Starved Rock-Peoria Lake

Starved Rock-Peoria Lake

We got up at 0445 to prep for an early departure. Eileen called the Lockmaster (they seem to like to talk to ladies more than me) who advised yesterdays goat rope there resulted in double barges stranded on the starboard arrival wall before the gates. He thought there was ‘about 15 feet’ of horizontal clearance and offered to let us try it. Otherwise, it will require several hours (at least) to get those barges moved out of the way. Well, we keep big fenders on both sides and squeezed through (first video) with a little sphincter tightening. Chatting at the lock wall, I alleged I thought the clearance was more like 12 feet than 15, but he started rattling off the dimensions of the barges etc so I was wrong (that happens a lot, just ask Eileen).

We had to slow down for some thunderstorms with lightning, but overall a pretty nice cruise down to Peoria. Laundry date this afternoon after finding some of the more expensive 91 octane E0 gas so far at $5.75/g. Still cheaper than last year. We went to two other marinas first, one had no gas and the other no dockhand, so we wasted some time as well as gas.

Log:

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