September 25, 2013 to Henry Island

Sienna.  Nice!

I was up at 6 am this morning and had to get my bike off the boat and loaded into the car for the 2 mile drive to the Enterprise office at the Chevy dealership in Ottawa, IL.  Not ideal but it works and the people at the office were very good so no hard feelings about the place..

The day before (Monday) we rented a a car which was upgraded to a Toyota Sienna.  Like we need all that  room but it was sure comfy.




And it had gadgets.  We struggled with deciphering the instructions for operating the A/C.  Finally got that figured out.  And the radio was set to some rap stuff which presented an obstacle we couldn't overcome.  So we tried to turn it off but somehow entered a Blue Tooth activation sequence with a lovely female voice reminding us it could find a suitable Blue tooth device.  Evidently this is bad.  Bad enough to render the damn thing  impervious to any attempt at turning it OFF.   I wrote code in assembler years ago and now I can't figure out a damn automobile radio?  Jack!  Where are you when we need you!

We made a stop at Jen and Dave's so we could get some mail and the alternator  I had rebuilt as a spare.  Then on to Green Bay where we decided to continue on to Fish Creek to retrieve Mary's jewelry which she left at the Bayside tavern several months ago.  And they had it!

Then back to Green Bay although I had to stop for the third time to fill the tire which was reported as low on pressure and which, when eyeballed, was almost flat!.  We found a suitable hotel and I parked the car so the low tire would be accessible in the morning knowing full well I'd had to change the darn thing.

But ...

A Compass/. I'll never purchase one

I called Enterprise at 8 am the next morning to report the flat tire.  And surprisingly they set up a nifty plan for us.  A guy showed up and changed the tire.  Then we proceeded to the nearest Enterprise office where they swapped cars with us.  We gave up the Sienna for a really crappy car, a Compass.  At least it had four serviceable tires.  Kudos for Enterprise!






We did a little grocery shopping at the famous Woodmans before I went into the dentist's office for my permanent crown.  Julie and Brenda, thank you!  You're the best.  And Connie .. Not sure what I'll do now that your're gone.  Best of luck to you but damn, I'll miss you.

Next Mary went to the Doctor and came back with a prescription for Bronchitis.  Who knew.  We ended up bashing our way through the horrendous (kidding) Green Bay rush hour and finally stopped at Kroger in Ottawa, Illinois several hours later for some perishable food shopping.  We had everything unloaded and stored on the boat by 9:15.

So after I returned the car the next morning and rode back to the marina we were ready to go except the lock,  about an hour away, was very busy.  After consulting with Field Trip we elected to stay awhile and leave the marina around 10:30.  We were joined by Erin E.   So around 10:30 off we went (bye Sandie and Dennis from C dock!).

Locks at Starved Rock

We got to the Lock and ended up circling around the area for about an hour until some barges locked through.   After we locked down it was about 6 hours running through a really scenic river until we came to the Henry Island anchorages.   This is an anchorage between the main river channel and some islands forming the river channel's RDB (right descending bank)

Leaving Starved Rock Lock around the barges

Erin E and Field Trip at the Henry Island anchorage 

We went in first and promptly ran aground but were able to back off.  There is a long reef extending from the island point so we had to run about 1/2 mile down stream before turning back into the water between the island.  It was well over ten feet all the way to where we dropped the anchor.   What a superb place!

Beautiful night, good rum and compatriots contributing to a plan of action tomorrow!