Illinois Valley Yacht Club, Peoria,ILL

There was only one lock today but we had a two hour wait to get in. There was a tug hauling five barges in front of us. The I.V.Y. had very shallow water and we weren’t sure we could get in. The harbormaster said we would be OK but we stirred up a lot of mud making our way to the slip. There is a nice restaurant here and we had a great dinner with some other loopers in 2014. Unfortunately, it is now closed on Saturdays so we walked across the street to a bar and had great chicken sandwiches. It was 90 degrees here today!

The tug that caused our two hour wait.

Illinois Valley Yacht Club, Peoria.

Logsdon Tug Service, Beardstown IL

There are no marinas on this leg of the journey so our options were anchoring out or tying up to a barge at Logsdon Tug. We chose the barge and our stay here was a little better than 2014. The workers were much nicer and very helpful but is it a working area. To get to shore, we had to climb steep metal steps up and down. We had dinner at a small family restaurant and then walked around the old town. The selections were limited but the catfish we had was good. We did see two deer swimming across the river on our trip in. That was pretty awesome and something we have not seem before.

The park in the center of town was nice but the town looked very old and depressed. Most storefronts were empty.

Grafton, Illinois

We arrived in Grafton a little later than planned. The short 60 mile trip took more time due to the delays at both locks. Since we got in late, we didn’t have time to do much other than have dinner at the marina restaurant. They had fireworks later in the evening so Paul stayed up past his normal bedtime.

Passing St Louis

Hoppie’s, Kimmswick, MO

Hoppie’s has always been a rustic, but favorite stop for loopers. Unfortunately, the last few years have not been kind to Fern and Hoppie. They lost two barges to river flooding and last year, COVID added to the their misfortune. There is a GoFundMe that has been set up to help them try to rebuild. Fortunately, the cute little town of Kimmswick is within walking distance. The Blue Owl is only open for lunch but they have some of the best desserts I have ever seen. The lunch I had allowed the choice of three items including quiche, soup, salad, sandwich, and dessert. Dessert was your choice of anything in their case! All this for $15!
I just read that Hoppie has passed away since we were here in 2014, but Fern is still at the helm. Oprah Magazine praised the 10” apple pie at the Blue Owl.

It was a very tough decision but I finally decided on Hawaiian coconut pie! Butterscotch pecan and carrot cake layered with cheesecake were tempting. The apple pie that went to the next table was huge! I bought lemon bars to go.

Little Diversion, Mississippi River

This is the leg of our journey where we have to anchor out. There are no marinas to tie up. It rained all day and all night. We saw many tugs but did not see a single pleasure boat going north or south. I took Lizzie out in Paducah at 5:30AM and then tried to convince her to use the potty pad or the fake grass on the boat but she was not interested. Finally, at 7:30 PM, the rain let up for a brief period of time so we put the dinghy down and took her to the muddy shore. She was quick to take care of her business!

Paducah, KY

We did not have a long day so we made the mistake of thinking we could leave a little later. When Paul called the Barkley Lock about 7:45, he was told there would be a 6 1/2 wait to lock through. Fortunately, we were able to get through the Kentucky Lock instead without much delay. The Paducah dock assistant told us we were lucky because the Kentucky lockmaster does not like pleasure craft. There is a new dock in Paducah since we came through in 2014. Unfortunately, it has not been utilized as they had hoped. Dock assistant told us they only had 70 boats that tied up in 2020. The National Quilt Museum is just one block from the city dock. We were very impressed with the collection. The town is nice but there are far too many empty storefronts. It makes me sad because I know the current situation in our country is going to make it even harder for small independent business to survive. We went to Broussards for dinner, a Cajun restaurant based in NOLA. I’m not a Cajun fan but it was the only dining place we found open within walking distance.

The city spent a lot of money on this great dock. There was only one other boat here. A man that talked to me when I took Lizzie up said that lock problems and COVID limited boater guests. The city had hoped there would be better traffic.

This one had felted wool, which I always like.

The Beatles quilt artist was from Ann Arbor, Michigan

This is the flood wall along the riverfront that
protects the city from the river floods

The dock assistant told us that the river flooded to the top of this walkway in 2020

Green Turtle Bay Resort and Marina

I love Green Turtle. This is a great marina/resort with wonderful amenities and the small town of Grand Rivers is very picturesque. They have an indoor and an outdoor pool as well as a beach. The weather was cool but it was a welcome change from the 90 degree weather we have had. On Saturday, we used the courtesy van to drive to Paducah to pick up a prescription for Paul at Walgreens. We will be in Paducah tomorrow but the pharmacy will be closed. The Commonwealth Yacht Club was a private club here available to guests of the marina. The entertainment was great and dinner was nice. On Sunday, we went to the local outdoor restaurant with a couple platinum (2X) loopers we met. Claudia and David have been living on their boat full time since 2015. They have boated in every state east of the Mississippi except for Indiana and W. Virginia. Their blog is extremely detailed with maps and description of their travels each year. They will be putting the boat in storage this fall so he can homeschool 7 teenage grandchildren in Texas!

This is the biggest houseboat we have ever seen. They were fueling at the dock here.

Paul is trying out the pink tractor at a store in Grand Rivers.

Dinner at the Commonwealth Yacht Club

A boat from Naples came in but they spent the night and then left early AM before we could talk to them.

Claudia and David have been living on the water since 2015

Sign on our table. Every business in every town is short-staffed.

You can see why it is called green turtle. There are turtles all around the resort.

Pebble Isle Marina, New Johnsonville, TN

We left Clifton when the rain slowed to a drizzle. The people at Pebble Isle were very nice but there is no phone service or WIFI. They had a Chevy Volt courtesy car (2013). It was a better vehicle than what is usually offered but not much cleaner. However, we are always very appreciative of the availability of any courtesy car. Unfortunately, there is nothing much to see in this area. We had to drive to the next town, Waverly, to get some groceries at Walmart which was the closest grocery store.

Clifton Marina, Clifton, TN

This is a small marina and RV park. There is not much here but they did have WIFI. When we were here in 2014, they had a courtesy car but there are new owners and that is no longer an amenity. They have a small restaurant on-site but I think we were the only customers the day we were here. We had quesadillas for lunch and they were very good. We are now on the Tennessee River. The ride is prettier and we can pick up our speed.

Houseboats are very popular on the rivers.

The reviews said this restaurant was popular with the locals but I didn’t see any customers during our stay.

Grand Harbor, Counce, TN

12 1/2 hours on the river and seven locks! Poor Lizzie had no potty break for all that time. This is a day we don’t care to repeat. Locks give priority to tugs over pleasure boats. We were behind a huge tug that took all the space in the locks so we spent a good part of the day waiting for the tug to go through ahead of us. We were too tired to take the courtesy car that is a bonus at this condo/marina development.