Friday, October 20

On to Heritage Harbor Marina

It’s another early morning – ugh! We leave the dock at 7:30 a.m. for our first lock opening – Brandon. It’s dark and the rafted boats have to exit first. So the smaller boats are out but the larger boats have to get in front to lead the pack.

The problem begins when a gigantic barge comes through the bridge, into the channel where the 18 boats are jockeying into position, with nowhere to go. The winds have picked up and we almost hit the wall, pushing us away with the boat hook. Finally, the barge is through and we are on our way.

Three Locks Today

Today we have three locks – Brandon, Dresden, and Marseilles. We have 46 miles of travel. At 8 mph that’s about 9 hours of travel, with an hour at each lock. We also must be prepared for towboat delays – either en route or in the locks.

At the first lock, Brandon, we think we are using the same order as we did at the last lock yesterday. Wrong. The way the front doors of the lock are positioned, the lockmaster wants the smaller boats up front and the larger boats behind filling in.

We end up at the front of the lock, tied up to No Rush, owned by our friends Laureen and Rick. Laureen and Rick purchased No Rush from our friends Mitch and Anne who completed the Loop last year. This boat has seen some great owners!

Laureen is happy I have some coffee to share with her, as she did not have electricity this morning. It’s the little things!

We exit Brandon and go to the wall to wait and let the bigger boats come up to get into position. As we get into our running order, it’s announced that some boats will go faster if they want. We will have to wait for the next lock, Dresden, to open, hanging out in the lake just before the lock or up on the lock wall.

Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa

Captain Pat makes a beeline up the river. Suddenly we hear on the radio a notice to Sunshine that she has made a wake on some of the boats.

Of course, Captain Pat feels terrible. That was completely unintentional. The boat that made the comment tells Pat the protocol is to request a “slow passage” to the boat you are passing, and both boats then slow down to obviate the waking of boats. Pat apologizes and thanks him for the recommendation.

So we learned something new! Some of the boaters later were less condemning and didn’t seem to notice the waking. One boater even jokingly said “Hey, I do the waking on purpose!” The next day on the radio we hear some comical comments about “those boaters from Florida.” Oh well. All in good jest.

Dresden Lock is uneventful. We are getting used to rafting up. It makes the locking much easier. I prefer it.

The Last Lock

Finally, we are down to one last lock – Marseilles. Again, the smaller boats raft up to the larger ones. This takes longer as we are only rafting on the starboard side of the lock. Sunshine brings up the rear and is the last one into the lock. We tie up to Leland Tug. We are five boats across.

The boat on the wall says he doesn’t think his lines will hold. The lines are only ¼ inch in diameter. Sure enough – he is correct. We feel our boat moving, and boats are coming apart. The lockmaster drops another line and we get the boat on the wall secure. That was a close call.

Heritage Harbor Marina

We exit Marseilles and head to Heritage Harbor Marina. This marina is extremely organized. Over the radio the owner confirms each boat’s slip number and instructs them who to follow into the marina. They want to ensure there is ample staff to help people get docked.

We get all checked in and ready to hear the presentation from Jeremy (Harbor Master) at 6:00 p.m. Jeremy’s presentation is legendary. All Loopers look forward to hearing his recommendations to successfully continue down the Illinois, Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

Time to breathe. We survived the first two days of the Illinois River locks!

Heritage Harbor Marina

I’ve never seen such help getting us into our marina slip. We are one of the first ones into the marina. As with many of these small-town marinas, it is a mom-and-pop operation. The husband, wife and son meet us at the slip and tie us up. The son even ties our lines with the fancy knots I still haven’t mastered.

We are docked next to our buddies, Rick and Laureen, on No Rush – neighbors for the night again.

River Briefing by Jeremy Fowler

We are anxious to hear from Jeremy Fowler, resident expert of traveling the river systems to Green Turtle Bay Marina.

We’ve heard from other Loopers not to miss his 1 ½ hour presentation. Take a pen and paper, or your iPad.

Jeremy doesn’t disappoint. He speaks non-stop, no notes, to his PowerPoint presentation, peppered with amusing anecdotes. He provides landmarks, marinas, anchorages, and has the latest information on water levels, lock openings, how to handle the barges, etc.

We sit across from Mel and Mark Bonds, who are from Mesa, Arizona, living aboard their boat Paradise. Mel says afterward “my head is spinning!” I agree. Jeremy’s knowledge and expertise is invaluable.

Jeremy impresses me more when I discover he has built a “Quack House” -😊 for the ducks. I’ve never seen this! The next morning I venture over to visit the ducks at their home.

We are ready for a good night’s sleep. On to Henry’s tomorrow morning.

Here are more photos from our second day on the locks: