Our boat neighbor's advice last night was on target. We had a nice night on the inside of the Paducah dock. The overnight tow traffic may have rocked us a little bit, but it was a smooth night. We did notice a bit of pedestrian traffic on the dock, but the people are either checking … Continue reading Paducah to Green Turtle: When It Rains, It Pours

First, I'll start out with the stats, because it was a record day for us on a couple of fronts. 166.7 miles. 13 hours and 11 minutes. Three rivers. It was a long, terrific day. We knew we had a long way to go, so we got up early. Sunrise was at 6:27. Our plan … Continue reading Kaskaskia to Paducah: Stretching our Sea Legs

After a week of work and a trip home to move a kid back to college, we're back at it. Just before sunrise, we pushed off the dock in Grafton (we love that little town!) and headed south. Our goal was to make it to Paducah this weekend, and we hoped to manage it in … Continue reading Grafton to Kaskaskia: Big Milestones

We are staying put for a while as I get back to work this week (I'm working on the loop), but that doesn't mean that we can't explore a little. I got on the ol' bike and trekked up the road to the Alton Marina and back. I haven't ridden as much as normal lately … Continue reading Grafton to Alton as a landlubber

We left the Logsdon Tug Barge this morning in dramatic fashion. Owen untied the lines, as usual, and I collected them, as usual. Except that as soon as he, um, threw the bowline, the boat tilted away from the barge...with Owen still on the barge. Thankfully, we were able to reconnect so that we didn't … Continue reading Beardstown to Grafton: The Confluence

Our time in Peoria had to come to an end. We pushed pushed out at dawn for the 75 mile trek to Beardstown with one lock to navigate. We got lucky at the Peoria Lock. When we arrived, there was a big tow in the lock heading north, one waiting behind it to go north, … Continue reading Peoria to Beardstown: Easy Sailing

Well that was an eventful day. A couple days ago, we were in contact with IVY Club to see if their entryway was deep enough to accommodate our 4.5' draft. That day, they were not confident it was. The concern was that it might be deep enough to get in, but then if the water … Continue reading Ottawa to Peoria: Maybe Don’t Boat Through a Storm

We left Joliet early in the morning, as we knew the bridge we needed to be lifted did not lift during rush hour. That was super easy with zero hassle. We had a brief wait for the Brandon Road Lock and were on our way. We were excited to pass under the I-55 bridge. We … Continue reading Joliet to Ottawa: Locks? NBD

We noticed two things a little awry as we've been underway. The first thing is that our AIS didn't appear to be working. We just had AIS installed earlier this year with a new electronics package and it was working fine. After a quick text exchange with Dave @ Nautilus (he installed the electronics and … Continue reading Boat life means fixing stuff all the time