Birdies and Eagles -- All Par for the Course

Day 117  | Havana to Beardstown |  4.1 Hours  |  29 Miles

What a pleasure it was to be on the hook last night behind Quiver Island. A gentle breeze and current worked together to keep Crossroads in the same position all night. The absence of city lights allowed the stars to brightly illuminate the cloudless pitch-black sky. The only sounds were those of crickets and the occasional Asian carp splashing down after inexplicably launching itself into the air. We woke up early and watched reports of Hurricane Florence's landfall in North Carolina, while checking in with friends in coastal Virginia.

Thankful that everyone was doing well, we pulled up the anchor and headed down the Illinois River. Our morning was sunny and warm with very little wind. This made for amazing reflections in the water. In several spots we've seen evidence of foliage beginning to develop its autumn coloration and hints of red shone brightly. The Illinois River is quite muddy these days and suspended sediment can be seen flowing just below the surface in a fluid motion similar to a "lava lamp." In all of this brown muddy water, the white reflections really jumped out today -- whether those of some unidentified tower or a single floating pelican.

Common to all our recent days of traveling the Illinois River is the abundance of birdlife we've seen along the way. Today we were excited to see a healthy presence of bald eagles along the way. Adult eagles were seen with eaglets on the beach. The new generation has grown close to full size, although their white head feathers have not yet come in.

Pelicans and egrets dotted the shoreline. Eagles flew low across the water. In all we counted four different eagle settlements along our path, and a total of five eaglets.

We decided to lay up and play it safe instead of attempting a longer than normal drive. We pulled into Beardstown and tied up along a barge at Logsdon Tug Service. Felix joined us at this unique docking location. Barry chatted with the tug boat captain who shared some local knowledge and even gave him a tour of his tug. We cleaned up our lines and then headed into town for the afternoon. Seemingly in concert with the red leaves we saw earlier in the morning was an autumn-themed display outside the courthouse. Folks here are looking for fall to come, but the high temperature today was in the upper 80s and it was very warm, bordering on hot. The Beardstown Courthouse is home to a town museum as well as the Lincoln Courtroom and Museum, a part of the Looking for Lincoln historical trail.

Inside the courthouse we were given a private tour of the exhibits. There were artifacts from Abraham Lincoln's time as a lawyer in Beardstown -- desks, portraits, hats, and documents. We also saw the original jail adjacent to the courthouse. The highlight was the actual courtroom in which Lincoln successfully argued for the acquittal of his client by discrediting the testimony of the key witness with an almanac. This case came to be known as the "Almanac Trial." A famous portrait of Lincoln in a white linen suit was taken in Beardstown the evening of the trial.

We went to a local family-run restaurant for dinner with Tom and Dorothy from Felix. We will depart tomorrow morning and pass through LaGrange Lock together. We're hoping the lockmaster will let our two boats "play through" without too much of a wait. A long 67-mile day will take us Hardin for the night.