Beardstown, IL Logsdon Tow Service Barge \u2013 Mile 80, Willow Island Anchorage<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last lock on the Illinois River Day. Pushing off from the barge we head on up to the La Grange Lock. It is approximately an hour away from Beardstown, IL. The lockmaster was just locking south a large group of barges. We waited 15 minutes for the pit to fill and we again were able to float. This Lock is again a leveler lock. The last lock is also approximately 3 feet lower than its recorded depth of 8 feet. So we lock through quickly at 5 feet and head towards our anchorage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just as sunrise occurs the Hunter Moon is still visible in the low sky. The river\u2019s edge is covered in dead trees brought down by the spring rains. There are several trees that have only just fallen over and will be in next year\u2019s spring runoff debris. More bald eagles soaring and ravens have also started showing up. They are one big bird. We did see one final white pelican as most have moved on their winter migration path. We feel lucky to have seen them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At Kemptsville, IL there is a car ferry that takes residents back and forth across the river. It is interesting as it is an old barge with a tow on the side. As it crosses the river with its load the tow tucks up to the crossing and allows cars on and off. As the gates close with its load for the other side the tow pendulums around and faces the opposite direction so that the tow is always facing the direction it is going. I couldn\u2019t get a video fast enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The stilt houses are everywhere now. There are hills built up to keep the high waters out but the houses are still higher. A lot of the \u201cbasements\u201d are built under the house but on top of land then the house is on top of the basement. Some have a \u201cgarage\u201d built into these stone foundations. There are usually little to no windows on the foundations. In some of the pictures you can see the various water levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many more barges and tows today. It is obvious we are getting into the central area where tows will be stacked with more than the standard 15 barges we are seeing til now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We decided on the Anchorage at Mile 80 at Willow Island. Behind the South and North side of the island is a large anchor area. The river has a current that keeps your boat in place however if you wish you could put out a stern anchor. We put on the anchor alarm. It is a cool evening with a disturbed blue heron that lets us know she is not happy with us being here. A random woodpecker is knocking himself silly and we are cooking up burgers on the grill. Downloaded movie and sundowners for the night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tomorrow we head to an area where many Loopers are staying. We have heard that some are leaving. I\u2019m just happy to do laundry, wash the boat at least twice (yes, she is that dirty) and take a really long, hot shower. <\/p>\n\n\n\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Beardstown, IL Logsdon Tow Service Barge \u2013 Mile 80, Willow Island Anchorage Last lock on the Illinois River Day. Pushing off from the barge we head on up to the La Grange Lock. It is approximately an hour away from Beardstown, IL. The lockmaster was just locking south a large group of barges. We waited […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-great-loop-second","category-uncategorized","category-4-id","category-1-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lapointes.ca\/helioBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lapointes.ca\/helioBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lapointes.ca\/helioBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lapointes.ca\/helioBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lapointes.ca\/helioBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lapointes.ca\/helioBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1040,"href":"https:\/\/www.lapointes.ca\/helioBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions\/1040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lapointes.ca\/helioBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lapointes.ca\/helioBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lapointes.ca\/helioBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}