October 8, 2017 Sunday
After two days of rain, today’s warm, sunny weather was magnificent. With just over four hundred miles left on our loop, marinas and good anchorages are at a premium, this is especially true when you consider the extremely low water levels in the rivers this fall. We have to plan carefully in order to ensure that we are safe at anchor or in a marina each night. Navigating the rivers at night is possible, those with local knowledge do it all the time but we are hoping that we won’t need to. Barge traffic, fishermen, and deadheads are much easier to navigate around in the daylight.
Locks make planning more difficult because you never know how long you will have to wait to lock through. Today we had to make it through the Peoria Lock by 1:00 pm or stay in Peoria. We were lucky to get there just in time to join four other pleasure craft as they transited the Peoria Lock, mm 157.6 – 8 ft. This was the first time we had been allowed to just float in the lock instead of using lines on the wall. Of the five vessels in the lock, two used the lines and three of us just floated. We were out of the lock by 11:30 am and on our way to Tall Timbers Marina, Havana. We were the only boat in the group that could clear the 3-foot entrance into the marina, the rest anchored behind Quiver Island. Tied up by 4:30 pm I had plenty of time to do laundry, cook dinner, and enjoy the sunset.
Notice the flock of white pelicans, yesterday most of them had their heads down trying to hide from the wind and rain, today they are soaking up the sunshine.
