The Lock that wasn't 39◦56'423N 090◦32'092W

   We had another wonderful day of cruising on the Illinois river. This section is not industrialized. Wooded areas all around for most of the trip today (see pic). Very peaceful cruising if it weren't for the wind. At one point in time the wind was howling at 24 mph. This wind though did help us in speed, because we hit the 11.2mph which is faster then we have ever seen this boat go. Jim even took a picture of our GPS/Radar so he could save it for posterity.

   I spent some more time sanding the railings today. The bottom rail is a bit more labor intensive then the top rail, so this may take a while. I am hoping to have all the railings sanded and refinished before we arrive at Joe Wheeler state park in October.

   The wind was so strong tonight that Randy called a lock and requested to tie up there. They gave us permission to do so. When we arrived though, the current was so strong that it was a real challenge to get a line on the bollard before the current pushed us away. Fortunately the veterans Randy and Sherri got their lines on and came over to give us a hand. Did I mention how much I like these two? The lock we are at is called a wicket lock. During low water the wickets are raised to dam the river to make sure there is enough depth to navigate, but during high water; such as we have currently; the wickets are lowered to the bottom of the river and we just float over them without locking through. This is the second such lock/dam we went over today. During low water we actually could be as much as 17 feet lower then we are right now. This stuff is just amazing to me.

   Tomorrow we have reservations at Grafton harbor. We plan on staying there for 2 nights. We need a little break from the boat and some time on terra firma. We certainly have made good time to date and are back on schedule so we can slow down a little bit and smell the roses.

    I have two people to respond to tonight. First Brenda- Docktail was not a typo, this is what they call cocktails on the dock and yes it is a very appropriate term (lol). Second Rhoda; Thanks for the note, Sherri and Randy say Hi. You two where the topic of conversations during our docktail hour. All 4 of us are hoping to see you again soon.  Nighty night all.