Today took us from Ottawa to Peoria, Illinois. The trip was uneventful. Kirk took his turn at the helm. Ross looks a bit terrorized, but Kirk did fine.
We had to wait at the first lock of the day for a towboat to lock through. We were allowed to tie up at a mooring cell while we waited. Normally only barges are allowed to do this. As you can see by the humongous size of the lines attached to the cleat on the cell, this set up really isn’t for a boat like ours. It was really nice though to be tied up for an hour rather than having to drive around and wait.
When we bought the ODDYSEA she had about 400 hours on her. Today we turned over to 2000. No one can say we haven't used our boat.
The area of the river we are traveling is known for lots of Asian Carp. This species was imported from China back in the 70’s to clean algae from ponds used in commercial fish farming. A flood or two later and enough of them were loose in the river system to cause great problems.
The nearby town of Bath has what they call the Redneck Fishing Tournament each year. Looks like a blast! This will be the 8th year for it. There are also awards for costumes. No fish poles are allowed. Only fishing nets. Helmets of any kind are recommended! There is an entry fee and the boat that catches the most Asian carp in 4 heats of 2 hours each wins over a grand. Here’s a link if you care to check it out. The videos are great. Click Here I see that this year's event is in early August and we still have time to register. Hmm, I wonder where those old snowmobile helmets of ours are?
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