We slept in this morning as we planned a late departure. We’re going as far as Ottawa which is only around 12 miles. We got up, had a good breakfast and then scrubbed down the boat. It had flies, bugs, spiders and cobwebs everywhere. We had also picked up a lot of mud at the city docks in Joliet. By about 10:30 everyone seemed to be through with their chores and so all 3 loopers departed together at 10:45.
As we went down the river, the scenery started to improve …. Lots of tree lined shores with more homes and less industry. We called ahead to the Marseilles Lock to see when we could expect to be locked through. They replied they’d be ready for us in 20 minutes. Once again, perfect timing. That’s about when we’d get there. When we arrived, a huge barge was being locked through so we had to hang back for a few minutes. The barge was 3 wide and 3 long and filled up the entire lock. It took a while for it to make its way out of the lock. During that time we just idled or slowly drifted around out of the way. These locks are not like the Trent-Severn and the Rideau where you can tie up to the blue line to wait. During the time we were waiting we appeared to be in 8-9 feet of water. However, all of a sudden we must have drifted a little too far and we were aground. With the help of the bow thruster we were able to get off and then proceed into the lock. Hopefully we sustained no damage to the boat. It seems to be okay, but Gerry will have to do some checking.
After the lock, it was a short run to the courtesy docks at Ottawa. There was a sailboat that locked through with us (also a looper) and they were in front of us and tied up to one of the spots on the wall. That just left one other spot and then the short finger piers. Second Star tied up in front of the sailboat and Emotion 3 and Monk’s Vineyard went to the finger piers. We stick out a bit, but seem to be secure enough … and it’s free.
We had not done serious provisioning for quite a while, so the first thing on our agenda, after a quick lunch, was to walk to the grocery store. They have a courtesy car that brings you (and your groceries) back to the boat so we really loaded up. It took Linda quite a while to put everything away once back on the boat.
We later had cocktails with Michel while Carole went back to the library to work on her blog. Jana and Michael went to the Roxy Theater to watch the movie “Julie & Julia”. We went to have dinner. The Ottawa Pirates were having a homecoming bonfire and parade and we watched that for a while. Brought back memories of our high school homecomings (a long, long time ago). We thought it would be fun to go to the homecoming game on Friday, but we need to get down the river.
We had dinner at R. Grotto Restaurante. Another WOW for dinner. We had baked Mastocelli and Clams over angel hair pasta with a couple of glasses of wine. Great food for only $39. We could get used to this!!
We tried to find the library to escort Carole back to the boat, but we couldn’t find it – even with directions from the locals. We met Michel on the way back and he was riding his bike over to meet her at the library.
We like this town. It really represents mid America at its finest. We highly recommend that all loopers stop here and support the community. As one customer at the Handy Food grocery said “we really like you guys (loopers)”, and we replied “we like you too!”.
We are planning to go down river and anchor out tomorrow night. It is supposed to start raining on Friday, but we are going to try to get to Peoria by Friday night.
As we went down the river, the scenery started to improve …. Lots of tree lined shores with more homes and less industry. We called ahead to the Marseilles Lock to see when we could expect to be locked through. They replied they’d be ready for us in 20 minutes. Once again, perfect timing. That’s about when we’d get there. When we arrived, a huge barge was being locked through so we had to hang back for a few minutes. The barge was 3 wide and 3 long and filled up the entire lock. It took a while for it to make its way out of the lock. During that time we just idled or slowly drifted around out of the way. These locks are not like the Trent-Severn and the Rideau where you can tie up to the blue line to wait. During the time we were waiting we appeared to be in 8-9 feet of water. However, all of a sudden we must have drifted a little too far and we were aground. With the help of the bow thruster we were able to get off and then proceed into the lock. Hopefully we sustained no damage to the boat. It seems to be okay, but Gerry will have to do some checking.
After the lock, it was a short run to the courtesy docks at Ottawa. There was a sailboat that locked through with us (also a looper) and they were in front of us and tied up to one of the spots on the wall. That just left one other spot and then the short finger piers. Second Star tied up in front of the sailboat and Emotion 3 and Monk’s Vineyard went to the finger piers. We stick out a bit, but seem to be secure enough … and it’s free.
We had not done serious provisioning for quite a while, so the first thing on our agenda, after a quick lunch, was to walk to the grocery store. They have a courtesy car that brings you (and your groceries) back to the boat so we really loaded up. It took Linda quite a while to put everything away once back on the boat.
We later had cocktails with Michel while Carole went back to the library to work on her blog. Jana and Michael went to the Roxy Theater to watch the movie “Julie & Julia”. We went to have dinner. The Ottawa Pirates were having a homecoming bonfire and parade and we watched that for a while. Brought back memories of our high school homecomings (a long, long time ago). We thought it would be fun to go to the homecoming game on Friday, but we need to get down the river.
We had dinner at R. Grotto Restaurante. Another WOW for dinner. We had baked Mastocelli and Clams over angel hair pasta with a couple of glasses of wine. Great food for only $39. We could get used to this!!
We tried to find the library to escort Carole back to the boat, but we couldn’t find it – even with directions from the locals. We met Michel on the way back and he was riding his bike over to meet her at the library.
We like this town. It really represents mid America at its finest. We highly recommend that all loopers stop here and support the community. As one customer at the Handy Food grocery said “we really like you guys (loopers)”, and we replied “we like you too!”.
We are planning to go down river and anchor out tomorrow night. It is supposed to start raining on Friday, but we are going to try to get to Peoria by Friday night.
This is the barge coming out of the lock .... it filled the whole thing. Actually they split it up in pieces and part of the barge and the tug was down below when we exited the lock
Here's the rest of the barge, along with the tug
The river is starting to get a little more scenic. Lots of trees and we are seeing many birds
Carole, Michel and Gerry at the town dock
A collection of "hats" in one of the town parks
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