Saturday, July 21 Part II - The Rest of the Story :)

When I last left you hanging, we had to find a different spot on the Illinois Waterway to tie up to while we waited to go south through the electrical fish barrier, as testing of the water was being done.  During that time, the guys had time to put the arch and biminy back in place, while Kelli and I did some reading and relaxing.  Finally at 4:20, we began putting towards the Coast Guard in hopes that we would be able to get through.  At 5:00 on the dot, we were the first to be let through.  After seeing another sign like this, however, we were wondering if maybe the Coast Guard boat should have been first! ;)

Later in the day, we hear a story of how when they first put in the electrical fence that boaters had to turn off their engines and be towed across the 1/2 mile area.  Sometimes boats had to have their instruments and such inspected to see how everything held up going through the barrier!  This could even require a boater to have to be held up for the night!!!  I guess we were pretty lucky for only having to wait for 3 1/2 hours and everything on our boat continued to work after going through the barrier!

  The next venture was to go through two locks.  You'd think after the fish barrier, going through a lock would be nothing, right?  HOWEVER, as we approached the first lock, we discovered that there was no gate and we had to be sure to wait further back while they filled the lock, as it appeared we would otherwise be going over a waterfall!!!

It turns out their gate was broken and they had to use their emergency gate, which came up from the bottom of the water.

So, now we're in the lock and we can relax, right?  Well, first, there's yet another NEW way to tie up to a lock wall . . . just when we thought we've seen it all!!!  This time there was a floating ballard that we had to put a line around and bring it back around our cleat.  These are air-filled tubes that raise/lower as the water does.  So as you hold your line around it, your boat goes the way the tube does . . . interesting!

 

Wait a minute . . . is this a place to hold your line to the lock wall OR a beer holder?

As we left the lock, we saw how we needed to go through yet one more lock, as we were higher than the ground. 

 

After going 55 miles for ELEVEN HOURS, we tied up for the night at Harborside Marina in Wilmington, Illinois.  The crew was hungry and we thought the restaurant on sight would be closed.  BUT, luck was with us at this point . . . not only was the restaurant open, but it was very quaint with wonderful choices of food.  We toasted to the Peltier's arrival and a VERY crazy day!!! :)