Day 2 and we're in Peoria, IL. We went about 70 miles today.... rain this morning but nice sunny and seventies this afternoon. The Illinois River is still up about 4 to 6 ft. from recent rains, which doesn't impede cruising at all, but it sure helps to get into the very shallow marinas at Peoria.

We had one mechanical problem today. I smelled raw diesel fuel in the starboard engine room and found that a fuel pressure sensor was dripping a drop per minute when the engine was running. We were only about an hour from Peoria, so we just went on in with a rag under the drip (diesel fuel does not evaporate and ignite easily like gasoline). I recalled a recent Hatteras Owner's Forum thread indicating you could just replace it with a little pipe plug. Incredibly, I had two of the right size brass pipe plugs in my little bag of spare parts and replaced the bad sensor with a pipe plug. In 1978, that sensor was used to turn on the engine hour meters whenever the engine runs and also to shut down the original battery charger when the engines were running. However, I have digital engine hour meters that replaced the old ones, and I just replaced the battery charger with one that does not require the fuel pressure sensor, so the switch that died was no longer needed. Sometime on this trip, I'll replace the port engine sensor with a brass plug also.

We've gone about 106 miles since we filled up with fuel before the trip. It took 98 gallons of diesel fuel to fill up today, so we're going about 9 knots and getting a little over one MPG, which is typical for this boat. We could get better mileage going 6 to 7 knots, but it just tales too much time.

We plan to go halfway to Saint Louis tomorrow, either anchoring out on the Illinois or tying up to a barge on the banks at Bairdstown, IL.