Saturday, September 12, 2009

We were up with the sun to get groceries and finish getting ready for the arrival of the Thul family. Shortly after 10 am, we saw Dan, Julie, Kevin and Justin coming towards us at the dock. Lucy was very excited to see everyone and gave her usual ‘exuberant’ greeting! We loaded everyone aboard and left the dock before 11 am. It was our hope to be able to lock through downriver and then back upriver today at the Starved Rock Lock and Dam so that the kids could have that experience on this beautiful summer day. We hadn’t noticed a lot of barge traffic yet, so we kept our fingers crossed for it to stay that way.

Our luck was good! There were three other pleasure craft waiting to lock through and the chamber was almost ready for us! Going downriver, the drop was about 20 feet and gave us plenty of time to observe the process and get a good idea of what it was like to be in a lock. After exiting the lock, we continued downstream for a short distance looking for a place to anchor the boat, have some lunch and walk or dinghy to shore. We chose a spot and grilled some hot dogs on the boat. After lunch, everyone waded to shore and found thousands of shells along the beach! We also found some pretty cool looking fish bones for the collection.

Our good luck held for the northbound lockage and we found ourselves alone in the lock on the way up. After locking through we motored to Buffalo Rock and at 6 pm we dropped the anchor for the night next to what had become one of our favorite anchoring spots. We baited up some fishing poles and started the grill. Kevin and Justin each caught a fish – one striper and one channel cat – which we grilled alongside the burgers and let the boys enjoy them with their dinner.

Friday, September 11, 2009

We still had quite a bit of business to do with the computer today and Gale needed to complete a lengthy questionnaire for an appointment he has in Des Moines in October so we went in search of another coffee shop with WiFi. Planet Java was very close to our location, but we weren’t able to connect to the internet so it was back to Jeremiah Joe’s. We spent a few hours there and while Gale was finishing up with what he wanted to do, Maureen walked over to the print shop to make some copies, back to the boat to pick up Lucy, and then to the post office to mail the questionnaire. Lucy and Maureen walked back to the coffee shop to find Gale and the three of us went to the bait shop to stock up for some serious fishing this weekend when Kevin and Justin, Dan and Julie will be with us.

Today at the dock, we met Rob & Judy Snider from Michigan. They are also on a very large trawler, Get A Way, and doing “the Loop.” They were traveling with Richard and Laura Lee Lambert, aboard Laura Lee, an Irwin sailboat. Because there were already two boats on the short dock, Blue Heron and a small power boat, Get A Way and Laura Lee rafted together side by side. The next morning we learned that they had been awakened during the night when someone threw a pop bottle over the highway bridge above us and onto the trawler making a loud explosion and a huge mess!

After showering aboard the boat, we took the dinghy out for a sunset cruise and found a nice sandbar nearby to enjoy for a short time before heading back for the evening.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Today was filled with errands and internet business. We visited the office supply store, automotive store, tire store, liquor store, grocery store and hardware store. Celeste from the Handy Foods grocery gave us a ride back to the riverfront with our purchases. We really appreciated the ride and the grocery store benefits because we bought more items than we would have if we had to push or carry them all the way back to the boat. We followed Celeste’s recommendation for lunch at Jardine’s, a Mexican restaurant, where we enjoyed some great food and a good margarita. After lunch, we walked a few stores down and stopped at an internet café, Jeremiah Joe’s, so Maureen could work in air conditioned comfort while she caught up on mail and bills.

Back at the dock we met Joe and Punk of Carolyn Ann, from Gulf Breeze, FL. Their boat is a new 37-foot Great Harbor trawler which was made to their specifications. They invited us aboard to tour their boat and we admired the living space they had as well as the large engine room.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The morning was spent on odd jobs around the boat and then at 12:30 we pulled anchor and headed towards Ottawa Landing, the town courtesy dock. When we arrived, we saw that Ally’s Cat was still moored there and we pulled in behind her. We loaded up the laundry on our cart and set out to find the laundromat. The afternoon had become very hot and humid, so we were sweating pretty good by the time we walked the seven blocks. Gale and Lucy left Maureen at the laundry so she could complete that task while they walked back to tend to other things. By 4:30 pm, we were all back home. Maureen was pleasantly surprised to find that Gale had plugged into shore power and turned on the A/C! Nice!

We visited a bit with Don and Ally, of Ally’s Cat, and learned that they were the original owners of their 2000 Gemini, Hull No. 711. We showed each other our boats and talked about the differences, improvements and solutions to various issues related to the Gemini. Don and Ally have been doing extensive traveling on their boat since they retired 9 years ago and had lots of good advice for us. We hope to meet up with them again between here and Florida.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

We woke to a beautiful summer morning. Today was going to be a great day to relax, read and fish. Gale put the dinghy down in the afternoon and he and Lucy rode it over to the beach where he cleaned it up while Lucy played and ran. Afterwards, he picked up Maureen and went downriver to check out the Starved Rock Marina and State Park area. Before getting to Starved Rock Marina, we drove into the harbor at Starved Rock Yacht Club. There we met Bob who was scooting around in his dinghy but then he stopped at a large old trawler at the end of one of the docks. The name of the boat was Aestival. Bob invited us over for a beer and we joined him at the back of his boat for a short visit. He gave Gale a quick tour of the inside of Aestival. Maureen and Lucy waited outside because Bob was concerned that his cat and Lucy might not get along. It turns out we actually did “meet” Bob the other day when we were cruising with Brian and Lin and he came alongside our boat in his dinghy to warn us that “thar be pirates out there!”

On Blue Heron again, we wanted to catch another channel catfish for dinner to go with the one we’d caught earlier in the day. The fish didn’t seem to be very hungry, but we did pick up another small channel cat. It was nearly 8 pm before we ate our dinner. Once again, we slept very well in this quiet anchoring spot.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Everyone was up and moving around by 7 am. There was a haze over the water as the sun was coming up and the temperature was warm. Gale and Brian let the dinghy down, took Lucy to a sandbar, and explored the immediate area. Gale brought Brian back to the boat and Lin hopped on for a little ride. As they were motoring near the cliff face, an Asian Carp jumped 3 to 4 feet out of the water startling everyone aboard the dinghy! The fish was probably a 20-pounder but, fortunately, it did not end up in the boat!

About 10:30 am, we pulled up the anchor and headed back upstream to downtown Ottawa. The town is located on the Fox River which empties into the Illinois at Mile 240.3. The Fox River was extremely shallow; the boats we saw were mostly pontoons, houseboats or other flat bottom boats. We motored up the river for a short distance to see the old Fox River Aqueduct, which carried the old Illinois-Michigan Canal across the river. Finding that the Fox River was too shallow, we returned to the Illinois River where we decided to dock the Gemini at one of Ottawa’s courtesy docks and explore the town by foot. We were surprised to see another Gemini catamaran, Ally's Cat, at the same courtesy dock. We visited with the owners for a short time and then we were off to see Ottawa.

We were all hungry after a busy morning, so we enjoyed a very pleasant lunch at a sidewalk café only about ½-block from the waterfront. The City of Ottawa is known for its murals that are painted on the sides of various buildings throughout the downtown area. The murals depict various scenes of Ottawa’s historic past. Two of our favorite murals were the famous Lincoln-Douglas debate that took place in Ottawa’s town square and the other was of Native American Indians hunting buffalo at Buffalo Rock along the Illinois River.

By 3 pm we were on the boat to make our way back to the Heritage Harbor Marina where Brian and Lin had left their car. It was time for them to get home and prepare for the week ahead. Around 4 pm, Brian and Lin were packed up and on their way down the road and Maureen and Gale were on the river headed back to Buffalo Rock for the night, arriving there at 5:30 pm. We were at the anchorage a little earlier tonight and found dozens of boats “hanging out.” Many of the boats were rafted up together into sets of six to ten boats side by side. The sandbar was full of beached boats, jet skis, tents, toys, dogs and people. It wasn’t long before all the boats cleared out of the anchorage and headed home at the end of this Labor Day Weekend.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

We were up early to give the boat a good cleaning. She was extremely dirty after passing through the heavy industrial areas on the Chicago S&S Canal including the 6-hour wait by the barge filled with mulch on Thursday afternoon. We were expecting Brian and Lin, Maureen’s brother and sister-in-law, to arrive for a visit later this afternoon. Maureen worked on updating blog entries first and then the owner/manager of the marina, “Moe”, offered the use of his vehicle so we could pick up some groceries. While Maureen went out for groceries, Gale stayed back at the boat and began cleaning the outside. Moe was kind enough to loan us the marina’s power washer for the task. When Maureen returned and unloaded, she began the inside cleaning. We finally had things looking nice by 4 pm, took our showers, and greeted Brian and Lin as they walked down the dock at 5:30 pm.

After a rainy start for the day, the late afternoon became sunny with temperatures in the lower 80’s. The marina was buzzing with all kinds of activity including a solo artist singing “Jimmy Buffett” at the bar and grill, people selling tickets for a drawing and accepting donations for a couple of different charities, a vendor selling sandwiches, someone else selling beverages, and a truck unloading several big speakers and setting up for some serious music. We left all of that behind and headed downriver to find the Buffalo Rock anchorage we’d been hearing so many good things about.

We took a leisurely ride downriver, navigating between and around the many boaters out enjoying the river this evening. We arrived at Buffalo Rock shortly after 7 pm and were pleased to find only a few other boats in this beautiful spot. We dropped anchor in front of the limestone cliffs, poured some drinks, and had a few hors d’oeuvres before Gale started the grill. It is said that the Indians used to drive the buffalo over this steep cliff into the water where the Indians waiting below would kill them, if they weren’t already dead.

Brian and Lin broke open a lovely bottle of Prosecco, an Italian sparkling wine, and we shared a toast to family, friends, good fortunes and safe travels. Over a wonderful meal of salmon filets, sweet potatoes and asparagus we caught up on each other’s lives, told a few lies and solved a couple of the world’s problems.