Ottawa, IL to Henry, IL

Today we made another 46 miles down towards the Big Muddy – although we are still  196 miles upstream.

I cooked a big omellete with cheese and finely diced Spam (to fool the non-lovers) and, as usual, every scrap was eagerly gobbled down.

Today was cold with a mostly gray sky and occasional periods of almost sunshine.  As we moved down the river, we noted the usual white Egrets, Blue Herons, a couple of bald eagles, huge turkey buzzards and even a couple of owls engaged in a riverside aerial battle.

There was only one lock today, Starved Rock and it was pleasant and non-eventful.  We tied up bow and stern about 20 feet behind a huge tug and in front of an equally huge cruiser (probably 52 foot or more).

We are definitely in a different world now.  While we still pass under highway and the occasional railroad bridge, and see a bit of industrial processing and staging areas for barge tows, this is basically rural cruising on the river with mile after mile of limestone cliffs, entrances of rivers and creeks and small river town after river town.

Tonight, we are moored to a decaying lock wall in Henry, Illinois.  When I say decaying, I mean old!  This was once the first lock on the Illinois River and fed into the Michigan and Illinois Canal which was the first way of joining Lake Michigan with the Mississippi River.

I made a huge batch of spaghetti tonight and, without bragging, think my rendering of the sauce and seasoning of the ground beef made for a very tasty treat.  Chuck and the Captain thought so.

We took a walk into town and, while John fell pray to the DQ for a cone, we decided that it wasn’t worth doing much exploring.  I’m writing this offline and will go up to the beach bar/head/showers on the other side of the marina to set outside, drink a beer, smoke a cigar and publish this.

Of course, if you talk nice to the young lady behind the bar and get permission from the fellow bar stool patrons, you can sit at the bar, smoke your cheap cigar, use the 5-bar WiFi signal and communicate with the folks at home over a few Dos Equis!