Travel Day 14 The Illinois River Freebird on The Great Loop

[@Mach11976]

When I got out of the Navy in 1981 I was hired off the Lockwall at L&D 18 on the Upper Mississippi near Burlington Iowa. Did a lot of trips on all Midwest inland waterways, best 9 years of my life. Boating was in my blood from a early age, my Father Bill Felt built Sea Star, Mach 1 and Envision Boats in Monmouth Illinois for 37 years. Great video and enjoy.

[@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop]

Thanks for your service. Ed's Dad was in the Navy and he always supported us in our boating adventures. Thanks for watching!

[@EdK-pe8vb]

Great video of deer swimming across Illinois River in last 3 minutes of this video. 🦌

[@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop]

Thanks 👍

[@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop]

That is a cool video!

[@tptwk]

I just noticed your playlist is ending at day15. Are there more coming? I've been binge watching LOL. How do you know the names of the barge when you call them on the radio? Also, how do I look up the "passing on the 1" lingo. It's fascinating.

[@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop]

We are still traveling and each video takes a lot of hours to put together. My wife does the editing. Our goal is to put one out every week. Glad you are enjoying the videos! Thanks for telling us. We try to use binoculars to see the tow's name, but if we can't we call them by "Tow at Mile Marker ..." ... is Where we see them on navigation. Search on passing tows or how to pass a tow and you can find information about it. Some Tow Captains have commented on our videos with tips on how to understand the" Lingo"

[@rogerbaker-vo1cd]

Hi gang, what do you do in a bad storm, just slow down and trudge thru ?

[@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop]

Hi Roger, If its bad enough we can pull over and put the anchor down but most of the time we can drive indoors in the pilot house. We have windshield wipers so it's not much different then a car. It's the strong winds that are the biggest problem with a tall boat. They can push you around.

[@rogerbaker-vo1cd]

@@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop yes I was watching that, what kind of power do you have, two deisels I'm sure ?

[@rogerbaker-vo1cd]

Those barges are huge, ever have issues with room or draft when their going by ?

[@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop]

Freebird is powered by Volvo diesel engines 12 liters each and 675 horsepower each. 🛥

[@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop]

We have had to pass very close on occasion. Most of the time we have plenty of room. We made a video named “Close Pass” that shows some of the barge situations we’ve encountered.

[@burrl48]

when was this footage shot? im from Marseilles ,went to Peoria 2 weeks ago in the boat. The water wasn't that high. Peoria lock pool always gets high water because i think the upper dams dump their water on them . lol Im just wondering if thats what it looks like down there now

[@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop]

We travelled in this video on May 24, 2024. The water levels were high through all the rivers coming up this year. Do you go to Peoria for fun or are you on the loop?