Days 116-117 Valley City Anchorage - Grafton IL Start 7:00 AM End 12:45 PM Underway 5:45 Hours Distance 53 miles Total Miles on Trip 2110 Av Speed 9.7 knots Locks 0 Weather Mostly Cloudy, 72 Degrees, Wind 8Kn SSE Today's trip was our last day on the Illinois River, when we leave Grafton Harbor we will be traveling on the Upper Mississippi River. As much as the Illinois River can be boring, there was lots of wild life. I could not count the number of...

Days 115 Peoria IL, - Valley City Anchorage Start 6:30 AM End 6:43 PM Underway 11:12 Hours Distance 89 miles Total Miles on Trip 2057 Av Speed 7.9 knots Locks 2 Weather Sunny 82 Degrees What a day! We planned to start at 7am, and travel around 60 miles. When I called the Peoria lock at 6:15am, to see when we would be able to get thru the lock, the lockmaster told me they were just finishing up with a upbound barge and for us to be there in an hour (...

Days 111 Ottawa IL - Peoria IL, Municipal Docks Start 7:04 AM End 3:40 PM Underway 5:04 Hours Distance 8:04 miles Total Miles on Trip 1969 Av Speed 8.5 knots Locks 1 Weather Sunny 85 Degrees We left Heritage Harbor Marina, at 7:00am four other loopers, so we could all go through the Starved Rock Lock together. Happiness Is, called the lock before we left to confirm there was no commercial traffic in the lock. As we were arriving at the lock, a tug ...

Days 112-113 Joliet IL - Ottawa IL (Heritage Harbor Marina) Start 6:40 AM End 3"20 PM Underway 5:04 Hours Distance 39 miles Total Miles on Trip 1900 Av Speed 6.8 knots Locks 3 Weather Sunny 85 Degrees We left Joliet, at 6:40 With Happiness Is, Adventure Awaits, Ecclessias, Liberty Call and Joy Sea. Happiness Is and Adventure Awaits, had to be thru the Jefferson St Draw Bridge before 7:15am, or they would have to wait until after rush hour for the br...

Days 111 Chicago IL - Joliet IL Start 6:23 AM End 2:00 PM Underway 5:04 Hours Distance 35 miles Total Miles on Trip 1860 Av Speed 7 knots Locks 2 Weather Sunny 75 Degrees It was good to get underway again after 8 days, and the weather was perfect. Because we are off the lakes, and traveling on rivers the wind does not affect us as much. Now it only matters as we are coming into docks and locks. We pulled off the dock with sunrise at 6:30am, hoping ...