Thursday October 2, 2014

Chester Prison, IL. 

 

The largest tow we have seen yet, it has 30 barges
- 5 wide and 6 long.

 

 

 

 

Ooooppps!

In came the rain the weatherman had been promising.

 

 

 This ship is the US Army Core of Engineers, they do maintenance and repair on the river and locks.

 

The end of our day we anchored in Little River Diversion.

Another vessel joined us - the Toba who is another looper. A Looper is a vessel making the loop including the Great Lakes, through the river system to the Gulf of Mexico and returning by way of the East coast to the Great Lakes.

We saw this beautiful Blue Herron fishing for his dinner.

 

First Mate planning the next day's journey.

The Captain toasting us for a day well done. He savoured his drink as we watched knowing our water would come with dinner later in the evening.

 

All jokes aside - this has been a great trip, Greg and Mary Lynn are wonderful hosts. There has never been a shortage of beverages and food. Mary Lynn serves food 5 to 6 times each day. The home cooked meals have been 5 star - she bakes her breads and cakes from scratch. The oven is used every day and sometimes she puts the pressure cooker into use too. No diet on this trip for sure.

Friday October 3, 2014

We had a thunder storm during the night, when it left is took our hot weather. It was  very cool  on the water today, we were all bundled up to keep the chill out.

As we were leaving Little River Diversion anchorage this morning we saw a large dead tree that had floated down during the night.

 

Allan hosing off the anchor, it was covered with silt from its night hold.

 

 

 

 

The mixer came out of  storage to make homemade bread. 

 

 

Another lone kayaker, they look so small in the river along side those large tows.  

The tows churn up the water and cause a large wake.

 

If you enlarge this picture you will see the Canada geese resting along the shoreline.

Mary Lynn taking her turn at the wheel

 

There is still much debris along the shore line. 

 

 

Allan taking his turn at the wheel too.

 

 

Mary Lynn's herb garden

This is a bridge pylon, the marking indicates the distance from the water surface  to the bridge for clearance distance.

Today we anchored at Angelo's Towhead for the night.

 

In the past 4 days we have travelled 221 miles, we are now ending out trip on the Mississippi, tomorrow we will be travelling the Ohio River.