Totally Off The Grid

Day 118  | Beardstown to Kampsville |  6.8 Hours  |  51 Miles

We left our Logsdon Tug Service barge tie-up this morning along with Felix and joined up with a group of four other Loopers. Eight miles downriver we had minimal delay entering into the LaGrange Lock, our last lock on the Illinois River. We tied a single line to the midship cleat and were done with the five-foot drop before we knew it. We shared the river channel with a few barges, but the traffic was not crazy-busy. Grain elevators and coal transfer stations dotted the shore. Our biggest challenge of the day was dodging sticks, branches, limbs and whole trees in the water. Channel markers provided easy points of accumulation.

We lost cell and data service early in the day. There wasn't much wildlife activity along the way either, just an occasional heron or splashing Asian carp. I was up on Fiberglass Beach watching trees go by when I heard the distinctive squawk of an eagle. I went back to the pilothouse, grabbed the camera, and began scanning the tree line behind us. To our surprise and delight, there were three adults flying around. I did get a blurry shot of all three, but it wasn't blog-worthy. Here are a few of my runner-ups.

This is my favorite from today.

We needed the Florence Highway Lift Bridge opened for us, but again, it was cycled quickly and did not slow us down. The Pearl Railroad Bridge had a nice rustic look to it. The topography began to change and hills sprouted from areas farmland once occupied. White clouds rolled in, but did little to lessen the intensity of the baking sun. It was another hot day on the river, a bit more humid than yesterday, with only a hint of a breeze.

As we neared our target anchorage, we crossed the path of the Kampsville car ferry and spotted what looked to be a dune buggy rally at a waterfront campground. We ducked in behind Willow Island and were surprised to find 20-feet of water, deeper than in the main river channel. We set our anchor behind Felix and did some reading and napping before dinner.

Tomorrow we head for Grafton where we'll stay for a few days. Laundry, cleaning and at least one Barry project are on the agenda. Hopefully we'll pass a cell tower along the way and service will return. It has been a frustrating day dealing with limited to no phone and data service -- no Google maps, no Florence updates, no football scores, no phone calls. Life totally off the grid.