Days 122 Kimmswick, MO - Kaskaskia, IL (Kaskaskia Lock & Dam Wall) Start 7:45AM End 11:55 AM Underway 4:15 Hours Distance 38 miles Total Miles on Trip 2199Av Speed 9 knotsLocks 0Weather Sunny, 73 Degrees, Wind 10Kn SSW After being woken up several times during the night from the wakes of passing tows, morning came very early. Based on the information Debbie gave us in last night's briefing, everyone in our group ( Mark & Karen -Kay Dee, Marvin & N...

Days 118-120 Grafton IL - Alton IL Start 9:05 AM End 11:12 AM Underway 2 Hours Distance 14 miles Total Miles on Trip 2124 Av Speed 7 knots Locks 0 Weather Cloudy, 67 Degrees, Wind 10Kn N Goodbye Illinois River, Hello Mississippi River. Grafton Marina is at the confluence of the Illinois River and the Mississippi River and todays trips starts our 218 mile trek down the Upper Mississippi. The Mississippi is much wider and so far deeper than the Illino...

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 ...