Peoria

It is Thursday the 6th of September weather has cleared and the sun is out.  We are all off again in our flotilla of boats to Peoria.  We left at 7:00AM from Heritage Harbor.   It was a nice place to stop. We can to our only lock for the day at Starved Rock Lock and Dam at mile 231.0.  Next To Me was in the lead and called ahead and they could take us all but it would be a while.  The lock was full with many barges and as soon as they were out and the next barges were in and tied there was room for all of us to tie to the barge.  It was fine once we got in but the wait was 1 1/2 hours rafted off each other on a cell just in front of the dam.  It was another hot day, in the 90's.  Once through the lock Next To Me took the lead and we followed.  Our cruising speed seems to be around 11.0 to 11.5, which is just a little bit faster than the other boats.  It was going to be a long day, 80+ miles.  There really not much to see.  Just before we
got to Peoria we saw a large flock of birds. Thousands of them.  We think that they were some kind of pelican.  When we got to Peoria we had called the IVY club to check on water depths and he said that they were down to 3.5 feet so we continued on down to the Peoria day Docks.  Not the best for larger boats but we made it work.  The other boats arrived shortly there after around 6:30 PM.  Once all settled in we talked on the docks about what we wanted to do the next day.  Patty Wagon decided to eat on their boat but the rest of us ate at the Crab Shack.  Good dinner and great conversation.  It has been good times travelling with these people.  Back to the boat and a nite cap and we called it a day.

Got up around 6:30 AM so we could get a good start on another long day.  Weather just was not co-operating.  The blackest sky and those ominous looking clouds. Jim and Don talked and Don decided to wait a bit.  He look at the Sirius weather and the storm was huge and approaching fast. Then the lightning and thunder and then the rain....  We were not going anywhere.  The first storm pasted and the weather cleared up but there was another coming through later that day.  Jim and Belinda and Don and I took the bus to the Super WallMart. We did not need much but ended up leaving them $168.00.  Came back to the boat and 5:30 cocktail time was on Paddy Wagon tonite.  Their boat was lovely.  It makes you feel like you are a home... Later we came back to the boat and I made lasagna for dinner and watch a new video.  The next day was a 6:30 AM departure so it was early to bed.