Leaving The IVY was rather mystical in the dense fog.  We were traveling with “Coconuts” to spend the night on the hook.

    

The fog got progressively worse on the river……

    

    

It was gray and dismal passing through Peoria…..and we saw several barges on the side waiting for the water to get deeper – the river was down.

    

While Karen was at the wheel today she learned the importance of a tug’s backwash (turbulence).  When approaching one tug, the thrust in its backwash nearly turned her around.  Hang on!

Maintenance on this bridge appeared more like a circus tent to me.  They were painting the bridge.

    

We did have eagle sightings today – but it is so hard to capture the photo!

    

We arrived at LaGrange Lock and determined it would be our anchorage for the evening.  The lock master assured us it would be calm and serene beyond the dam – IT WAS NOT.  As we watched to be sure our anchors were holding, we were rocking and rolling, the wind was blowing us in the opposite direction of the current, and the carp were circling and jumping around us like sharks – hungry sharks.

At some point in the evening our cell phones went off with weather alerts.  After tuning our VHF radios to channel 6 for weather, it announced a tornado had been spotted north of us – and it was heading south.  Karen began searching for our “safe place”, just in case!

They had also opened the dam to release water, which caused an abundance of turbulence, so much so that we were not comfortable rafting the boats together.  So rather than having dinner together, we texted back and forth, took some photos, and promised Bru we would not eat his dessert.  The turbulence from the dam kept our boats swinging on the hook in all directions throughout the night – Ron was up at least 5 times.  Bru slept in his pilothouse.

    

    

The American Duchess arrived before sunset but it took until 9:00 p.m. for them to lock through.

    

And this is proof positive that our anchor held over night!