Hamm's Holiday Harbor, Rome, IL - 9/3/12

Mike and I agreed to meet this morning at 7:30 on the river at the entrance to our marina since they had remained at the Ottawa Town Dock.

Say Good Bye and Queen Kathleen

 We untied at 7:20 and when we exited our marina Queen Kathleen and Say Good Bye were both in sight.

River Campers

 On our way for the first few miles were many campers and fishermen.

Fishermen

Water Exposed Roots

The Illinois River is shallow by our standards.  Most of the time it was 15 feet deep or less with places only 9 feet deep which must be down some since a lot of trees on the banks had exposed roots.

Calm River

 The ride today for 57 miles was very calm with the only wave action being from passing fast boats.  We only had to pass one barge and met only two on our way.  Our intended destination was the IVY Club however a phone call to confirm our reservation ended up with it having shallow water due to the dam letting water out for the Mississippi River.  We then called Hamm's for our overnight docking as did a lot of other loopers.

My Bride

 Locking through is hard on finger nail polish so Ricki needed to apply another coat today.

Holiday Parties

 Holiday weekend and many boats were on the water.  We passed many parties on the shore as we headed south. The weather has become very muggy and hot.

Casino Boat

Pulling into the marina was skinny and we hit soft mud in the entrance and backed out.  Another boater called us on the VHF and indicated that we could follow him in which we did.  Local knowledge .. can't beat it.

Two abandoned casino boats are moored in the marina.  We were the first loopers into the marina and got fuel before going to our slips.  This is the last fuel available until we are half way down the Mississippi since many marinas are silted in.  About 6 or 7 looper boats ended up here tonight.

Tomorrow we leave at 6:30 for a very long run to an anchorage 75 miles down river.

N 40  53.462   W 089  29.862