As we made camp the evening before, one of the workers flagged us down and informed us that the lock would be closing again on Wednesday morning at 7 am. We had decided to camp by the locks, so he told us to wake up early and call the lock so they could sneak through before they closed again.
So, I braved the early morning and woke up at 4 am and called the locks. The guy working was really friendly and informed me that plan had changed and the lock would remain open through the morning. Since it was still hours til dawn we went back to sleep and reset the alarm for 6:30. I then called them again and another worker told us we would be clear to go in one hour. We hopped up and broke camp as quick as possible to be there on time.
Unfortunately, as we were paddling up to the first barge in line we saw that he was already getting into position. I called again, right at 7:30, and the guy told us that we were too late and since no one had seen us they gave the barge the go-ahead. And so, our 20 minute locking was delayed almost 3 hours because of an impatient lock operator. Such is life, but Aaron got to hear exactly what I thought of the situation while we waited...
Eventually it was our turn and we made it in the lock. A very nice lock operator bought us a couple of sodas and chatted about the super Sandy storm out east. The kind gesture and talk put us in a better mood and we took off looking to make up some miles.
Aaron was still feeling pretty low, but stayed strong and we made it past the confluence with the Illinois river. We aimed for Slim island and camped around mile 216. The island was long and narrow and had steep foot high banks all down it. We finally found a place to haul the boat up and waded through the debris and trash to a pretty cozy campsite.
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