What I Did for a D-Ring!

We got a late start today not leaving for the broad Illinois River until nearly 9a.

One of the first things we did this morning was download an app for our Ipad that let's you know where the boat traffic is and sure enough that monster Cody Boyd that we raced to get in front of yesterday had passed us in the night and appeared to be parked on the other side of the one lock we would go through today.  So we kept our eyes out watching and never really checked again on her.  Tonight our new app says she is in Peoria!   The app also tells us this tow is going to St. Louis...so until we pass that city she will probably be somewhere near us on the waterway.

Soon we saw rock cliffs on the starboard side and debris in the water.

In about an hour we neared Starved Rock Lock.  There we also saw rocky cliffs on the Port side with an observation area on top.

We called the lock on the radio to ask about locking down.  Since we thought we knew where all the traffic was we were very surprised when the lock master told us it would be about 2.5 hours before we could go into the lock!  So we asked about tying up at the dock outside... the docks were not available but he did say we could tie up at something “yellow” with a D-ring!... well, that was all we understood so we kept coming toward the lock.  Just beyond the lock we could see a tall tug boat pushing many barges into the lock.

All around the locks they have these big round concrete structures. The first one we came to had no “D-ring” but the next one very close to the lock gate did have... ONE PROBLEM: it must have been at least two feet below our deck!  It was flat against the concrete!

The Captain told me to use the aft mid cleat on the deck so I threaded a line through it... did he really think I could thread the D-ring also???! As he worked Miss gg closer I could see I would need to kneel on the narrow (smaller than my body is wide!) side deck.  But then I realized my arm was not long enough at that height. THE only thing to do was to lay down on my stomach on this ridiculously NARROW deck!  At that point I regretted putting my camera on my front pocket.. OUCH!  No time to adjust... my arm was still not long enough to reach the D-ring! I had to hang my body over the deck from the waist to my shoulder hoping not to fall in between the concrete round and the boat... all this time I kept waiting for the words I was sure would come from the Captain's mouth any minute....like, “get up!” or “Don't hurt yourself” or “it's not worth saving fuel to have you injured, we will just cruise around slowly and wait”.   Not one word was uttered! Only my voice could be heard saying, “back off” or “move closer” and a few times I had to quickly move my arm as 34,000 pounds of boat bumped the concrete!  But some how I managed to hook that D-ring with the line end and pull it through.  I was utterly amazed and I might add feeling PRETTY GOOD as I pulled the line through and quickly wrapped and tied it!  Here is the D-ring.

Squished fenders... better than my arm!

So now the wait began... we thought of going below and turning on the generator and enjoying the AC although using fuel for that kinda defeats the purpose of tying up.  AND a love story was taking place that I didn't want to miss.  Actually, had I realized what was happening I would have taken photos of it sooner.  Four geese were on the grassy area in front of us on the side of the lock.  Three took off flying but one just stood there sounding her moanful honk. Then, instead of flying to join the others she started walking down the steep slope to the water and swam right in front of where the barges come out of the lock.  All the while that she was crying, some goose somewhere was answering her every honk. Then we saw him with the other two over in the park on the other side of the lock. There was no place for her to climb up to where he was but she kept slowly swimming.  Finally , he and the two other geese joined her in the water.  I wish I had a picture of him pushing her through the water!  He got behind her and kept pushing with his head and then quit and they all swam over to an Island in the middle of the river.  Then I remembered that geese mate for life.  Here are the only photos I got of the happy couple.  The Mrs. alone....

  
There are two geese in the photo... can you find them?

Walter got brave and made the big step between Miss gg and the concrete round.  He said I didn't have to use this picture but I thought he looked so cute!  And he had a front row seat to watch the barge action.

Here is a better photo of where the Captain was standing.

You can see that there are more of these rounds and also barges beginning to line up for the Lock.

Here the barges are coming out of the lock.

We had wondered how they would move the barges out of the lock as the tug boat stayed behind with two more barges!  They had an electric winch, a steel cable that was thrown by a rope line to the crew member riding the front barge.  He attached it and the winch then pulled the entire load of 6 barges out of the lock! They then just let it coast awhile to get completely out of the way.  There was a giant cleat on a railroad rail along side the dock that could be attached to pull the barges even further forward.

Here the group of barges, two wide and three long, are sliding passed Walter.

This picture shows how the barges are held tightly together with steel cables.

We are in the Lock in this picture and this is a floating Bollard that the barges use and we tied to it.  It goes down with the boat as the water is let out of the lock.

The only other boat in the lock with us was a small speed boat which held some “good ole boys”.  They said they were on the way to Nashville.... hope they make it... sounded like the party had already started and then they turned up some country music that echoed through the lock.  Now I like Country music but they had chosen some with nasty lyrics!  Maybe this was why it seemed like this lock took longer than other ones?!

As the lock gates opened this is what greeted us... I was not sure he was not moving and I hoped we could scoot around this tow before he came in.....

Then came the largest tow of barges that we have seen on the river.  It was three wide and four deep in a group of 12 with one,  #13, out front!

It was hard to see the little tug behind them but then we passed him and he was not so little after all!  Since they go all night I suppose there is a big crew that works all the shifts.

Because of our late departure and the delay at Starving Rock Lock we could not make it all the way to Peoria.  We are tied up at a marina that usually only has depth for small boats but they found room for us on a crumbling old lock wall.. we put down lots of fenders!

Tomorrow I will wake up another year older!  But that's okay since the Captain is taking me to one of my favorite restaurants for lunch!  Wahoo!