We did two locks on Wednesday and two today (Friday). Remember we did two before Joliet and with these 4 that makes 6. I wish I could say we are experts but we are still learning. The first four had what they call floating bollards. You pull up to the lock wall at the middle of the boat and wrap a line around the middle cleat on the boat and then wrap it around the pole and back to the cleat. The pole or bollard goes up and down with the water so with the line wrapped around it holds the boat to the wall without other lines. This is a pretty nice system and easy to use. The last two locks did not have enough bollards for all of the boats so they just give you two lines and you hold on while the water drops. There was no wind or current in the locks so this was easy too except that it takes two people to hold the lines as opposed to the bollard which only has one line.
We met some very nice people in Joliet and we have traveled with them for the last three days. One couple is from Vermont and the other couple is from Martha's Vineyard. It has been great to follow the leader each day on the river and in the locks. We went from Joliet to Seneca, IL on Wednesday and stayed at Spring Brook Marina. There were two locks to get through and we got right through the first one but we were held up at the second lock for about 3 hours. Spring Brook is a nice marina and they had a courtesy van so we decided to stay another day and hit the Super WalMart which was only about 15 miles away. There was laundry to do also so 5 of us (Michael, from "Nova" stayed at the boat and changed his oil) went into Seneca to do laundry and then we were off to WalMart. I was the navigator and if you have been reading the blog you know that is probably not the best job for me. We went the wrong direction for about 10 miles but I figured it out and we were back on track. The girls put the clothes in the machines and we went to have coffee until it was time to put the clothes in the dryer. Gene (from "Free To B") and I walked around town while the clothes dried. We then all headed to WalMart and did a lot of shopping. Besides food, we each got oil for the engines and thankfully we had a van because we needed all of the room. Gene and I decided it would be best if I drove home and he did the navigating which was fine with me. We had happy hour on "Free To B" and decided to head to Henry, IL on Friday which was 55 miles away.
We left Seneca at 8:00 and we made both locks in good time with very little delay. It was raining pretty hard when we got to Henry so we went really slow and figured out where to tie up. The entrance to the marina is too shallow for our boats so we docked on an abandoned lock wall (see pictures below). We are headed to Peoria tomorrow to fuel up and hopefully spend the night. Right now we are headed to dinner in a few minutes.
We are back from dinner at the restaurant at the marina. It is a bar and restaurant. Country music in the bar (and a few bras) and Frank Sinatra in the dining room (we were the only ones in there). Typical bar food and the drinks were cheap. Check out the pictures.
A floating bollard
I always get the hard jobs - what the heck is Ginny doing?
A wannabe casino
One of the boats we are traveling with waiting for the lock.
I am pretty sure this is a duck blind, but what do I know.
We found the floating houses.
Spring Brook Marina in Seneca, IL
Leaving Spring Brook headed for Henry
Obviously this is not just corn and beans country.
Starved Rock
The town of Hennipen, IL.
We passed up this gem for Henry, what were we thinking.
Nice big Hatteras that passed us on the river.
Tied up at Henry.
At least we had 50 Amp power
Tied up to trees on an abandoned lock wall
You didn't know I was a mountain climber did you.
Not sure we are the same - but I can't argue with the price of beer.
In case you want to google this hot spot
I asked Ginny if she wanted to contribute but she said bras aren't cheap.
Not sure what a Lawn Chair Hero is but I can bet it includes beer, country music and maybe a few bras.
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