Friday September 25, 2015
We had anchored behind Sugar Island, but all the rest of the loopers had gone on to a marina 9 miles farther along. Believing we had a better chance of getting though the next lock if we were with the group, we pulled up the anchor at day break, and headed south. Sure enough, as soon as we got to the entrance to the marina, the loopers pulled out ahead of us. Some other boats joined the group, so we had quite a crowd in the lock, going down.
We tied up at the Ottawa town dock for the night. It was free, and it had power and water. We try to support the local economy whenever there is a free dock, so we went for a walk (past the park where Lincoln and Douglas had their first debate) and had an early dinner. The town was setting up for scarecrow fest, which would be the next day. Very creative scarecrows by individual businesses. We lucked out, finding a movie theatre about 4 blocks from our boat. We watched the Intern, starring Robert DeNiro and Anne Hathoway. Fun! Quiet night at town dock where we saw our first Asian carp. A dozen jumped out of the water right next to our boat. Wild!