Travel Day 48 to Mel's Riverfront Restaurant, Hardin, IL over 1800 NM

It was an easy but long travel day. We passed an interesting dredge and had to wait for a tow pushing several barges but it was not a bad ride.

Dredge Potter was in the middle of the river and swung his boom out of the way for us. After that we had to slow up for a tow because he didn't want to meet us at the bend. The river is very windy in this part. There are bends and there are wide open areas. It is just beautiful.

After having the Hardin Lift bridge go up for us, we saw the dock for Mel's. It was empty except for a little bow rider that had passed us earlier. Hal and I docked first. He headed upriver to keep the stern clear of any debris that might float down. As he approached the dock I got ready to lasso the cleat from the bow. It took two to three times but I did it, then quickly ran down and did the same for the stern cleat. As we got set, a dockhand came down and helped New Hope, then Anna Mae, then Jackpot, and finally Cashelmara. While we were still out on the dock, Near Miss came and tied up along with Victoria. We had never met either of the couples, although our friends had met them earlier in their travels.

We all had dinner at Mel's and some folks went for breakfast in the morning. I was fasting so declined to eat but Hal brought me back sausage gravy and biscuits for my break fast dinner. I made bagels and lox to break fast of Yom Kippur. They came out great.