Tuesday 08/17/2021
Day Miles: 80
Total Miles: 7366
Travel Days: 142
Total Days: 293
Wednesday & Thursday 08/18 & 08/19/2021
Day Miles: 103
Total Miles: 7469
Travel Days: 143
Total Days: 295
Tuesday:
We moved over to the fuel dock at the IVY Club at 8:00 when they opened. They were not open on Monday, so had to wait to get fuel until today. On the Mississippi you do not want to pass up an opportunity to get fuel as there are not many places that have it. After fueling, I called the next lock on the phone to see how it was looking. The guy said there was a barge that needed to be split, but if I came down now I could lock through with a Corp boat. We left quickly and made it to the lock in about 30 minutes. All wasted effort, because when I got there I was told it would be about a 3 hour wait for the barge. Needless to say I was a bit perturbed. Actually, I think I may have even created a few new curse words. Oh Well! Anchor up and wait. After about 2 hours, we were able to lock though.
Going past dredger
Our plan was to stop at a place called Tall Timbers which was about 40 miles away. After talking with Jeremy at Heritage and then calling the place, we found out that we could not get in. Too big and not enough water. Based on Jeremy's recommendation, we call the Lugsdon Tug Service and we were told we could tie off to one of their barges. No power, no water, cash only, but it was a stop about another 40 miles down river. Not much to choose from at this point. We arrived late afternoon and 3 good ole boys helped up get tied up. Not fancy, but safe.
Since we did not have power, we had our side door open and the back door open to get some breeze through the boat. I was cleaning on the bridge when I received a frantic call from Marcia. Turns out Lucy, who has not been outside the boat the entire trip, decided to go out the side door, and jump off the boat onto the barge. I guess Marcia's "look" works on cats as well, because Lucy saw her and jumped right back into the boat. Needless to say she was in "timeout" for a bit. We ate a simple dinner on the boat and relaxed. We enjoyed a nice sunset, and other than an occasional barge, we slept well. The Ryobi fan ran all night on the battery.
Wednesday:
We left the barge at 1st light and headed down to our last lock on the Illinois River. This Lock was no different from the last few that we had. We dropped anchor and waited 2 1/2 hours for the barge to split and lock through. After clearing the lock, we made good time heading toward the Mississippi River.
View of the lock for a couple of hours.
Nice sandy beaches
Cows
House on stilts
Entering the Mississippi River
Our Lady of the River
After fueling up we tied up in our under cover slip.
We did some chores and laundry, and then used the gas grills to cook up our local beer brats that we bought at the farmers market in Ludington. Tired, we took it easy and turned in early.
Thursday:
We did some chores in the morning, and then went to the pool for the afternoon.
We made plans with friends Dave and Liz Bedway for drinks and dinner. They live in the St. Louis area and agreed to drive up to meet us. We had happy hour on the boat and then went to the Bluff City Grill for dinner.
After dinner we went for drinks at Fast Eddies
They dropped us back off at our boat and we said goodbye. It was great seeing them again!
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