We left Ivy Club Marina in Peoria at daybreak. Our plans were in flux. We hoped to get to Beardstown or to an anchorage 2 miles below Beardstown. We had one lock to get through about one hour from the marina. Mike called the lock master and the Peoria lock was ready for us with a minimal wait to let an upstream barge lock through. We made good time and enjoyed the beauty of the Illinois river, lots of bald eagle spotting. The country side was mostly wooded or farm ground. We got to Beardstown with several hours of daylight to spare and decided to proceed through the LaGrange Lock. The lock master gave us the go ahead and a group of 8 of us locked through and anchored below the lock near the dam. We rafted to our buddies on Crustacean and had a pot luck dinner together.
We traveled 60.3 NM and traveled 8 hours and 59 minutes.
Above: completing our LAST lock of the loop!!!