Saturday September 26, 2015
We were at the bakery by 6:10am, and emerged later with lots of fresh baked goodies. We untied our lines and pushed off. Ottawa was the home of the founder of the Boy Scouts of America. We motored past his grave sight on the south side of Ottawa. We also passed some beautiful cliffs on our way to the Starved Rock Lock and Dam. We pulled up near the lock, hovering waiting for the lock, when we looked behind us, Cocomo, with Wayne and Vicki on board, were coming up behind us. We'd been traveling with them off and on since just south of Chicago. After going through the lock together, we compared notes on where to go for the night. they are a faster boat, so they took off ahead of us, to scope out possibilities.
We have learned not to make any plans set in stone. We had thought the Henry Harbor Marina was a possible place to stay. But we motored slowly by and saw a full capacity, with boats rafted up to each other on the crumbling old lock wall. Wayne and Vicki had thought Lower Henry Island would be a good place to anchor, but they ran aground twice trying to get in. We met by the island and decided we would go together to Hamm's Holiday Harbor Marina. It was really our only other option before it got dark. I called Mr Hamm. He had room he said. The channel coming in would be deep enough he said, as long as we stayed in the center between the channel markers. Ok! We are the slower boat, so we led the way to Hamm's in Rome, Illinois.
Sometimes a name is not appropriate any more. Maybe it would have been a fun place for a holiday...... many, many years ago. It was more like a nightmare place, where old riverboats go to die. We turned off the river, and started up the small channel to the marina, exactly as instructed. And we ran aground! Backed up, moved over a bit and ran aground again. This time we were stuck. We called Mr Hamm, and he sent two young men out in an outboard. Clearly they had rescued boats before as they pulled out a thick pad to cushion the point of contact. They pushed us until we were free, then followed us into the marina to help us tie up to a covered floating dock.
So how was our "holiday" at the marina? It was Saturday afternoon. The entertainment of the day was watching the marina crew try to rescue an old cabin cruiser that had sunk at the dock (failed bilge pump). They were pulling on the waterlogged vessel using a line tied to the bucket of an old excavator that was on a barge. Somehow I just knew that this was not the usual way to float a sunken boat. They dragged the boat to mid channel in the marina, and then the boat ran aground and would not move. It would be hard for other boats in the marina to get around it. Good thing that the marina was so decrepit that there were hardly any boats there. Boats that were in good working order, I should say. The marina was the final home of several old river paddlewheelers and assorted other ancient crafts. We were glad to have power at our slip, and we were happy to have docktails on Cocomo, followed by a pecan pie fest on Heron. We were glad to be off the river, in a safe protected place.