June 16, 17, 2007

June 16, 2007 – We left Big Basin Marina at about 9:30 after catching up on things and I did my laundry there as well. Then it was off down the Illinois River where there is lots of industrial activity on the waterway and you can see agriculture on the sides of the waterway with cattle standing in the water because it is hot. We pretty much have seen everything that Illinois is famous for and all the brand names that you can think of represented along the way. The tows and towboats are getting larger now as the bridges are closed and removed or they are tall enough for them to clear. We now have to be sure we fill our fuel tanks when we see a place because they are getting scarcer all the time. Also marinas are getting scarcer as well. The path they laid with buoys is easy to follow if you are paying attention. We cleared the Dresden Lock, the Marseilles Lock, the Starved Rock area lock and then we started looking for a place to anchor out because there is no marina where we ended up for the day. The scenery is typical for the area of Illinois we are in Elevators, Chemical tanks, Gas and Oil Company tanks, Processing plants of all kinds. There seemed also to be a lot of lakes attached to the river and sloughs and marshes for ducks and geese. We saw a lot of duck blinds and passed a lot of conservation areas.
June 17, 2007 – We left our anchorage fairly early as we had a long way to travel. We had to go through one lock today and that took two and a half hours out of our day. We are staying the night tonight in Havana, Illinois having passed through Peoria and other towns and cities along the way. The river today was very wide and resembled some of the sounds of the Carolina's. We saw a flock of snow geese today on one of the marshy areas of the river. The winds today were coming straight up the river and the water was rougher than when we crossed Lake Michigan. There were pretty much the same things along the river today as yesterday as far as plants and agriculture. Just before we came in today the channel started to narrow somewhat and looks like that may be happen more often tomorrow. We have one more Illinois River lock called the La Grange lock and lets hope there are not so many commercial tows going through as today. The tows we met today we upbound with the exception of one we passed going down and he should clear the lock by the time we get there tomorrow. Our marina tonight is Tall Timbers in Havana, Illinois which seems really neat. We both need showers because of the heat and humidity. Tomorrow the forecast contains thunderstorms so we will have to be careful. We have about 120 miles to cover tomorrow so I will let you know how we do.