We ended up staying in Seneca for three nights because the Mersailles Lock decided they were not taking PCs (pleasure craft) at all during the weekend. So we enjoyed our time off the water and took care of some work.

When we arrived Friday night I forgot to turn off the nav lights, and as a result my start battery was dead when I got ready to go to the fuel dock. When I tried to recharge it the thing would show full voltage but no current. Spring Brook Marina had a replacement battery for me and I was able to replace the old one in about an hour. I was so glad to have this problem while docked at a fully stocked boat parts store.

Over the weeekend several more looper boats arrived at the marina, so on Sunday we all gathered and made a plan for getting through the lock. We ended up leaving the marina at about 7:30am and we were soon floating at the top of the lock waiting our turn. We probably waited an hour, but then the lock through was easy.

One down, one to go. About ten miles further is the Starved Rock Lock. We arrived here before 11am and waited about 45 minutes before we were allowed to enter the lock. Soon we were through but it was after noon already and we wanted to make some progress. So we said goodbye to the other loop boats and continued for almost 50 miles.

We hoped to get to Peoria but it was getting dark and I didn’t feel like doing another docking in the dark at an unfamiliar marina. So when we saw a town dock with no boats, we decided to stop.

We were waked all night by passing barges and I didn’t get much sleep, so it may have been better to just go on in the dark.