Sunday September 26: Hamm's Marina - near Peoria, Il

We left Ottawa yesterday sort of late as we were delayed by a barge coming up the next lock so it was a nice time to have an enjoyable breakfast at the Bee Hive in Ottawa. The town was preparing for the annual Scarecrow Festival which was kind of fun - mostly focused toward the kid in all of us! The day was nice in the morning but changed to rain, overcast and cool in the afternoon though. The Starved Rock State Park borders the river in this area with some spectacular viewing areas along the way.

Historical note about Ottawa: it was the home of W. D Boyce, who while traveling became lost in the London fog in 1909 and was aided by a British Boy Scout. Boyce was so taken with the scout's helpfulness, that he founded the Boy Scouts of America immediately after returning to his home in Ottawa. There is a museum featuring a exhibition of memorabilia from this organization and his cemetery plot features a boy scout on top of the gravestone.

We learned a lesson from Jim on Selah about locking through these large locks - have a knife handy. The lock provides the rope and basically you loop it over a cleat and let it out slowly as the lock descends - the rope is attached to a railing at the top of the lock. Jim's rope caught on itself though and was hung up - as was Selah. The water was going down and the boat was NOT! In an instant he had his knife out of his pocket to cut the rope with the boat then dropping about a foot. We have decided it would be a good idea to always have a knife at the ready when locking down.

The waterfront has changed quite a bit from the industrial areas south of Chicago. It's basically open land with small town along the river. This is Peru, Illinois. Small town with what looked like an old fashioned downtown area.

The excitement yesterday was really Selah coming to Surona's rescue. Their engine/alternator/water pump belt broke and without water circulating through the engine overheating was next. Selah was able to tie Surona next to them and tow them to the next marina for the night. We were a fair ways ahead and could offer only moral support. Selah towed them to Chillothe today and after an interesting quest for a belt, they joined us at Hamm's Marina for the night. Tucked safely away.

The river has opened up a bit into what looks like very inviting places to anchor - until you realize the birds you see 1/2 mile from shore are walking on the bottom of the river! But we did see several bald eagles (both adult and immature) as well as MANY white pelicans - which we had never heard of before. Dinner was on board Surona with GREAT spaghetti sauce and whole wheat pasta (yes - it was really good as much as I protest :-) - this is a healthy group!). I told Steve he needs to get the recipe from Cheryl. Steve did appetizers and Linda did coleslaw. What a great group effort!!

Tomorrow: don't know. Watched the Browns lose today but they played well. What more can be said - they scored the first touchdown allowed by the Raven this season so that's something. No problem - new game next week!!