Day 2 - Seneca to Rome

It's day 2 of our journey and we left Spring Brook Marina at 7:48 AM.  Another beautiful day with no wind and calm waters.  We passed some farms and soon came upon the Marseilles Potash Corp, a sprawling industrial site.  There were lots of fisherman out in small boats or on shore.  The Marseilles Dam is under construction after suffering damage when 4 barges collided last spring due to heavy rains and flooding last April.  We have pictures, but looks like we won't have internet access until Tuesday, so we will go back and insert the photos into previous posts.  There was a large white-headed bird that landed on a nearby tree - think it was a hawk.

We passed through 2 locks today, the Marseilles Lock and Starved Rock Lock and Dam, with no incident and short wait times.  Some very nice homes line the western shore of the river at Ottawa.  The river is widening and continues to be frequented by small pleasure and fishing boats.  Captain Randy slowed the boat countless times today so as not to rock the smaller boats with our large wake.  Starved Rock State Park has its own marina, park, playground, camping and fishing areas.

Lasalle-Peru appears to be 2 old, industrial river towns with very old buildings lining its shores.  This part of the river is a mix of small marinas such as the South Shore Boat Club and commercial interests like the Mertel Gravel Company and Illinois Power Dock.

We decided to stop for lunch at Hennepin.  Our Quimby's Boating Guide said that there was a "courtesy dock" we could tie up to and walk into town.  The "courtesy dock" is an old barge that is embedded/sunk along shore. There were supposed to be finger docks attached to the barge but we did not see them until later when we were on shore.  We saw the barge and drew close to tie up.  I had to jump off the boat and tie us to a railing that ran the length of the barge.  After tying up (thank goodness for our oversized round fenders!) we had to climb over the railing to leave the boat.  The stairway from the dock to town was overgrown with weeds, so we walked up the roadway.  Over to the side, the finger docks were piled on shore - they were not put in the water this year.  At the top of the hill we saw Ray's Place and decided to go in for lunch.  This was a great move as the place was immaculate and the food outstanding.  The restaurant has been there for 51 years.  Ray died 20 years ago, but his wife Pauline has been running it on her own ever since.  We highly recommend stopping in for good food and friendly service if you come this way!  But remember, we warned you about the "courtesy dock!"

 

After leaving Hennepin, around Mile Marker 205, I saw several jumping Asian Carp - we anticipate seeing more further south.  We had another 27 miles to go to reach our destination for the night - Hamm's Holiday Harbor.  Captain Randy called Hamm's about 10 miles out and was told a barge had run aground and sunk in the middle of the channel leading into the marina.  Great!!  We managed to maneuver around it and get into a slip.  Captain Randy aptly terms Hamm's as a "graveyard for casino boats", as there are several here.  The restaurant was closed (thank goodness for lunch at Ray's Place!) and the marina, in general, needs LOTS of TLC.  I think we are the only people staying on our boat here tonight!  We will be getting some fuel and leaving early in the morning for our next adventure - tomorrow night we tie up to a barge.