Day 5: Hennepin, IL to Peoria (Illinois Valley Yacht Club)

It just keeps getting warmer! Woke up in Hennepin to dense fog, couldn’t see 20 ft! So I took the dogs for a long walk through town, it was nice spending some time in a small rural town. I’m sure everyone knows each other in Hennepin, I got several confused glances as we walked down main street. One lady stopped and asked how I got a fox to be so tame on a leash (referring to Bosun) not many Basenjis in these parts…

The sun came out and the fog started to lift around 9:10. So we cast off the lines and started heading south. The Illinois Valley Yacht and Canoe Club - IVY Club was our destination for the night. Shortly after leaving the dock we were treated to a rare sight- a doe swimming across the river in front of us! I slowed down and set the autopilot so I could grab a video from the bow. I guess thats about as close to Dolphins as you get on the Illinois river… Easily one of the highlights of the trip so far.

The rest of the day was calm. we touched bottom briefly moving out of the way for a 3 wide x 3 deep tow. But this river is all mud, so after some wiggling and a hearty amount of liquid dinosaur juice the Yanmar wiggled us free.

Was feeling bored around lunch, so I whipped up some egg salad. Getting creative and cooking with the ingredients on board is a good way to keep yourself occupied as you motor along at 5.5 knots… I should have enough for a few more sandwiches this week. The $15 panini press from amazon has really been the MVP so far…

Got to the IVY club just before 4, enough time to catch the fuel dock. I left Chicago with a full tank (30 gallons) plus another 20 in jerry cans on deck, with 4 empty jerry cans as well. I took on 30 gallons at Harborside Marina just after joliet (filled the remaining jerry cans and topped off the boat tank). That was two days and roughly 92 miles ago. Curious to see how my fuel burn estimates have been (guestimating .7 gal/hr) I only took on 7 gallons here in Peoria! Which based on my NEBO logs means I’m actually only burning about .4 gallons an hour, which is great! This extends my cruising range much beyond what I had expected. Today I also crossed 2,000nm on Gypsy since I launched her back in April! That was a fun milestone to hit. I’ll have over 3,000 under her keel by the time we make Mobile. I’d wager your average Chicago Boater barely cracks 400nm in a season.

Sounds like the IVY Club is having a halloween party, since I’m missing Joe & Pam’s party back in Highland park, this one will have to do.

Happy Halloween from Peoria!