September 29, 2008: Bath Chute to Hardin, IL

Anchored out in Bath Chute gave you time to think about the ecosystem of the river. We had seen people fishing from the park in Havana, and there are birds everywhere. Frogs, fish, and birds all eat insects, and in Bath Chute they are being well fed. We were anchored a good 50 feet from shore, and still I saw several grasshoppers on the boat. These were grasshoppers along with house flies and biting little black gnats that we were wishing had already been eaten. I am not killing any spiders because I think they are on our side.

The storm from last night continued into a rainy morning with grey skies. This was the first rain we had since the 8 inches fell in one night in Chicago. So our morning consisted of working and moving the boat to face the wind when the wind shifted. Just a few minutes before 1:00 pm Tom called the Coast Guard on his cell phone for his daily check in on the river status. Word came that the river was going to be officially open in just a few minutes when the announcement would be made. After excitedly turning on the VHF to hear the announcement, Tom went out on the bow and started pulling up the anchor. So literally as the announcement was being made, we were headed downstream towards St Louis. We were at mile marker 106, and that meant that we were 106 miles from where the Illinois River flows into the Mississippi at St. Louis. Our destination is actually St. Charles just a few miles north of St Louis on the Mississippi. We knew to have a chance of making our flight on Tuesday we had to go a long ways today.

The river was choppy as we started out with a steady wind in our faces, but as we traveled on the wind died and we had a flat smooth ride. We passed the massive Consolidated Grain with over 20 silos connected to its dock and conveyor system to load barges. There were lots of empty barges docked there awaiting cargo.

As we approached the Norfolk Southern railway bridge, Tom called the bridge master on his VHF radio and asked for passage. The response was “We’ll get her fired up for you, Captain”. We were glad for the friendly service. Normal clearance under this bridge is 32 feet so they don’t normally have to open it, but today with the water 20 feet above the normal pool. we needed it raised for our 17 foot height to squeeze under.

Today’s pictures are a lot of pictures of water. We did see places where the levees were badly eroded and we saw sad houses stranded in the flood. We saw farms and even a pasture full of cows. Mind you, I am not an expert, but I think these were beef cattle. We saw blue heron by the waters edge and even a hawk circling a corn field.

Seven hours later and in the pitch dark, we decided to call it a day. Close to mile marker 21, just before the bridge at Hardin,we found a tributary on the chart plotter that was not part of the marked channel. Using the flood light on the bow to pan the shore line, we got our bearings to pull out of the channel up the side stream looking for anchorage. The depth finder said we had plenty of water as we dropped anchor about 100 yards up stream in swift current. What a day! We grilled out steaks and after dinner took our tired selves to bed.