Kuchie’s on the Water, free dock – Logsdon Tow Service Barge
At the Peoria Lock the lockmaster had it ready for us. The lock is a leveler lock meaning it is quite shallow. This one is 8 feet. With the low water in the Illinois River now it was about 5 ft. Scott was able to float in the middle so no tying was necessary. Best for the crew but a lot more work for the Captain keeping the boat in the middle of the lock. We were on our own so these short depth locks are a welcome. We just locked through and a double was ready to enter. Thanks for the timing Mr. Peoria Lockmaster.
I’m so excited. We have found a working barge that will allow us to park on her for the night. She is a working barge for the company Logsdown Tow Service located in Beardstown, IL. Why am I so excited? I have no idea but this sounds so cool to me. So we head off from Kuchie’s on the Water toward Beardstown.
The trip isn’t exciting as we pass tow and barges along with way with not much in between. It is a rather dismal portion of the river, although scenic with trees and the water it becomes monotonous as it all starts to look the same. The river meanders and at times there are some stilt homes or the rare fisherman out for a catch. There does seem to be an endless supply of bridges though. As the river continues towns must have sprung up in the old days and now the bridges are the only way to keep the small towns together.
As we approach Beardstown there are tows already positioned on the barge. We find our spot and find that the barge is a construction barge. There is literally stuff everywhere. It is not for the clumsy. The two tugs there are open so we do sneak peeks inside the engine room where the engines are being tuned up for the next shift. Waiting for the next crew to come in and rev her up we have our cameras ready. Finally off she goes.
We walk around the quiet little town. There is a huge levy wall that was installed back in the early 1900’s. It is well maintained. We ask about the levy and were told that there was a massive flood back in the day. The small town made the choice to install this levy wall so that it never happened again. The wall is about 25 feet tall made of poured cement.
The town grain elevators are working with soy beans and corn. They fill them from the trucks that come in, fill the silo, then there is a conveyor belt that runs to the waiting barge to be taken north or south to be sold off. It is one of the largest businesses in this sleepy town.
Scott remembers being here in 2015 with Aiden. He says he tied up to the steps, climbed over the guard rail because the water was so high and the two of them wandered the town. He says that the two of them had visited most of the town as did we. There is a nice lookout over the Illinois River. Such a nice view.
Back at the boat we watch the tugs move around as dusk, and finally night occurs, and the lights of the tows move around like fireflies on the river. Their massive spotlights light up the entire river but we still don’t know how they see everything without bumping the barges off of anything.
