Mels Diner Dock

 We only had one lock to go through today and we called prior to leaving the barge where we were tied up and they said they were just finishing up locking a barge and tug through so to come on down.  We left at first light before anyone else on the barge was even up and were at the lock in about an hour.  We had to wait about 30 minutes for the lock to be ready for us, but after that it went quickly and was smooth locking.

The rest of the 9 hour trip was spent meandering down the Illinois river and occasionally passing a barge. I will admit that some of the scenery was beautiful and we saw so many bald eagles and golden eagles! They live along the river and enjoy the good fishing.

We arrived at the free dock at Mels Diner and were the only 2 boats to tie up there!  Yay!!  Our boater friends from last night anchored out about an hour north of us, so no rafting up tonight.  Madison and I can get off the boat - we just have to be careful not to trip on the rough metal dock or step in one of the holes created by joining sections together.  Yikes…

Of course the restaurant was closed on Monday and Tuesday, as is most of the free world now, so no hot meal and famous pie for us…We tried to get our propane grill going since we had no electricity, but it didn’t appear to be working.  Kathy and Steve offered to grill our pork chops on their grill and Kathy did baked potatoes for all of us in her microwave. The temp hit 90 today and they had air conditioning by running their generator, so we ate together on their boat.  Not a bad way to end the day.  During dinner their lights flickered off and back on and then the table lamp didn’t work and laster that night they discovered some melted and charred wiring in their breaker box..  Scary stuff!!  So - they didn’t have a generator either and no electricity.

Tom and I took Madison for a nice walk after dinner into the tiny town of Hardin IL and it wasn’t bad for being in the middle of nowhere.  Population 250. By this time all we wanted was to shower and shampoo, but no hot water either - ugh! I have posted a couple of pics of the lovely dock…Did I mention it was free??? LOL!








Comments

ArizonaAuntie said…
OMG, I have no other words. You should write a book! Call it "The REAL Looper Life"!😉
September 30, 2021 at 1:13 AM
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