Norman Township to Peoria, IL

Today, we had two more locks with floating ballards. I mention this because it is very different than the locks we did last summer. They are definitely easier, in the sense that we tie up and wait, rather than continuously feed the line through the cleat one way or the other. One lock had us tie on the port side, the next tie on starboard... AGAIN. 

Not much happening today. Hanging out, napping, showering, playing cards, working out on the boat deck to pass the time. 

There was an oncoming speed boat that had a giant fence up all around it. At first Ben said they must have a ton of kids they don't want to fall off, but then we realized it is a barrier to protect them from the carp. We were all on the lookout once again, but then I looked up ideal carp jumping conditions and found out we aren't likely to see them at all. Our boat doesn't have outboard engines, isn't fast, it has been sunny, and we've been traveling through wide open river for most of our time so far. 

At the last lock of the day (Peoria Lock & Dam), we had to wait for a bit for a northbound vessel to reattach his tow (60ish minute delay) and then we were able to lock through. No floating ballards this time, so we just used our line and fed it through our cleat. Made it through and anchored for the night quickly due to the current from the dam helping us set the anchor immediately.

Locks today: 3

Locks this summer: 8

Locks of the loop: 122