September 9 - Ottawa to Hennepin

We stayed in port to have the bow thruster fixed. Arrangements were made for a 10:00 a.m. service call. Steve, our onboard mechanic and second in command, decided to first investigate for himself. He soon saw that the problem was with the solenoid. By the time the serviceman arrived, Steve was at a point of disassembling a spare thruster. The serviceman agreed with Steve's prognosis and before long Steve had the system operating. As one can well imagine, I gave Steve a promotion - he can now eat windmill cookies with coffee or beer.

Around noon time we were enroute once again. Our looper friends decided to spend the rest of the day in port. Most likely we will meet up with them at a later time. At mile marker 231 we came to Starved Rock Lock. Due to servicing of the lock doors, we had a 45 minute wait. At this lock we were not able to use the bollard and had to hold on to lines. Of course, it started to rain. The last boat to come in the lock was a rather strange looking vessel. It turned out to be 'My Jumbo" from Germany. The boat was designed in Scandinavia and built in Poland. Fred and Sigrid Freiwald from Korschenbroich (near Cologne) had this boat shipped to Florida. Already they spent time exploring some of the Caribbean Islands and are now on their loop. Since the boat travels much faster, it soon zipped past us and we did not see it again until Hennepin.

Our leisurely cruise took us southward via the twin towns of La Salle/Peru to Hennepin. Some of this afternoon's hilites included a number of majestic eagles with their great wing span. At Hennepin we were able to have complimentary dockage at the Visitors Dock. Sheli and Steve took a walk through this small town and Henk cleaned the boat. About the time Steve and Sheli returned, we had quite a downpour. When the rain subsided, we grilled brats. That along with Amish potato salad and rasberry ice cream for desert made it into a great meal. As we finished, Fred and Sigrid Freiwald stopped by. Since they needed to return to their boat for dinner, we did not have a great amount of time to talk.