A Beautiful Day on the Water

Day 113  |  Ottawa to Peoria |  8.7 Hours  |  69 Miles  |  1 Lock

The sun came up on a clear sky that had allowed the temperature to drop to 54 degrees. I started out in double layers of cold gear and a sweatshirt. The sun warmed things up quickly and by the time we were back in the Illinois River, my sweatshirt had been shed. We passed the cruise ship American Queen. It is the largest river steamboat ever built, and has six decks and 222 staterooms. She is up here getting ready for her fall season of voyages between Memphis and New Orleans. On the outer edge of Ottawa, we encountered a barge full of mulch. Barry and I joked that it might be just enough to re-cover our backyard beds at home after a year's absence.

The scenery today was as good as any we've seen on our trip. Vivid green trees and a Carolina blue sky were mirrored in the river. Ten miles into our day, we came to entrance to Starved Rock Lock. We had a 90 minute wait for passage, so each of the six boats in our flotilla dropped anchor and enjoyed the view of the namesake rock formation. Two different avian species performed for us today. The first was Canada geese who were, of course, loud and obnoxious.

The second were white pelicans. I had never seen a squadron of pelicans before. A hundred or so birds were all sitting on a small sandbar, most of them sleeping. Several heron also popped in and out. They really are gangly creatures. During the wait, it continued to warm up and warranted the second wardrobe change of the day into shorts and a T-shirt. In the lock, we secured ourselves to a floating bollard and Recess rafted up to us. Barry's view from our bow was pretty good for our 18 foot descent.

All boats left in single file, happy to have open water for the next five hours or so. Fluffy white clouds moved in, making the scenery even better. All boats were entertained by the schools of jumping Asian carp that would pop up in both our bow waves and stern wakes then return back to the water with a loud thud. Bucket List had one of these fish briefly land on their swim platform. I spent a while on Fiberglass Beach just watching us move down the river, catching a few late-season rays of sunshine and pulling out the camera to capture some of Robin's Yacht Shots. Bucket List is pictured below.

Magic, pictured here, is a Gold Looper, meaning they are on their second time around the Loop. In the last hour of our day, we came across another squadron of white pelicans.

This, however, is how I will remember today. The picture does not do the actual day justice.

We arrived in Peoria with plans of staying in the free city marina, which has great access to town and several things we want to do and explore. The docks looked nice enough, but as we got close we realized that half the areas available for possible tie-up didn't have any cleats. OK, time for some quick thinking. We secured Crossroads unconventionally and in several steps. It really is a work of art. I'll take pictures in the morning before we untie and move into a "real" slip with cleats.

Unlike home where Hurricane Florence is bearing down on all of our family and friends, the weather here is supposed to be beautiful for the next week -- sunny and mid-70s. We will try to enjoy it as we continually check our phones for weather updates.