The India Jayne: 10/12/16

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Weds. Oct. 12, 2016

We have made it down the Illinois R from Chicago and met up with the Mississippi River across from St. Louis, Alton Marina. The river is at flood stage with lots of huge debris floating down with fast 5 mph current. We have encountered several submerged objects so far, but if there is damage we are unaware of it. We have huge barges to look out for as well. We are waiting for some thunder and lightning to subside and intend to start our 200+ mile Miss R run tomorrow. Should be interesting as there are no marinas and only one fuel stop. Also some problematic locks here under construction, then again when we turn up the Ohio R.; some boats are reporting having to wait overnight to lock through down there.

Windows 10 has pretty much killed our computer/photo download ability but we will keep trying.

We thought the Illinois was quite scenic with forested shorelines, rolling hills and farm country. Many of these barges are loaded with beans and corn from the recent harvest. Each hauls 1500 tons, the equivalent of 60 large semi trucks. Each tow has up to 12 to 18 barges or more, so over a thousand trucks' worth plus a tug. As a pleasure craft, you are the low priority in this world, watch out. The northern part was quite industrial with numerous factories and working plants of all sorts. A few places had free docks (Havana and River-view Restaurant) with small towns to explore.

Lockmaster says he's not sure about getting through the immediate tomorrow, so we'll call at dawn and see what's up.

10/13/16

Leaving Grafton Marina, upstream from Alton, with side current from Miss R.
It was harder than it looks.

(W10 downloading is working with my camera, but not the phone, so we have some pics at least.)

After half a day delays at two locks we made it to Hoppy's Marina, a couple of barges tied to the bank. The owner, Fern, gave a chart talk on the hazards and conditions on down stream. Walked to Smokey's for BBQ ribs.