Henry IL

 We left the marina this morning with 3 boats in tow and headed toward the one lock we had to go through and ended up having 7 boats in with us - somehow we picked up a few more coming down the river…. We had called the lock before we left asking what would be a good time to show up and they said about 9:00 am.  That is exactly when we arrived but they were finishing locking the 2nd half of a barge tow through so we waited for over an hour for that to be done. When I say waited, it consists of throttling down, spinning in circles, hitting reverse, and circling some more.  Not an easy task to keep a boat this size in one place, especially with a river current.  It’s more tiring than the actual locking!

Once we were through the lock it was an uneventful day - only one tug and barge to overtake and one to pass going in the opposite direction. Our destination for the night was an old lock wall in Henry, IL where they have a small marina for very small boats, but a free wall for loopers and larger boats.  The traditional wall was full with reserved spots, but the marina owner offered to let us tie up on the fuel dock right next to the wall and our buddy boat could raft onto us. She and her husband were there to help us get tied up and we even have electric which was a pleasant surprise! We are tied up to a crumbling wall and even though the marina owner put a board out from the dock to the wall, Madison is afraid to go over it.  Not that I blame her in the dark….

Another early to bed night and another trip down the Illinois River tomorrow.