Sights from the Illinois River

As promised in the last update it is time to share some of the interesting things we saw last week as we traveled down the Illinois River from Chicago.  There hasn't been much mention yet about the tows that we have encountered on the river.  A tow is a tug pushing one or more barges.  The size can very from small (one tug pushing one barge) to huge (one tug pushing up to 15 barges).  The barges are in "packs" and they can be a 6 pack, 9 pack, 12 pack or a full fifteen.  A full fifteen is three barges wide by five barges long.  They can be over 100 feet wide and over 1,000 feet long.  Radio communication is always required when passing or overtaking a tow as the tow captain will tell us if we should pass "on the one" or "on the two".  On the one references one whistle and on the two references two whistles.  Prior to radios, vessels communicated with each other using the horn or whistle.  Passing on the one (one whistle) is port side - the left.  And passing on the two (two whistle) is the starboard side - the right.  All of this is done while staying in the channel for depth and watching out for other possible traffic.  Below is a picture of a tow.  The bottom line for us as a pleasure craft navigating a commercial waterway is to do what the tow captain asks and stay out of their way as they have very limited maneuverability.

A tow on the Illinois River

The channel of safe passage is maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers and is marked by red and green buoys.  Because we are going downstream on the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers we always keep the red on our left side and the green on our right side.  Once we enter the Ohio river we will be headed upstream and the reds will be on the right and the greens will be on the left.  Below is a picture of the red and green buoys up on land waiting to be deployed into service on the river.

Red/Green buoys on the bank

Everyone has heard about the river system being low this year and we have found that to be true.  Below are is a pictures of the riverbank.  Notice all the exposed tree roots.

Trees on the River with exposed root system

SnowCat the catamaran has been mentioned in some of the prior blogs entries.  We had gotten ahead of them for a bit but on Saturday, they passed us by on their way to Mel's where they stayed for the night.

Our friends on SnowCat

The river is low right now but the houses along the riverbank are prepared for high water.  They are all built on stilts.  The marina we are in here in Grafton, IL is a floating marina so it can accommodate the high water.  Even the pool is floating.  As we have gotten further south, the riverbank is also becoming steeper and the landscape is changing as you can see in the picture.

All the houses on the southern Illinois River are built on stilts

The view along the river is changing as we get farther south

Pictured below is a vessel graveyard of sorts.  There were many old riverboats on shore in various stages of decay.  This picture is at a place called Hamm's at MM 178.8.  We even saw a few houseboats that were probably lost during floods of years gone by.  The riverbank seems to be full of abandoned barges along the way as well.  Barges can also be re-purposed and the next marina we stay at, Hoppie's, is set of three barges that have been turned into a marina.  

Riverboat Graveyard at Hamm's

Last Saturday when we arrived in Grafton, there was a pirate ship going by.  We saw it several times Saturday evening as it was cruising the river out in front of the marina.  

Pirate Ship on the river in front of the marina

In case anyone is wondering how CJ and Turner are doing, they are doing just fine since we've been on the river.  They look quite comfortable in the picture below.

CJ and Turner

Grafton has many wineries and one is up at the top of the hill with a great view.  A courtesy shuttle comes to the marina and picks guests up and takes them up to the winery.  There is a zip line too which we may do tomorrow.  Below is the view of the river from the winery last evening when it was a clear night.  Nothing better than an evening with Bert, new friends, a cheese plate, a glass of wine, and a view!

View from the winery - looking upriver

View from the winery - looking downriver

Since we have been here a week, we've had a chance to meet many new Looper friends.  Last night there were about eight or ten boats here in the marina.  This has been partially due to a lock farther downriver being closed since last Saturday - lock #27.  Fortunately the lock re-opened this morning so it doesn't impact our travel plans.  

Yesterday a 1979 CAL 2-27 sailboat came in with Katie and Jessie aboard.  They are in their early 20's and also have a dog and a kitten on board with them.  They are headed for the Bahamas and started in early September from the west side of Michigan.  They are a couple of pretty brave young ladies and we hope to see them again this weekend at Hoppie's marina where we plan to go on Saturday.  Their blog is http://katieandjessieonaboat.com/ and they seem to be having the time of their lives!  

Katie and Jessie and the Lovey Louise

Another very interesting vessel stopped in the marina this morning for a short period of time.  Two exceptional young ladies who are doing the entire Mississippi River in a Kayak!!!!  They started in Minnesota in June.  Today they tied the Kayak to the Lovely Louise and jumped on with Katie and Jessie for the day.  With luck, we'll also see them again soon.

New Friends

Kayaking down the Mississippi - camping as they go

Today the generator exhaust hose and inverter arrived and Bert is busy reading the manual for installation.  We have one more day here in Grafton and on Saturday morning we will be blessed with family boarding Took the Plunge to travel with us for the day to Hoppie's in Kimmswick, MO.