Next stop Havana Illinois , The IVY club.

Hi F and F, 

We kept with the plan of last night to leave early and after reconfirming by telephone with the lock master that the one and only lock for today was clear, we headed off with Lucky Ducks.

Once on the Illinois river we were joined by other boaters also from the Marina we had just left.

Some had changed their plans because of the rising water levels and decided to leave today also. On the way we got to see many interesting things floating by.

A TV set, a white door complete with a handle , a watermelon, and of course lots of logs.Even a red buoy had become unattached and went floating by.We also got to see several white Pelicans.These are like the brown Pelicans in Florida , but they don't dive for fish.

They work together in a line flapping and swiming to herd the fish into one area ,then go in for the kill!

!

By the time we reached the lock we were 8 boats total , waiting to go in.Found out was another of those split barge lock systems happening despite the call to come on down!

Complicated as it is to see how they do it Erica will try to explain. The tow boat pushes the barges through into the lock , but as there is not room for him to stay in the lock as well  , he has to back out and wait for the barges to be taken up in the lock and pushed out.Then the water is brought down again so the tow boat can enter in , have the water rise again and then he can push these nine barges northwards , once the lock doors open. That's what we think is the process anyway.

So in the meantime we ended up hanging around , in this case at least 1 and  3/4 hours before we got to enter in and lock up to go downstream.Some boats just hung around , some tied up to these round stations( one boat actually ended up gouging the side of his boat in the process) We used our skyhook system to keep us in place.

Then we all set off in a line , some jockeying for position as we were all going to the same Marina for the night, and some wanted to be first!!! 

Nice journey south, wide river and calm conditions. We arrived in at Illinois Valley Yacht Club ( IVY ) 

at 3.30 pm .This had been a 7 1/2 hour journey. Of course that ncluded the 2 hour lock experience!

Very nice club , a slightly tight entrance to our slip , but we are conveniently placed opposite the club .house 

Friendly dock hands and staff.We were told of the pasta, fried chicken and salad buffet the club puts on , on Sunday nights so many of us weary boaters decided after such a long day that sounded like a good idea.Aound 6 pm we headed to the club and enjoyed a tasty dinner with our new friends  (Ottawa) Jim and Terri. Also got to meet some of the other boaters we had seen on the water.

Carolyn a member of the club introduced herself to us and offered to drive us into Preoria tomorrow if we wanted. We said we would love to take up her offer.

Then back to the boat and an early night.

Over and out, 

E and G