Beardstown IL

(Tuesday Sept 4 - Dist: 79.8 mi; Avg Speed: 9.7 mph;
        Locks: 1; LWT: 0 mins; TTT: 8:25 hrs)

There is Headquarters and Q's End tied up to the barges for the night.  With the lower water levels we have had to pass by some nice stops because there is insufficient water in those harbors.  This had made for some longer travel days but we are now in the more interesting sections of the Illinois River.  We have seen several bald eagles, many herons and egrets, and of course the white pelicans. 

Well we did have to get past Peoria and all of the industry in that area.  I am not sure which plant this is but I do know the Caterpillar has it's headquarters here as well as a huge plant or two.

Logsdon Tug Service is a fully working tug service which allows boaters to tie off for a dollar a foot without any electrical or water.  I am not even sure if they have restrooms. 

They did however go fetch the loaded barge that we were tied to accommodate all the boats which came in.  We did manage to go out for some quite good Mexican food and we did check out there newest bar.  Linda was even comfortable on the barges as we waited for some other Loopers to join us for supper.

Along the way we did encounter another dredge.  This one was just throwing the silt and sand onto shore.  It was a narrow section of the river so he had to move to allow us to pass.

 

 

The next morning was not pretty.  All of the other boats left early but we were flabbergasted.  There was a severe weather warning for our immediate area and it looked it.  The thunder, lightening and strong winds did come but fortunately we were quite secure on the barge.  It all ended about 8 AM and we were able to travel with only a brief rain shower later in the morning.  We stopped at one point to watch this young buck swim across the river.  Interesting. 

It was another long day but we reached Grafton Harbor in good spirits and immediately headed for the pool with our well used cooler bag.