WEEK 29 - Peoria, Illinois to Grand Rivers, Kentucky

We kicked into high gear this week, finishing up the Illinois River and getting through both the Mississippi and the Ohio Rivers. I say getting through because these are the most challenging segments of the great loop – nearly 300 miles without many real marinas, very few decent anchorages, strong river currents, and heavy commercial traffic. Notwithstanding all that, there are interesting sights to see and friendly people to meet along the way. Our stops this week were in Beardstown, Illinois (barge tie), Willow Island (anchor), Grafton, Illinois (marina), Alton, Illinois (marina), Kimmswick, Missouri (barge tie), Cape Girardeau, Missouri (anchor), Paducah, Kentucky (town dock), and finally Grand Rivers, Kentucky at the Green Turtle Marina on the Cumberland River.

After a nice stay in Peoria, where we toured the Caterpillar museum (the heavy equipment kind of caterpillar, not the kind that turns into a butterfly) and made a trip to Bass Pro Shops to get a new propane heater, we left down the Illinois about 70 miles to the town of Beardstown. The town here is protected by a high floodwall and there are no docks, but we were able to tie up to a moored barge at Logston Tug Service for the night. Scrambling up onto the barge and going up some steep rickety stairs allowed us to access the town, which was a surprising treat. Beardstown is a quiet little place where it seems not much has changed in the last 50 years. But its history goes back much farther than that - we found the old courthouse where a young lawyer named Abraham Lincoln defended a local man from a murder charge and got him acquitted. We also found a restaurant named Little Mexico where we had an absolutely outstanding dinner – the Molcajete (a favorite of ours) was the best we have ever had.

Reproduction of American Gothic along the Peoria waterfront

Sunrise at the Peoria free dock

Moon rise at the Peoria free dock

This is a mine dump truck that weighs over 1.5 million pounds and can go 40 mph

The simulators were a lot of fun

We've had some cold spells which have been exhilarating.
The new Heater Buddy is the perfect addition to the pilot house.

The next day we did 50 miles to an anchorage in a little side channel off the river (they call them “chutes” here) at Willow Island. We dropped anchor in about 20 feet of water in the company of our buddy boat Explorer and had a quiet night. The only downside was the dog access. Due to recent flooding, the island where I landed Bella was very muddy, and we were both a mess by the time we got back.

NY Times recipe for crispy Brussel sprouts with gnocchi in browned butter.
I added prosciutto and reduced the amount of butter which was a nice touch Recipe here

Shore leave for Bella before pulling the anchor

The next day was a short 30 miles to mile zero on the Illinois River and the town of Grafton. We stayed one night at Grafton Harbor Marina, arriving early enough to get in three loads of laundry. Grafton is a party town, calling itself the “Key West of the Midwest,” but things were definitely slowing down for the season.

Seeing bigger pockets of fall colors along the Illinois river

These river towns are no strangers to flood waters.
The water was high this year but this is the watermark in '93

Bitchin' Camero martini at Bobby G's martini bar

BellaGatto at the dock

Looking back toward our wake at the confluence of the
Mississippi (left) and Illinois (right) rivers. Hello Big Muddy!

In the morning we began our 220 miles of the mighty Mississippi with a short 20-mile hop to the excellent Alton Marina in the town of Alton. This is the last real cruiser friendly stop for the next 250 miles until Paducah, Kentucky. We did some light provisioning here and filled up with fuel and water and pumped out the holding tank and otherwise got squared away for our big river run. We had a summit meeting over cocktails with the other southbound cruisers to plan our strategy for getting through the two locks on the Mississippi slated for tomorrow (it’s best for pleasure craft to go all in a bunch so the lockmasters can deal with them all at once).

Beautiful white cliffs nestled in the fall foliage

 

View of the bridge from our slip in the Alton marina

Florida is starting to get in our reach 💖

These reminders have been helpful along the way

In the morning our group of seven boats passed through the Mel Price Lock by about 9:30 and from there we could see the skyline and the famous arch in St. Louis. Despite being a major city, there is no marina or even a place to tie up in St. Louis, just lots of barges moored, anchored, or underway all over the place. We all milled around a little bit to get pictures of each other’s boats with the arch in the background and then proceeded to the next and last lock on the Mississippi, the Chain of Rocks lock.  About 40 miles farther on, BellaGatto and Explorer left the group to make a stop at Hoppies. Hoppies used to be a must-stop destination with docking for a dozen or more boats, fuel, and daily briefings on river conditions. It was sadly mostly destroyed in last year’s floods and now there is only one rusty barge along the shore to tie to, no fuel, and no daily briefings. The good part is that it still does allow you to see the town of Kimmswick, just a short walk away. We toured the town, bought a “levee high apple pie” at the celebrated Blue Owl Bakery, and found a barbecue place to come back to for dinner. We were joined at Hoppies by a small sailboat with two women on board traveling from Minneapolis to Mobile. They had just a little outboard for power and no real plumbing or other creature comforts, but they were having a grand adventure.

Into the Chain of Rocks lock canal we go

Photo Credit: Deb from Explorer

Iconic St. Louis arch selfie from the cockpit of BellaGatto 

  

s/v Jeddi pulling into Hoppies with Judy and her aunt. 

What is left of Hoppies with our buddy boat Explorer

Scenes from the town of Kimmswick. The famous Mile High Apple Pie
from the Blue Owl touts 15 apples. We got the smaller version.

In the morning we got an early start, because we were planning on a 110 mile run to an anchorage at the Little Diversion Channel near Cape Girardeau. This is a lot father than we would usually do in a day at 8-9 miles per hour, but the high water on the Mississippi had the current running at 4-5 knots, bringing our average speed up to something like 14 mph. It was still a long and stressful day dodging floating logs and watching for buoys that were pulled down just under the surface by the current and the giant tows with their giant wakes, and we were glad to pull in off the river to Little Diversion. This is basically just a big drainage ditch, but it seemed like heaven. We anchored bow and stern in 30 feet of water, found a place to take Bella ashore along an abandoned railroad siding, and had a nice night, disturbed only by some strong thunderstorms rolling through in the middle of the night.

Passing on the two whistle

These tows pushing up river create large wakes and turbulence

Safely tucked away in Little Diversion

Fall colors pop at sunrise. No filter necessary

Mixed seafood grill for dinner

Unused railroad bridge in Little Diversion anchorage

After a rainy night Bella and Jonathan go to shore before pulling anchor

The morning dawned rainy and cloudy and very windy, but we up-anchored at around 9:00 anyway to see how far we could get that day. From Little Diversion, it was 50 miles to where the Mississippi joins the Ohio River and then another 45 miles upriver to the transient docks at Paducah, Kentucky. We expected to face a 2-3 knot head current on the Ohio and to have to pass through two locks to make Paducah. We figured there was no way to make it all in one day and were steeling ourselves for a wide-open windy anchorage somewhere on the Ohio. But we found the Ohio was only running at a knot or so and the two locks were decommissioned, so we could just cruise on by. We called Explorer and we both decided to press on for Paducah. We got there just as the sun was setting, a nine-hour 95 mile day. Almost too tired to think at this point, we had a well-deserved cocktail and went out to a nice dinner in town with the crews of some of the other boats at the dock. There was just enough energy left to look at the famous murals along the floodwall of the town, and then it was off to bed.

This panoramic was taken as we round the turn leaving the Mississippi behind us (left) and head up the Ohio (right)

Making our way to Paducah before the sun sets

The other loopers on the Paducah dock were a sight for sore eyes.
Just in time for a beautiful sunset

Paducah Wall-Wall Portraits of the past. We were amazed at the vibrant colors
given their exposure and later found out that they are spruced up regularly Newspaper article link

Looper boats on the dock at dawn

The Paducah city dock is one of the most impressive docks we have ever seen.
Made to withstand flooding, these floating docks are ready for high water!

From Paducah, there are two choices for southbound cruisers. You can continue up the Ohio to the Cumberland River and pass through the Barkley Lock or turn off the Ohio right at Paducah and go up the Tennessee River and through the Kentucky Lock. Both rivers connect just upstream of the locks, so they both take you to the same place. Usually the Cumberland River route is preferred, to avoid the Kentucky Lock, which is famous for heavy traffic and long delays. But the Barkley lock was closed for repairs and we had to go to the Kentucky lock where we faced (guess what) heavy traffic and long delays. When we finally got in the massive Kentucky Lock, which lifts us up 60 feet, the high winds and swirling currents gave the boats a hard time, and it was a real ordeal. Getting out of the Kentucky lock and out on to the beautiful Kentucky Lake was like getting out of prison! There was a natural shoreline covered with trees in full fall colors as far as the eye could see. In the company with most of the other boats from Paducah, we went to the Green Turtle Marina where we will relax for a couple of days and catch up on some maintenance.

When we realized a 40 minute wait was going to be much longer
we dropped anchor with the other boats on the LDB. The scenery wasn't all bad.

Whipped up a quick lunch of Kung Pao chicken during our 3 hour wait

Finally entering the lock

Once the tug (this is a boat that assists a Tow) secured the loaded barges outside of the lock,
it locked through with us to stand by to assist the the barges on the other side

Once we exited the lock we were on Kentucky lake, a national recreation area on the Tennessee river

The flotilla making their way to Green Turtle Bay

WEEK 27 AND 28 - Hammond, Indiana to Peoria, Illinois

This last week, after cooling our heels waiting for the Illinois River locks to open back up, they finally did, and we started our trip back down south (and just in time….it’s starting to get a bit nippy up here for us Floridians). Our stops along the way were Monroe Harbor (mooring, 2 nights), DuSable Marina (5 nights), and then, going down the Illinois River, the Joliet free wall (2 nights), Seneca (marina), Ottawa (marina) and finally to Peoria (free wall, 2 nights).

 

We left Hammond for the big city and after an easy 14 mile trip stayed 2 nights on a mooring ball in sprawling Monroe Harbor right on the downtown waterfront. There are at least 1000 boats in this mooring field, mostly local sailboats with just a smattering of cruisers. It’s a little rolly and surgey, but for just a buck a foot per night you get a front-row seat to the city skyline and a tender service that picks you up and drops you off at your boat. Oh, and walking distance to the best natural history museum ever!

Monroe Harbor mooring ball in Chicago

Chicago Field Museum

The main hall in the field museum

The skeleton of famous t-rex dinosaur, Sue

Bringing Sue to life!

Such a gorgeous view at night of the Chicago skyline

We then moved all of 200 yards from the mooring field into the adjacent DuSable Marina, where it would be more convenient for the big herd of guests and visitors who came to see us. We had a great time wining and dining and shopping and visiting with our old friends. Almost everything you could want or need is within walking or biking distance, including an upscale grocery and gourmet store named Mariano’s (the first grocery store I’ve ever seen with a bar and a baby grand piano in it). We wound up staying here 5 nights.

MingHin Cuisine - awesome Chinese restaurant just a short walk from the boat.
The Chinese restaurants in Canada were meh.

Mariano's Grocery just a short walk from the boat

An amazing dinner with Melissa & Holde at North Pond,  a 2019 Michelin Star
and 2002 James Beard Winner. Such a great evening!

We had the 5 course tasting menu which was delectable and elegant! I fancy myself a foodie
but it wasn't until the next day after a Google search that I realized I ate baby pigeon 😝. 
Admittedly, it was delicious

Top: John and Stacy stopped by for some cheer on their way through Chicago

Bottom: Allison stayed on the boat with us and Cindy, Katie and Melissa joined 

us for a river cruise and some city fun.

Architecture Tour of the Chicago River.

Some sights around the city of Chicago

At long last, we got the word that the Marseilles and Starved Rock locks on the Illinois were getting ready to reopen on October 12, so on the 8th we left Chicago and started downriver. One of the highlights of the whole trip for most loopers is the first few miles of the trip down the Chicago River right through the concrete canyons of downtown and under what seems like a hundred bridges. Soon after that the waterway becomes much more industrial and way less scenic, because we are now in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, which is just as romantic as it sounds. Industrial facilities fronted by hundreds of old rusty barges line both banks. It doesn’t get any prettier after the confluence with the Cal-Sag waterway, whence begins the aptly named “twelve miles of hell" featuring some of the heaviest barge traffic in the world, and not a lot of maneuvering room. Shortly thereafter, we got to the first of the seven locks on the 326 miles of the Illinois River, the Lockport Lock. Lockport was not one of the locks getting repaired, but it was still very busy and we waited with our buddy boat Explorer for about three hours to lock through. On all these inland river locks, recreational vessels have low priority. The locks were built for the benefit of commercial shipping, and they always go first. Some lockmasters are better than others, but cruisers generally rank somewhere between an afterthought and a nuisance. It was late in the afternoon when we got to our stop for the night, a free wall (with free electric!) in the town of Joliet. We went to a terrific Mexican supermarket and had a pile of $1 tacos for lunch and bought some chili rellenos and tamales for dinner. 

Panoramic of the sky line as we leave Monroe Harbor on our way to the Chicago River

Locking down the Chicago lock and into the river. First lock since the 100+ in Canada

Shot of BellaGatto going through downtown Chicago. Photo Credit: Explorer

Railroad lift bridge, electric carp barrier, and Lockport lock

Authentic Mexican cuisine is not smothered in cheese. A memorable stop!

 By this time, the Marseilles Lock was just getting re-opened and trying to deal with the backlog of barge traffic that had been building up for the last 3 weeks. To make life easier for them, they requested that the recreational vessels form a pack and come through all at once in one locking rather than come in singles and pairs. We joined a group of a dozen or so loopers in Seneca at the Spring Brook Marina waiting for the official opening. Our friend Allison and her two tween sons joined us to experience life aboard and a lock through. We got the green light from the lock to come on down the next morning at 9:00. Our group of 10 boats got there promptly at 9:00 but had to wait 3 ½ hours while the lock crew dealt with an oversize tow that had to split into two separate loads, lock those loads through one at a time, and then re-assemble the tow. By the time we all got through at about 1:30, it was feeling like a pretty long day already, so we split off and went to Heritage Harbor Marina in Ottawa, only another 8 miles or so downriver from Marseilles. This is a really nice new facility, but still charges just $1 a foot for loopers. The marina manger, who grew up on the river, gave us all a detailed briefing on the next couple of hundred miles of river and what to expect. We borrowed the marina’s courtesy car (a brand-new Buick SUV) and made a fruitless trip to Wal-Mart to try to find a replacement portable propane heater for our pilothouse. We really do not like Wal-Mart.

Station keeping while awaiting the Marsailles opening

All ready to lock down

Down we go! Life jackets for all

Extra crew for the Marsailles lockdown

The next morning, we left with the Fish Vicious to try to get through Starved Rock Lock. We got there at 9:00 and tied up to a mooring cell (not easy) and waited for the lock to finish with a northbound barge. From there we had a great view of Starved Rock itself, named after a long-ago battle between two Indian tribes. In that battle, one tribe was forced to retreat up a steep rock face, and rather than attacking, the other tribe laid siege to the rock until all the defenders starved to death. The northbound barge was another one of those 2 part split loads again, but rather than making us wait the whole time the lockmaster told us if we could squeak around the first load of barges after it had been pushed out of the lock, he would lock us down and we could then squeak past the second half of the load as it was waiting to go up and join the first half. This would save at least a couple of hours, so squeak we did, with just a couple of feet between the back corner of the last barge and the cement lock wall. We were out of the lock by a little after 10:00, with nothing between us and Peoria except 70 miles of wide open river, we put the hammer down and with a little help from the current got to the free dock in downtown Peoria by 5:00.

Starved Rock

So happy to see white pelicans again!

Into Starved Rock lock we go

BellaGatto with Fish Vicious in the background

Heading down the Illinois river, dappled with fall colors, towards Peoria. 

Our plan is to stay here for two days (hey, it’s a free dock with electric) and then start making some serious tracks south. We’ll stop again for a while when we can go back to shorts and t-shirts.