We ended up staying at the Heritage Harbor Marina in
Ottawa for several days, as storms were passing through. When I was going into the marina slip I heard a banging sound and thought I might have hit something, though the dock hand advised it was just the asian carp hitting the boat's hull. In Ottawa, the temperature at night dipped in the 40s.
I went by a park and stopped to read the Commemorative
plaque. It was the site were 10,000 people gathered to listen to Abraham
Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debate during their 1858 campaign for the US Senate
seat from Illinois.
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Fountain in Washington Square |
I was joined by a praying mantis at the laundromat while
I caught up on my laundry.
Water levels were high from the rains. It was too cold to pilot the boat from the fly bridge. We left Ottawa and
arrived at the Illinois Valley Yacht Club (IVEY Club) in Peoria Heights. We stayed
here for several days, indirectly from the weather. The weather had finally cleared for us but Loopers were getting backed
up due to the flood closure of the Mississippi river. The marinas were full so we
could not proceed ahead until some movement started further downstream and
boaters could enter the Mississippi.
After 4 days we had an opening and left but had fog, then
rain for a good portion of the 41 nautical miles (NM) to Tall Timbers Marina in
Havana, IL. We stayed one night as we wanted to keep on moving.
Above is Elaine's photo of our 3 boats at Tall Timbers marina.
We left the next morning and traveled 53 NM. There’s alot
of debris in the river. We anchored out by Big Blue Island away from the main
river.
The following day we continued on the Illinois River to Grafton Harbor Marina, IL. This is at the point where the Illinois River flows into the Mississippi. We stayed 2 nights before heading out this morning to Hoppies Marina on the Mississippi at Kimmswick, MO.