October 17
Last night all 10 boats met for pizza, docktails and yep, dominoes! Such great comarraderie.
We bust out of the marina at 7AM.
Still pretty early, you can still see the moon.
Underway down the Illinois.
We tied up just upriver of the Marseilles lock. The large silver structure is a “cell”. These are structures large tow arrays tie off to while waiting to enter a lock. Curti-Sea tide off to this one and we tied off to him while waiting for the lock to let us in.
We waited for a tow array to come out of the Marseilles lock. After that, this guy locked down. We waited until after that. Took a few hours.
Shoreline Traveller, a 38 footer from Quebec owned by Pierre and Renee.
That “cell” I mentioned that Curti-Sea tied off to? Yeah, that’s Captain Ted relaxing while we wait for the lock.
Part of our armada behind us waiting for the lock.
Debbie and Deb Neal chatting while they wait for the lock.
Four boats tied off to the cell in front of us.
Once in the lock we all rafted up. Isn’t it crazy how the sun makes your hair look gray?
Rafted up 3 to a side.
Another Jerry on Saltie.
WTH, a STINKBUG??? ON OUR BOAT???
Finally, the doors open and off we go!
Cool photos of our trip downstream to the Starved Rock lock.
On our way to the Starved Rock lock after the Marseilles lock we saw so many tows. Never ended.
Waiting for the Starved Rock lock. The lockmaster told us it would only be 20 minutes. Yeah, right…
This is the guy we were waiting on.
Starved Rock lock.
New bridge construction.
All of these barges and tows were waiting to get through the locks headed up river.
Shoreline Traveler
Peru, Illinois.
Our anchorage tonight. Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato bisque soup and, yup, Champagne!
Whisky Business Blog 
Patience isn’t my strong point I am told, probably take more than champagne to get me through that stretch of the river.
Leaving for Paris on Sunday for three days in the city of lights, then on to Dijon for a river cruise on the Rhone to Lyon hope to see some beautiful scenery. By the way, the name of the boat is Stella it is part of the Arosa line a German cruise line.
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