NM Today: 74
NM Total: 1782
Locks Today: 1
Locks Total: 78
I was up before the alarm this morning. The alarm was set for 6:00 and I woke up at 5:55. The combination of the sleep the day before and going to bed early left me ready to start the day earlier than usual which was a very good thing since we had a long day planned. Before even eating breakfast I checked the website for the queue at LaGrange lock to see what tow traffic awaited us there.
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| Sunrise at Bar Island Anchorage (Fryedaze boat in anchorage) |
Bad news! A single and a double tow arrived at the lock in the wee hours of the morning and had yet to lock through. A single is a barge / tow that fits through the lock in one go. A double is a barge / tow that is so large that it has to be split and put through the lock in two parts. Thus, even though two tugs needed to push their loads downstream, three lock fills were required to get them all through.
Dave from Fryedaze called the lock from the anchorage to get a time estimate. The lockmaster told him to get there at 8:30 and he would get us through. So another day of hurry up and wait. We decided collectively to leave the anchorage at 7:30 and mosey on down the 5 miles to the lock to get there well ahead of the stated 8:30 time. Before we pulled up our anchors, however, we saw Always Home and Elizabear go by down the river. They had stayed upstream where they could tie off to a barge for the night.
As we pulled out of the anchorage behind Elizabear he came on the VHF radio and told us to slow down because we had a long wait at the lock when we got there. Clark did slow down, but the boat is not happy to go a very slow speed for a long time. We felt it rude to pass him, so first Clark turned off one engine and ran only on one, so he could increase the RPM on that engine. That still was not doing the trick, so a couple of times Clark turned around and went upstream for a short distance and then turned and came back downstream just, so he was not coming up so close on the stern of Elizabear as we traveled along.
I joked that he was doing a dosey-do and an Allemand left. I thought that Dave on Fryedaze must wonder what the heck we thought we were doing. Although he was not driving in circles, Dave had switched down one engine to increase the RPM on the other as we had done, so he seemed to be dealing with the same issues with his engine preferences. When we got to within 2 miles of the lock, Elizabear stopped midstream to drift and wait for the lock to be ready. We felt that we wanted to be closer to the lock when the doors opened, so we did pass him at that point and went to within a mile of the lock to drift while we waited our turn.
True to his word, at 8:30, the lockmaster told us he was preparing the lock for us. The double load had just completed locking through. The single load still sat at one side of the river upstream with us. I am not sure why the single load did not lock through before the pleasure craft, but I was glad we could jump on the opportunity and be on our way. We exited the lock at 9:15 and were truly on our way.
We had a long day's travel to our next stop. Again the scenery repeated itself. The area along the river appears to be wetlands, and I know that the river floods on occasion. I became excited when I saw some campers in a park as that meant some form of civilization existed besides the wildlife. What I did not expect to see was those flocks of pelicans from a couple of days ago all flying in formation down the river over our heads. I guess all the flocks got the word at the same time that it was time to head south. The picture below captures 3 of the many V formations of pelicans that flew along the river with us for a very short distance.
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| Lots and lots of Pelicans flying in V formation (Click and zoom to see pelicans) |
As we traveled, we talked to Fryedaze who told us they had changed their travel plans to go directly to Grafton for the night. We had originally talked about staying at the Hardin burned-out-restaurant dock. The weather forecast of thunder / lightening storms convinced us to rethink that plan especially after we saw the dock arrangement. Traveling to Grafton added another 20 miles to the trip but got us out of the path of the bad weather and to a more populated location. We pushed on!
We arrived at Grafton just before 5:00. When we walked up to register, we saw that the pool was still open with people taking advantage to cool off from the 90 degree heat. Clark immediately started to drool as he wanted to go for a dip to cool off. We decided to go to the boat, put on our suits, go for a dip, take a shower, and then grab dinner. Well, that would normally work, except that in Grafton after Labor Day on a weekday like today, the town shuts down at 7:00.
We talked to Melinda and Bob from Melinda B who told us they planned to dine at the Aries restaurant purported to have the "best view in the midwest". I wanted to join them, but Clark still wanted his swim and shower, so somewhat begrudgingly I agreed to his plan. By the time we got into the pool it was already after 6:00. We talked to a local sitting by the pool who confirmed that if we wanted to eat dinner in town tonight, we better get ourselves going because no one served food after 7:00.
We jumped into the showers and out again as quick as possible. Then we called the restaurant to see if they would come get us with their shuttle service. They pointed out that their kitchen closed in 10 minutes, so I asked them, since they seemed to be readily agreeable to coming to get us, if they came and got us would they feed us; otherwise, it seemed rather pointless for them to come get us. The person on the phone checked with the kitchen who agreed to cook for us.
The shuttle bus driver was off duty, so our driver (the boyfriend of the owner's niece) showed up in an open jeep. The climb up to the restaurant was very steep, and the jeep was a good vehicle to get us up there. I found the ride thrilling in more ways than one. First I'm not used to riding in a vehicle without doors. Second I'm not used to the driver turning around and talking to the passengers in the back seat while he speeds up hills. Third, I am not used to drivers ignoring the "one way, do not enter" signs on streets even if they are the fastest way to get somewhere. It rather got the blood flowing to say the least! What fun!
When we entered the restaurant, we found the folks from Melinda B, Island Office, and Tika seated at one of the tables. They shifted around seats so that we could join them. We had never met Tika before but we had met Island Office in Charlevoix, MI as Denise pointed out to us. We had a lovely dinner with the six of them. The "best view in the midwest" was a view of the join of the two rivers - Illinois and Mississippi as well as the night lights of St. Louis, MO on the far side of the river.
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| View from the Aries Restaurant in Grafton Looking out over the Mississippi River |
When it was time to leave to go back to the marina, the jeep driver took four of our party of eight as that was all he could fit. His girlfriend (the owner's niece) convinced the other four of us to go back with her, so we did not get the thrilling jeep ride back down the hill. She claimed that the ride down was more exciting than the ride up, but I guess we will never know if we agree with that assessment or not.
Clark and Bob from Melinda B decided we should walk the three blocks to the ice cream shop since Google said it was open until 9:00. It lied. The ice cream shop closed at 7:00 (big surprise). Perhaps we will get back there tomorrow if weather permits.
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