Peoria to Grafton, Illinois

Saturday morning Oct.6th we were up early (6:30 am) and called the Peoria Lock to see when we might be able to get through.  They said to be there for an 8:45 AM lock-through.  So we had some coffee and were just relaxing when two other "Loopers" went past our dock spot heading down the river.  We thought maybe they had not called the lock and were just planning to get there and wait until whenever they could get through.  About 7:55 AM one of the boats we saw go by called us (they had our number from the day before when we had introduced ourselves) and they said they were at the lock and it was opening.  What the heck?  The lock told us 8:45 AM.  We are about 3 miles from the lock. Now what?  We called the lock and they said they were opening but if we hurried they would wait.  So we did a fire drill shove off and hauled butt toward the lock.  Of course we are in downtown Peoria and there are tugs and tows all over the place.  They are fussing at us to not make a wake.  Good grief, the lock says give it the juice and get here, and the tugs are fussing for us to slow down.  There is just no pleasing some people.  Well, all turned out OK.  We got to the lock and did not get thrown in jail, so I guess a win.  Unfortunately the weather Saturday morning was not very nice.  There were some thunderstorms in the region and heavy rain.  Luckily we did not have lightening but we did get some heavy rain.  It passed over us by afternoon and the rest of the day was partly cloudy.  By around 3:30 PM we were pulling into our anchorage behind a small island and out of the channel.  This was a good spot recommended by the dock master in Ottawa, IL several days ago.

Our anchorage for Saturday night. 
We were able to get out of the channel which is to the left of the island.

The channel is between the red buoy and the tree line.

The Spirit of Peoria came past us while we were anchored as well as several tows and barges

We got up around 6:30 AM the next morning and were not up long when we see a tow pushing several barges past us heading toward the next lock.  We quickly called the lock and the tow and they said if we got our anchor up and came to the lock right away they would put us through before the barges had to be put through.  So once again it was a fire drill to get out of our anchorage and to the lock.  One complication was the log the size of a nuclear submarine that came up on our anchor.  I tried to get a picture of it but it was so big I could not fit the entire thing on one shot.  It was balanced perfectly on the anchor and we did not know how we were going to get it off.  Luckily after several up and downs we jimmied the anchor off and got the heck out of there.

Our anchor log

After getting out of the anchorage, we made it past the barges and to the lock to go down.  There was quite a bit of barge traffic Sunday on this stretch of river between our anchorage and final destination of Grafton, Illinois.  We were able to make it in by about 3:30-4:00 PM as storms were just starting all around us.  The wind pushed us hard against the dock but we got in at the fuel dock and moved to our appointed spot the next morning.

My cousin Pam was able to come to the boat Sunday evening for a tour of the boat and a great visit.  It had been several years since we got together and having her come by and have dinner with us was so nice.  Hopefully she can visit while we are in Florida over the winter.

Monday morning we had a rental car reserved so we could do some site seeing in St. Louis.  Most Enterprise car rental places will pick you up, but not the one closest to the Grafton Marina where we were staying.  To complicate the issue there was no cell phone service with our Verizon carrier in Grafton and the marina Internet was also next to nonexistent.  There was also no Uber, Lyft, or local taxi company.  Keith and I were beside ourselves trying to contact someone to get us to the renal car and letting the rental car people know we were coming but having to be a little late since we could not find a ride first thing in the morning.  On top of it all, we had made a reservation for getting up in the St Louis arch that we did not want to be late getting to for fear of a non refundable ticket.  Finally we were able to borrow a car from one of the marina employees who took pity on us.  We offered her cash for the use of the car, but said just fill it up on the way back and it is all good.  A perfect deal.  Now with a rental car we can do some exploring in St. Louis.