Thursday, September 21 - Dredge Day

Thursday, September 21 - Dredge Day

Our anchorage last night was behind Quiver Island.  I didn’t want to leave out such a great name.

Today’s cruise took us about 55 miles down the Illinois River.  We saw these tires all along the way, ready for barges to tie up to them.   Most of them were tractor tires, but of course when I was ready to take the picture, I could only find small ones. 

The water level is so low that our view beyond the banks is pretty limited.  We finally saw farmland - lots of farmland.  I took a GoogleMap picture to make sure I was right.

Low water also means that the river has to be dredged frequently to maintain the 9-foot clearance.  We passed this dredge operation in Bath, Illinois.  Look at all those pipes waiting to be hooked up.

It’s been a while since we had seen anything but barges and tows, so it was fun to see the riverboat headed to Joliet. 

Danny noticed the name on this towboat - my Mom’s middle name.  It’s rarely spelled with an “e” at the end so of course I had to take a picture.  I excitedly sent it to Emory, he replied that her official records showed  Eugenia.  Is my memory that bad?

This is Beardstown, one of the few places listed in the waterway guide for tie up on this stretch of river.  It’s not a marina, just a Logsdon work barge that lets boats tie up if there’s space.  I thought I was taking a picture of a barge, turns out this is the tie up. 

We saw SO many barges today.  The river has been closed to them because of shallow water above LaGrange Lock, so there are a lot of barges and tows backed up waiting for the river to be dredged.

Industrial complexes look huge from the water.  There is nothing to block the view.  Danny is able to identify most of the operations.  Even I knew what the first one was!

A tow boat pushes, it doesn’t tow.  And this is what is uses to push.

After 8 hours on the water, which is a lot for us, we pulled out of the channel and found a place to anchor close to Griggsville, IL, mile marker 66.  Danny is checking to make sure the anchor held and we are not moving.

Just minutes after we dropped anchor, this dredge passed us.  It was huge!!!  It even carries its own garage/workshop with it!  On its way to clean out the channel.  The barges and tows waiting to go through probably cheered as it passed them.