Ottawa to Beardstown
The past few days had been very warm. Of course as soon as
we got ready to leave Ottawa on Thursday morning, the rain came down in
buckets.
After about 7 miles we got to Starved Rock Lock and they
were able to lock us through without having to wait. This meant I had to go out
in the rain and secure lines to the lock walls. Fortunately it was warm. I got
soaked to the bone and that lock had to be the slowest lock we had encountered
till now. For 40 minutes I stood in the
pouring rain, I even took my automatic life jacket off for fear of it
deploying.
The rain slowed us down a little but eventually we go to
Hennepin and tied to the old barge on the waterfront. It is such a nice stop,
near a grocery store, laundry and hardware store. Unfortunately getting off
your boat is a bit of a hassle. You have to step off the boat onto the rails of
the barge and the climb over the fence ….It in not impossible but it is a
schlep.
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| Yanetta, me, Gary , Mike and Lasse |
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| There were three Looper boats tied to the barge in Hennepin |
We had dinner at “Ray’s on the waterfront” In my humble
opinion the best chicken in the land.
The following morning we had the best intentions of leaving
early to get to Peoria, unfortunately this time we were fogged in. The visibility
was a blurry 500 feet so we just sat back, relaxed and waited for it to lift.
When we got to Peoria we had no problem staying on the town
dock.
Gary and I like the lazy days on the rivers. You don’t have
to worry about the weather or tides or big waters. Some may find this boring
but we have had enough excitement boat to appreciate this “boring”
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| We traveled for some distance along side the Spirit of Peoria |
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| Mike and Yonetta had a Asian Carp jump into their dingy |
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| An air boat |
The days have gotten a lot warmer!! With highs foretasted in
the 90-100F in the next few days, I will miss the coolness of Lake Michigan.
But if we push now we can get off the rivers and spend a couple of weeks just
drifting around the clear waters of Kentucky Lake. Last evening it was so hot I
considered swimming but when two kayakers held up a dead rat they found in the
water I decided to pass.
In Beardstown we went for a walk, I stood in the town square
fountain to cool off a little and then we enjoyed a nice cool beer at a local
pub. $1.00 a beer (Coors Light Draft)!!!!!!!!!!!! By the time we got back to
the boat I was so hot I just had to jump in the water to cool down.
The high for today was 91F or 33C but it is going to get
hotter and for Wednesday and Thursday the forecast is for 99F or 38C ……!!!
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| Me trying to cool down in the Beardstown Square fountain |
……………………………………..to be continued ( unless melted)
One correction....Coors Light draft does not qualify as beer! Lol
ReplyDeleteWhen it is 100F outside and it comes in a frosted glass, it is close enough :)
ReplyDelete