In Joliet we were able to tie up to a wall with free electric provided by the city. The wall is in front of a park, where there happened to be a Latin Music Festival that weekend. Music and a festive air were pervasive! There was also dancing, and of course ubiquitous “fair food” – funnel cakes, hot dogs, popcorn, etc. I was disappointed not to be able to get good Latin food, but it was not to be. We watched and listened from the comfort of Mer Sea’s upper deck while enjoying our own refreshments. Janet and Jeremy on Tardis were tied up behind us, and we had a fun “cocktail hour” together.
After dinner, Roy and I decided to walk across the river and check out the Harrah’s Casino almost directly across from where we were tied. We wandered around inside the Casino for a while, trying to decide whether or what to play. I must confess to being a babe in the woods where casinos are concerned, and the incessant loud noise and smoke and the crowded feeling are discombobulating. It’s a good thing Roy was with me, or I might still be wandering around in circles – everywhere you go looks like where you just were! The good news is that I was able to get a traveller’s check cashed and we had some fun playing $20 on a slot machine until it was gone. We were up, we were down, and then we were out!
The next morning we set out with Tardis and another “Looper” boat, Loose Stones, headed for Ottawa (hey, wasn’t I already there in Canada?), where another “Looper” was already. It was great to have an “advance team” in place, so we could get all the information on the docking situation. This would be another free dock, this one without power. It’s great that these cities want to encourage us transient boaters, and so provide such nice facilities at no charge to us! I always try to spend some money in town in such places to “pay back” their generosity.
We were fortunate with the locks that day, and were able to slide right in without any long waits. On these rivers where there’s lots of commercial traffic, it’s not uncommon to have several hours’ wait while a tug and barges negotiate the lock ahead of you. Commercial vessels have priority. But we were lucky on this day.
There is plentiful current on these rivers, something we’ve not had to deal with much before, and we were pleased that, at least on the Illinois, the current is in our favor. The river itself, although not clear water, is quite beautiful in terms of the areas you pass through. It is tree-lined and pretty wild most of the way, and we saw countless great blue herons, kingfishers, and even a bald eagle along the shore.
Our “advance team” on Niagra Myst warned us that there was considerable current perpendicular to the docks in Ottawa, and boy were they not kidding! It sort of reminded me of our very first transient docking experience in Venice, FL, where we had so much trouble getting into the slip. We finally gave up trying to go stern-to, and put Mer Sea into the slip bow first. Glad we were to have friendly people to catch the lines!
After we helped the rest of our flotilla get settled in at the docks, Roy and I set out for town to get laundry and grocery shopping done. There had been no laundromats available in Chicago, so we’d accumulated quite a load. Roy stayed at the laundromat while I walked on to the grocery store. I’d read on the Looper’s website that the store would be happy to drive you back to your boat if you asked, so I investigated that assertion before I did my shopping. The answer would determine just how much I bought, since it was a bit of a hike back to the boat. Yes, indeed, I was told, just let someone know when I was ready to leave, and they’d happily drive me back to the boat. How nice!
This was a good grocery store, and I really stocked up! I took my time strolling through the aisles, and got everything on my list and then some! Half way through my shopping a gentleman came up to me and asked me if I was finding everything I needed. He allowed as how he’d be the one driving me back to the boat, so I should just let him know when I was ready.
Well, I finished up my shopping and he drove me back to the boat – turns out that he used to be the owner of the store, before he gave it to his four kids, and he obviously still stays quite involved! He insisted on carrying my two immensely heavy bags to the boat for me – I was hoping that it wasn’t too much for him! – and wished me well and said goodbye. Now that’s friendly service, going the extra mile!!
I got all the groceries stowed, always a bit of a challenge and workout, just as Roy was returning with the laundry. We got that put away, and felt that all was in good shape! We were in the process of arranging a fuel stop for the next day, whereby a truck that usually delivers to farmers would pull up to a free dock on our route and we’d fuel up right from him. Because it would be three of the four boats we now had traveling together, the quantity would certainly be worth his while! And the price would be right. The paucity of marinas with fresh, reasonably priced diesel on this stretch of the loop makes a delivery like this really valuable!
The next morning, as we were finishing up breakfast, the generator just stopped. No error code, nothing. Sometimes it will do that if you overload it, but I didn’t think I’d had it overloaded. Nonetheless, I restarted it, which it did easily, and put just a small load on. This seemed to be OK. A bit later, however, it stopped again. I noticed that before it died this time there seemed to be a dip in power, and when I checked the gauges the voltage output was definitely fluctuating wildly. Hmmm – a new problem! Now we were getting an error message, telling us what we already knew, that the voltage wasn’t being regulated properly. Here we go again…
Now our plans had to change, because we couldn’t anchor out or stay at a dock without power. So on this day, when our friends turned into the free dock at Chillicothe, we went on to a marina. Not much of a marina, either, but it was cheap, and they did have power, which was our prime requirement. Before that, we did make our unusual fuel stop, and the three of us topped off our tanks at a reasonable price. It was so odd to pull up to a dilapidated dock, tie up, make a phone call, and here comes the fuel truck. But it was great!
Our stop the next day was a highly recommended marina in Havana, IL. We had a beautiful day on the water, got to the marina ahead of our Looper friends, and had a chance to visit with the marina owner briefly, before he had to go to work. It seems that owning the marina is only one of his jobs. He wouldn’t take any money until the next day, and left it to us to figure out where to put the other boats that were coming. He was very gracious, and he’s done a wonderful job with the marina. The place is like a nature preserve, with lovely planting all around, a couple of gazebos with tables and chairs where boaters can gather, and a great atmosphere.
I walked into town to see what the chances would be of having a dinner out with everyone, and found a quite depressed little town. If you wanted farm equipment or furniture for your house, you were in the right place, but if you wanted simple, good food in a non-smoking atmosphere, you needed to look elsewhere. We decided that cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in the gazebo with everyone would have to suffice.
What a jolly time we had! The crews of Tardis, Niagra Myst, Daddy’s Farm, whom we’d seen last in Baltimore!, and our friends on Drake’s Dream, whom we’d kept missing in Michigan, all gathered in the gazebo for a fun time trading stories and information. The camaraderie was great!
The next day as we prepared to head out early for the long run to Grafton, we noticed the recurrence of an odor that we’d been noticing for a few days. We hadn’t been able to identify it, but it seemed quite strong to me when I came aboard from outside, so I decided to investigate. When I put my head in the tank room to check the sight gauges, the odor was definitely stronger. I suggested to Roy that it might be the smell of a battery off-gassing, since I knew that we have one sub-par battery that tends to run hot. Sure enough, when Roy asked the marina owner on board to sniff, that is exactly what he thought it was. When we checked the suspected battery, it was HOT. Before we got underway, Roy unhooked it so that it wasn’t getting any juice and was no longer in our power loop. Yikes! Now we not only didn’t have a generator, our house battery bank was down to one! But, we wouldn’t have any batteries exploding on board…
We finally were able to head out to Grafton, hoping to make the long run before dark. We’d gotten a much later start than we’d intended, but felt good that we’d eliminated a potentially dangerous problem. It was a beautiful day, and the current was with us, and we were able to go over the locks, since the water was still high enough (although within hours our friends on Tardis would have to lock through), and we made it to Grafton before dark, our goal. It was a very long day, but at least the weather cooperated and it was nice on the water. We were there, safe, and could rest for a couple of days.
Grafton was more of a town than any we’d seen for a while, but it didn’t have a handy grocery store. We got milk and the like at a convenience store, so were able to keep staples supplied. There were quite a few restaurants, and we patronized one that night before falling into bed exhausted.
We spent the next day at the dock doing housekeeping things, computer things, and reworking our float plan. We realized that there was no way to avoid anchoring out for two nights in a row before our next marina, and decided to do a battery test to see how long our one house battery could last while we were still at the dock and could charge it. We turned off the battery charger, and I was quite surprised to find that it actually stayed much stronger much longer than when we’d had the other battery in the loop. I’d read that a bad battery in a bank will pull the others down, and here was definite proof. We figured that if it were charged up completely, the battery could last for 11 hours before dropping to the point that it wasn’t giving enough juice to keep things working properly. That would easily get us through a night at anchor, and I thought that we might even be able to use the generator for a while, since it seemed to run for a bit before the voltage started going crazy.
Armed with this new knowledge, we formulated an ambitious plan: knowing the Mississippi would have a current of between 3 and 5 knots in our favor, we decided to run like hell, never mind the fuel burned, for 147 nautical miles one day, anchor out, 70 nautical miles the next day, anchor out, and have a “short” 50 nautical miles the next day to a marina. It was ambitious, but we felt we could do it, and we’d get this part over with. We kind of hated to approach any part of the trip with that attitude, but we really had no choice. The only possible marina, about 58 miles below Grafton, has a reputation for less-than-reliable electric, and that would be the whole reason we’d stay there. So we decided to just bypass it and run. We did identify a couple of places where we could pull in if we got delayed at locks or whatever. But we hoped to do the trip in 3 days!
Sometime in the afternoon, who should pull up a few slips over from us but Tardis! It’s so much fun to keep meeting up with our friends like this! We had a happy reunion, and went out to dinner together that night. Janet and Jeremy are such nice people, and they have lots of experience and knowledge that they graciously share. They will be leaving their boat in Grafton and flying out to the American Tug Rendezvous in La Conner, WA, so we won’t see them for a while. I feel sure that we’ll eventually meet up again on the way to Mobile, however!
We had planned to leave the next morning, but the weather report wasn’t very promising, so we decided to sit tight and not add bad weather to the variables for our sprint (or, as Jeremy called it, our forced march). It was cool and rainy, and a good day to curl up with a book, which I did.
We were preparing to leave at oh dark hundred (about 6:00) the next morning, literally waiting for enough daylight to feel comfortable leaving the marina, when who should run up to our boat but Janet, with a plateful of fresh from the oven cinnamon rolls she’d gotten up to bake for us! Wow!! What a wonderful farewell gift, and what a kind gesture! She helped us get off the dock, and the sprint was on! Here’s the sunrise as we left Grafton:
Boy, they weren’t kidding about the Mississippi! That river has some tremendous current, and lots of barge traffic. The barges are perhaps three wide and five or more long, all pushed by one big tow boat. It was something to see (and to avoid!). All the boat operators were great about telling us which side to pass on and helping us stay clear of them.
There were two locks on the Mississippi, and we’d heard that they were quick. This proved to be correct, and we sped right through with hardly any delay. We had Mer Sea running practically wide open, and were doing about 14 -15 knots, counting the push from the current. The most interesting thing in that day’s travel was passing St. Louis, which doesn’t have any facilities for boaters – a shame, although maybe the current and the tremendously fluctuating levels of the river have something to do with that. Anyway, here’s St. Louis as we sped by:
We made great time, and didn’t have to use either of our alternate plans, so found our intended anchorage with little trouble. After 11 hours of pounding, we pulled into this serene little canal, heavily wooded on both sides, with very little current and no other boats. Whew! We’d made the first and hardest leg! We had a peaceful evening, used the generator a little before it conked out, and fell into bed!
The next morning we set out early again, after using the generator enough to make our coffee and tea, and re-entered the Mississippi. It was a bit foggy, so we proceeded with caution, used our radar, and kept moving. The fog lifted quickly, and we were off! By the time we got to the junction of the Mississippi and the Ohio, the current was a strong 5 knots in our favor. We turned the corner into the Ohio, and it was as if we’d put on the brakes! All of a sudden, we had a 3-5 knot current against us! What a difference!! Not only was this water muddy and fast moving the wrong way, because it was so high there was lots of debris that had washed into it from the shore. I’m not talking about sticks here, we’re talking trees, with roots attached, and who knows what under water that kept THUNKing on our hull. It was awful!
There was lots of barge traffic still, and we just pushed Mer Sea and tried to get through it. We’d planned on staying in an anchorage that was off to the side but still on the river, but were rethinking that plan in light of the condition of the river. The anchorage would offer us no protection from this raging current or the debris that was being washed in it or the wakes of the tows. There was another anchorage further on that would offer some protection, so we decided to push ahead and stay in that one.
After another eleven hour day, we pulled into the creek behind an island where we planned to anchor. There was another boat there already, but plenty of room for more. We anchored more towards the middle of the creek than he had, and had no trouble setting the anchor. He was in front and to the side of where we were. The water was still moving swiftly, and there was some debris and, yes, trees, but it was much better than the river. We watched while trees and logs floated past us, and occasionally heard the THUNK of one hitting our hull.
Just before bed, I heard a strange noise outside. I got the spotlight and looked out to see the boat that had been anchored ahead of us going past us backwards, with someone on the bow retrieving the anchor (the sound I’d heard was his windlass). I wasn’t sure what they were doing, but figured that their anchor hadn’t set properly, and that they were going to reposition themselves. There wasn’t anything I could do, so I left them to their own devices and went to bed.
The next morning the generator just barely met our basic needs, and we were glad that we’d be going to a marina that day. We saw the boat that had been anchored with us, now behind us in the creek. As we left the anchorage, we pulled over and talked to him: turns out that he is single-handing, and a tree washed downstream and knocked into his anchor rode, knocking his anchor loose, and tree, anchor, and boat were all being washed downstream with the current. What a nightmare! We felt very lucky not to have encountered any such difficulties, and also that he’d been off to the side of us, or he’d have washed into us!
We entered the Cumberland river right away that morning, and what a relief! Although the current still was against us, it was only a couple of knots, and there was hardly any debris or barge traffic. It was calm and beautiful. We proceeded to the marina where we had reservations, and have hardly ever been happier to see a dock! We met up with many old friends there, including Popeye, with whom we’d been rafted in Waterford, NY, back at the beginning of the Erie Canal! We had power, a secure dock, no debris, friends, and sunshine, and life was once again good!!