August 10 and 11, 2011; Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday, Tall Timbers Marina, Havana, IL to Riverdock Restaurant, Hardin, IL:  We got an early  start and traveled with "Married With Her"-Jim and Cathy.  We were up at 05:00 and left by 05:45.  There was a little chill in the air compared to recent days and I had 2 sweatshirts on but it felt good for a change.  We saw thousands of pelicans flying in formation early this morning; at first I thought they were geese but Keith said they were pelicans.  It was just a beautiful morning and the river was smooth as glass.  We had our last lock of our Loop experience today; LaGrange Lock, LDB, with a drop of 10 feet.  We didn't have to wait and we were through in about 20 minutes.  This afternoon it clouded up and there were storms all around us but they all missed us.  All along the Illinois Waterway we have seen at least 8 abandon/derelict old tour boats just sitting along side the rivers edge.  I had our itinerary all planned for today and before the day was over we changed it 3 times finally ended up tied up at the Riverdock Restaurant in Hardin, IL.  It was a free tie up as long as we ate dinner there.  It was a long day with a total of 96.6 miles and we will both sleep good tonight.

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CO's comments:  Now that we are done we decided no more long days; it is just too hard on us.

Following "Married With Her"
down the Illinois River

Old abandon/derelict tour boat

Kim Jo III at Riverdock tie up
on 8-10-2011

Sign at Riverdock Restaurant

Thursday, Riverdock Restaurant to Port Charles Harbor, St. Charles, MO:  Jim and Cathy got up early again and headed for Grafton but Keith and I slept in until 07:00 and were on our way by 08:00.  We had a little fog again but by the time we left it was sunny and blue skies.  We saw 3 barges first thing this morning all within the first mile-we were glad we were done with locks.  It was a pleasant drive the last 20 miles to Grafton.  All year long it seems like the end of our journey was so far away and now here we are a few miles away.  We crossed our wake at 10:36 at Mile 0 on the Illinois River and Mile 217.9 on the Mississippi.  It was a good feeling. 

We traveled 361 days, 6,365.3 miles, went through 101 Locks, and did all 5 of the Great Lakes. We met countless Loopers, other boaters, AGLCA Sponsors, and just people on the street and want to thank them all for making this journey very memorable.  We would especially like to thank our family, friends, and all our boater friends in Red Wing, MN, for following us faithfully on our journey.  God bless you all.

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CO's comments:  Now it is time to re-group and plan our next adventure.

Leaving the Riverdock Restaurant

The Illinois River on 8-11-2011

Chart Plotter crossing our wake

Meter reading on 8-11-2011

Time of crossing

Putting up the Gold Burgee