Seneca, IL to Henry, IL

Date             September 16, 2011

Day               80

Departure    Springbrook Marina, Seneca, IL 8:55 am

Arrival         Henry Harbor Marina, Henry, IL  6:55 pm       

Miles                49.6

Cumulative   1679.0

NOTE: For a larger view of each picture, click once on the picture (This is new. No longer need to double click) 

Around 7:15 am we saw a tow with 18 barges go past the marina.  We thought OK, we don't need to hurry as they will need to go through the lock that was six miles away and we might just as well wait at the marina than in the river. So we cast off our lines at 8:55 and headed down the river.  When we got to the lock, the lock master said it would be about an hour wait as they were splitting the barges and sending down the first half and we could go down with the second half.  The best laid plans...  So we floated around in the river for 1 1/2 hours or so, they put the second half of the barge/tow into the lock, then we entered.

A second boat joined us in the lock, and we were set to go.  The lockmaster handed us two lines for us to hold onto, then told us that when we got to the bottom, he would sound a horn and that we should fasten the lines to the boat.  This was needed because when the tow starts to leave the lock, it would suck us over to him!  We made sure that the lines were tight when that horn sounded!!

Once the tow left the lock, we had to wait again while they reconnected the two halves.  When they were done and we were able to leave, we requested to pass the tow.  We wanted to make sure we got in front of them since we still had another lock to go through and we didn't want to have to go through this process again as this took almost three hours!
As we proceeded down river, the scenery was stunning,

A sure sign that fall is on it's way and will be here soon!

When we arrived at Starved Rock Lock and Dam we had to wait a short time.  When we could enter, we had to pass about 9-12 barges and jog to the right at the big yellow "cell" that was in front of the barges then jog left to tie to the wall. 

We had to go the the right, around the yellow "cell", as the boat in front of us did.

Here we go, just like threading a needle!

We again were handed two lines to hold, but this time we were in the lock with only one other boat, no barge.  We were through this lock in about 45 minutes from the time we arrived.  This was what we saw just after leaving the lock, must be the "starved rock", beautiful!

How in the world do these trees stand up?  There is no dirt around the roots and the base of the tree was about four feet above the bare roots! 

After a very long day, we arrived at Henry Harbor Marina, tied up and had dinner in the restaurant at the marina.  Wonder what tomorrow will bring??