (A little slice of paradise on the Illinois River)
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We had rain overnight and it was overcast with sprinkles when we got up. George cooked a wonderful Sunday morning breakfast of scrambled eggs mixed with onions, cheese, and bacon and toasted cheddar cheese bread. It was our once-a-week big breakfast splurge!

We headed out into the river at 9:45 a.m. for a relaxed 48 mile trip to Tall Timbers Marina in Havana. Again we called ahead to the lock-tender at the Peoria Lock and he also told us to come on ahead as he had no commercial traffic. Like yesterday, the locking was effortless as we quickly entered and were given the option to float in the center as we were lowered only 8 feet. We didn't even have to tie up!

As we made our way down the river we passed by the city of Peoria, the home of Caterpiller Corporation, the maker of our two hard-working engines. There was really no adequate dockage in the city's slips for a boat of our size, so we weren't able to visit.

As we continued on our route, the shoreline became very rural with lots of blue herons sitting along the banks, and we could see the results that last Fall's and this Spring's flooding had taken on the trees along the river. Many were completely up-rooted or had their roots greatly exposed. There were also few houses in this flood-plain prone area, and those we did see were either built on stilts, or were situated behind high levees.

The boat traffic was very light and small bass boats seem to be the norm. The river was also quite shallow along its shores and it was important to follow the channel. We arrived at Tall Timbers at 2:45 p.m.

This was a small tucked-away private marina whose entrance could hardly be seen from the river itself. You have to know that it's there! We entered through the very narrow opening surrounded by rock walls into the marina's cove of approximately 35 boats.

"Reflection" was definitely the biggest boat here, but Captain George very adeptly turned her around and we backed up to our assigned place at the fuel dock. We were warmly greeted by Bob, the owner, and by a number of other boat owners who were sitting at the tropical bar area right alongside our boat. Some even wanted tours aboard! We were definitely the "talk" of the marina, and during the late afternoon and early evening many people stopped by to chat and to ask questions about our "Loop" adventure. Tonight we also finally had the steak dinner aboard that we had been promising Charlie and Helen for almost a week. It was a fun evening at this great spot!

9/5 - Peoria Heights, Illinois

The I V Y Club

This morning we got underway at 6:50 a.m. for our 75 mile trip to the Illinois Valley Yacht Club (a.k.a. the IVY Club). We called the lock-tender at the Starved Rock Lock ahead of time and he told us that the traffic was clear and we were able to get in and out of that lock where we were by ourselves very quickly.

The ride down the Illinois River became very pleasant as the river widened and we saw many people who had set up campsites along the shores fishing. The small boat traffic also increased on this holiday week-end, but it was nothing compared to Barnegat Bay back home in NJ.

"Reflection" arrived at the I.V.Y. C. at 3 p.m. and we received a warm welcome from the dockmaster and some members. After taking on fuel we were tied up at the wall right in front of their clubhouse. Their facilities were lovely: including a pool, dining room and bar, clean showers, and laundry.

Once we were set up, our crew scattered: some to do laundry, and some to the bar to watch the football game and/or to take showers. We had a great dinner at the dining room in the evening and were grateful for the relaxed day we had today compared to our previous two.

9/4 - Ottawa, Illinois

Waiting to leave Joliet

Tied up at the beautiful River Club while waiting for the Brandon Roads lock

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Today's plan was for us to transit 61 miles to Starved Rock Marina, but the lockmasters' plans on the 3 locks we had to transit changed our schedule. A miscommunication with the Brandon Road lock-tender caused us to sit at the park wall longer than we should have.

He told us to hang back because he had commercial traffic coming through. Then he changed things, and allowed some recreational boats through, but it was now too late for us to catch up and go with them. We then made our way to the lock with another boat which was tied up at the Park. However, we ending waiting at a wall near the lock until noon before we could get through. This caused a three hour delay in our schedule.

The scenery was still highly industrial - not attractive at all. We then transited the Dresden Lock pretty quickly, since there was no commercial traffic there. Now the scenery began to change and the river widened and became more rural with only an occasional factory, grain elevator, or barge dock.

We then arrived at the Marseilles Lock and were informed by the lock-tender that we would have a 45 minute wait as a 10 barge tow was coming through the opposite way. This actually took about 2 hours! We then scrapped our plans to reach Starved Rock and headed instead for Heritage Harbor Marina only 2 miles past this lock.

We arrived around 7:15 p.m. and received a warm welcome from Captain Moe (the dockmaster) at this beautiful new marina. Captain Moe is known among "Loopers" as the "savior" of 26 boats who were caught for two weeks at this marina in the Illinois River flooding last year. During that time he arranged transportation, field trips, and, in general, made everyone as comfortable as he could during that terrible time. He couldn't do enough for us tonight, and we were sorry our schedule did not permit us to stay here longer. Again, we were exhausted after our long day, and we brought dinner from the on-site restaurant back to eat aboard the boat. We were also able to spot the infamous carp whose mouths we could see while using flashlights on the water.

9/3 - Joliet, Illinois

Our view while waiting to cross the barrier

While waiting some neighbors came by

You got to have friends

Going through the Barrier (the scenery was breath taking)
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This morning we left Du Sable Harbor at 5:50 a.m. on our 57 mile trip through 2 locks, and the electrical fish barrier to Joliet. This journey took us across Lake Michigan for 11 miles to the very industrial Calumet River, through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, and then into the Illinois River. We also transited under 56 bridges, including some which had to open for us.

The biggest challenge for us, however, proved to be the crossing of the electrical carp barrier. In order to progress south on the "Great Loop", we contracted with Artco Towing (the only towing company out of 16 allowed to do so - Chicago politics maybe?) to have our boat towed across the electrical barrier area for a fee of $600.00 (cash or check only).

We got our clearance from the Coast Guard a few days ago and got an "appointment" to be towed across the barrier at noon. We arrived at the tow point at 11 a.m., but were notified by the tow boat to be patient - he also had several commercial barges to take through before us. There were also 3 other boats behind us that also had "appointments", however, commercial vessels/ barges, always take precedence, even at locks as well.

This was a very tight area with many barges being towed within close proximity to our boat, so we and the other boats tied up to coal barges, so we would be out of the way of the huge vessels coming at us. Then the Coast Guard announced that the barrier area was being closed, so that the Army Corps of Engineers could conduct more testing of the electrical current in the barrier area! We couldn't believe it! We ended up sitting in this dangerous area until 5:23 p.m. when we were finally towed through with another vessel alongside us.

George had to shut off all the batteries and breakers on the boat, then we had to don life-jackets, pay our ransom, board the tow boat, and sit inside the tow's galley while we were driven 3/4 mile across the barrier. It took the boat which tied along side us quite a while to re-connect their batteries, and then we had to get through another lock - which always takes more time. So, we ended up arriving at Joliet's Bicentennial Park wall after dark. There were other boaters there to help tie us up, and we were finally docked at 7:45 p.m.

Our friends, Ray and Caryl, aboard "Houlegan" were even farther behind us, since they were on the tow after us. They finally arrived and George and Charlie tied them up. We were all so tired that we ended up eating Italian meatball and pasta left-overs along with drinking SEVERAL cocktails after a very long and stressful day.

9/2 - Chicago

The Field Museum

Sue
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We spent a good portion of our day at the Field Museum where we saw "Sue", the worlds' largest and most complete "T-Rex." skeleton as well as many other dinosaur skeletons, and a 3D movie on dinosaurs., Then we enjoyed the special exhibition on pirates, along with other extensive exhibitions on Egypt (we never saw so many mummies in one place), and Polynesia.

We didn't even touch the surface of the many things we could have seen here, but we would have had to have spent several days here to do so. We all then took a cab to "Bockmueller's" grocery store, hidden on the bottom floor of a beautiful high-rise apartment/condo building near our marina. There is no sign outside to identify it, and you really have to have local knowledge to know it is there. We returned to our boat with our purchases, rested a bit, and then went out again to the Navy Pier. It is somewhat like a Chicago version of the New Jersey boardwalk.

It is hard to believe, but the pier also housed a huge stain glass collection by Tiffany, Frank Lloyd Wright, and other designers. Honky-tonk meets art! After dinner we returned to the boat where we had a great seat for a beautiful fireworks show over the waters of Lake Michigan.