This is one of the barges we passed this morning at 7:00 am.
We exited Heritage Harbor at 6:50 am with a low mist on the water. We saw a barge coming toward us and called him on channel 16. No response. He passed by without incident. George had the radio on scan and heard him talking to another barge behind him. "It's just a little ol' pleasure boat. He didn't even call me." So George spoke up and asked where the next tow wanted us. Which side? "On the two." Our mistake: They were on channel 14.
We motored an hour to the Starved Rock Lock and Dam and called ahead to ask about coming through the lock. The lock master said we would have to wait 46 minutes to an hour. We sat in the river. Then we came down and stayed behind the giant round bollards in front of the lock. The Lemont Trader took a long time exiting and then reconnecting his barges before he got out of our way.
We are on the far side of the bollards. You see the tow in back,
pushing these barges out of the lock.
That was our only lock today. The rest of the day we spent watching birds, bridges, and barges and traveling from 10 - 11 mph, trying to get to the Illinois Valley Yacht Club (the Ivy club) before 4:00 pm when the staff went home. We just made it. We met two new looper boats on the dock: Lady KK and LeeLoo. We will travel with them tomorrow.
Something we don't have in the south: the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Bridge.
The Peru Highway Bridge reflects nicely.
Hundreds of white pelicans gather on the river.
Some flew away as we passed.
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