South on the Illinois River to St. Charles

It was still blustery as we entered the Calumet Ship Canal from Lake Michigan. There are two ways to get onto the river system and we chose the southern route, the Calumet River, due to how tall our boat is. With the Starlink antenna we are 19 feet 8 inches and the maximum height for the Chicago River is 17 feet. The Calumet is not as pretty as going through downtown Chicago, but we did not have to disassemble the flybridge canvas and drop the radar arch to get under that 17 foot magic number. There was a lot of river traffic in the first section of the canal. At one point we had a ship, a barge and another barge trying to take the spot we were at on the canal. They all seemed to come together at the same time. We sped up to get out of their, then they got on the radio complaining about our wake. Go figure, it would have ruined their day if they had hit us. Although, we have to admit one of the three vessels did have right of way.

The locks on the Illinois are big boy locks compared to what we went through on the Trent Severn and Erie Canal. They are made to handle barge traffic and are 300 feet wide by 1100 feet long. They have foot markers along the lock wall every 50 feet. It is very strange going through a lock when we are the only vessel. We found that when the pleasure craft group up with 6 boats traveling together, the lock masters are happier and probably get us in the lock quicker.

We are really enjoying the beauty of the Illinois river. It is lined on both sides by trees, in spots, there are sandstone cliffs showing along the bank. There is one at a state park called Starved Rock. Legend has it that two tribes were fighting and one was getting the better of the other. The losing side climbed Starved Rock to get away from the victors. Well the victors just hung out at the bottom and eventually the losers died from starvation. The other rock in that area is called lover’s leap. Hmmm, wonder where that name came from. At points, we grouped up with other boats so going through locks would be easier. We met one couple who were looping from Rhododendron, Oregon up by Mount Hood. It was fun exchanging stories. The last two mornings we have been up at first light to get an early start as we have a lot of miles to cover. We would like to be in the St Louis area in 3 days for our boat to be worked on. This morning we were 207 river miles from the Mississippi River. That is a lot of traveling for that the time frame. We are trying for 80 miles today. Marinas are starting to get few and far between so we will see if we end up in one or are on the hook tonight.

We left Hennepin, Illinois early this morning. Hennepin is a town of 750 people. It has a small well stocked grocery and a bar near the marina. In the early evening hours a fisherman showed up at the park overlook which was very close to our boat. He set up camp which included 3 fishing poles, cooler, propane heater, tiki torches, cot, chair and sleeping bag. He planned on fishing all night. Yes, he was still there in the morning. After talking to him a while, we found out that his buddies and been razzing him because he hadn’t been fishing for a while. We asked him whether he caught any fish and he had been skunked. We left Hennepin at 6:50 am and started cruising down river in what would turn out to be a very long day.

We are on the hook about a mile north of Havana, Illinois. It is a very nice anchorage behind an island that protects from the river barge traffic going up and down the Illinois river. We anchored in 5 feet of water with a good holding mud bottom. There are 3 other looper boats in the anchorage with us. We had enough time to cooks some Johnsonville Bratwurst before it started getting dark. We covered 87 miles today over a 11 hour time period.

We brought the anchor back up around 9:50 am. Kevin commented that it was perhaps the easiest time he has ever had anchoring. We were in about 5 feet of water, no wind, behind an island, very little current and a mud bottom. Mud bottoms get anchors a good hold. The only issue with a mud bottom is that you have to rinse the mud off of the chain and anchor. We have a sea water washdown built into the bow of our boat along with a short hose attachment. Kevin put a trigger sprayer on the hose and was able to wash away the stuck on mud. We were on the river cruising at 8 knots around 10 this morning. We have a shorter day planned than yesterday, however, we will have to see how many things like locks or short railroad bridges slow us down.

The lower Illinois does not have marinas. You either anchor or find a restaurant dock (few and far between) to tie up to. The river is low and one has to be careful when entering or leaving anchorages. The bottom is mostly muddy so it is not a hard hit. We made it to Port Charles marina in Missouri where we are having the boat pulled out of the water, bottom sand blasted and repainted. We knew this needed to be done when we bought the boat and the best price with good reviews was in Missouri. She will be out of the water a week and a half.

While we were waiting to be lifted, a boat we had cruised with earlier on the Illinois pulled in. They had been cruising in the channel near Peoria when they hit something metal and bent their prop. They were scheduled to be pulled out after us the following day.

Since we are temporarily boatless, we got into the van and went to Lake of the Ozarks for 3 days. It is really beautiful with the trees beginning to turn red. We have a timeshare overlooking the lake and periodically feel a pang of jealousy as boats go speeding by. Unfortunately, we need to leave tomorrow as I couldn’t get any more nights at the last minute.

We are thinking about driving to Vicksburg, Mississippi to view the civil war site before dropping the van at our next stop on the trip, Iuka where there is a Safe Harbor Marina where we are given free moorage for 3 days at a time on our membership. We will be renting a car to get back to the boat when it is ready to go into the water.