Peoria, Illinois - Last Day

We thank our AGLCA Harbor Host, Blaine Thorpe, for loaning us the needed guide book we could not find along with his generous and personal shuttle service to the Peoria Airport for our flight out! So nice to have met him and we so appreciate his company and assistance! We hope to see more of him soon once he begins his travels south!

We had a great time back in Fort Worth this past week! We were able to see my B-Girl and her puppies....Garmin got to reconnect with his extended pack and romp in his dog park! Priceless!  I'm so grateful that B-Girl is happy, healthy, and doing so well!  My son, Alex, surprised me with a visit before he deploys to Afghanistan....my heart is so very happy! His thoughtfulness to make this effort to surprise me means the world to me (and made me cry).  I am so very proud of both my children and am so thankful to have spent time with them this past week. They are such amazing young adults who's future is so very bright!  Their goal setting, determination, and great work ethic is paying off!

We were able to have enjoyed great times with Charlie's sister, Carol, who went above and beyond making our visit so wonderful in so many ways.  Spending time with her was so very nice and we need more of that.  No "thank you" can ever be enough.  We also enjoyed spending much needed time with Gail....Garmin almost licked her to death!  We can never get enough Gail time!  Dinner with Barbara and Eddie was great and we are so thankful they spent their time visiting with us.  We are so glad they are doing so well and so enjoyed catching up with them!  Our hopes are that all of them take us up on our offer to join us aboard soon!

We spent the day provisioning and are finally docked at the same port Betsy and David Frye, aboard Fryedaze, are at!  They are also Loopers and FB Live Aboard peeps.  We have kept up with their travels along the Great Loop via FB and Looper Blogs.  Great people! We hope to spend future ports with them again very soon!  Meeting people like them along this journey is what makes it wonderful! Life is good!

Garmin is not use to seeing the world above sea level much less at 20,000' up! But he enjoyed the views! He traveled so well!

A well traveled G-Man!

Surprise visit from my lil guy!

Sun in our eyes with my Soldier!

B-Girl's babies, Sugar and Bubba at the dog park.

My beautiful B-Girl, Brigitte.

Our #1 Suga-boog, Sugar. (G-Man's BFF)

Texas Pit BBQ rocks!

DFW skylights on plane.

Downtown Peoria, Il.

Downtown Peoria, IL.

We are featured on Deltaville Yachting Center Website.

Finally meeting Betsy and Dan, aboard Fryedaze!

Peoria, Illinois - Day 5

 Relaxing day at the Illinois Valley Yacht Club.  The Club sponsored the Cardboard Sailboat Race fund raiser for Alzheimer's. We spent the rest of the afternoon planning our course for the next stretch of the river system. Tomorrow we fly to Fort Worth for a week!!  We are off the grid until we return next week!  Tex-Mex and family fun are happening tomorrow!!! Garmin needs his Sugar, Bubba, Brigitte, Carol, Barbara/Eddie/Sharon/Monte/and Aunt Gail time....as do we!!!! Hoping the weather isn't too hot for G-Man to play at his dog park each day!

Peoria, Illinois

We threw the lines at sunrise and had an enjoyable cruise down the Illinois River traveling 64.6 NM. The sun was bright and the south winds were fair.  We locked down one lock 18.7' and had minimal traffic all day.  We shared the lock with a U.S. Coast Guard Cutter and two other Loopers.  This stretch of the Illinois River is very beautiful and lined with trees along with many Wildlife Refuges and Nature Preserves.  Plenty of wildlife flying high. Several Golden Eagles were flying along the rivers edge!  We came upon a sandbar that had thousands of migrating American White Pelicans on it!  We are docked at Illinois Valley Yacht Club (IVY Club), in Peoria, Illinois.

Underway at sunrise.

 

A Golden Eagle perched on rooftop.

Grave site of the founder of the Boy Scouts of America. (It's awesome how they posted this sign on the waterway wall so it's visible by boats.) 

Starved Rock State Park

Again, we phoned the lock ahead of time to schedule our lock through.  When we arrived as instructed we were delayed almost an hour for barges to lock through.

 We locked through with this U.S. Coast Guard Cutter.

G-Man supervising the locking process.

Peru's Fire Rescue Station

Golden Eagle.

Swan Lake (really).

Migrating American White Pelicans riding the thermals!

Migrating American White Pelicans.

Thousands of migrating American White Pelicans!

They've been migrating through this area for the past 10 years.

http://www.starvedrockstatepark.org/pelicans-starved-rock/

Garmin doing a great job at the helm today!

This heatwave will be here for the next several days.

At port.