Entering the Chicago River downtown on our start to the Gulf Sept 2nd
Our first major Lock at Lockport IL (about a 24 foot drop)
The barges are giant. These were in the lock with us as we were lowered down
The Asian Carp are a real problem. They are trying to keep them from evading the Great Lakes, but it maybe too late. We saw five while walking along our boat dock in Chicago.
Monday Sept 2nd we left Chicago via the
Chicago River that flows right through the heart of downtown under dozens of
low bridges with towering skyscrapers on both side. It was amazing!
After the first 4 miles it turned to
industrial areas and the river was full of barges and tug boats. We had to get
into locks several times with them. They are loud and intimidating, but the
crews and operators were very nice to us.
The day was very long. Much longer than we
could have expected. We originally planned to stop at a seawall in Joliet IL,
but it looked unsafe. There was only one other boat there. We had been tagging
along with another boat for a while and they said they were not staying there
and they were going a little farther. Not knowing what a little far meant, we
decided to follow them. After another lock and miles on the river it was
getting dark and we didn't know how much further it was to the marina. Plus we
called the marina and the harbormaster said they were full however he would
check if someone wasn't using their slip and he would call us back. Well they
never called.
Now it was almost dark and the boat we were
following picked up their speed to beat the dark. We pushed our boat up to 20
MPH as well. They were still leaving us behind. After about 45 minutes of that
we couldn't see them, we didn’t know where we were, and it was so dark we could
not go on. (We were bending three rules big time; 1) Don't travel at night on
the river, 2) don’t travel too fast because of logs and debris, and 3) don’t
travel when you don't know where you are going. We were worried!! And learned a
good lesson. Thank goodness, one more bend in the river and we saw a little run
down marina. We thought it was abandon it was in such bad condition. We shouted
out and someone came out and said “sure we could get a slip”. We are looking at
the slips and they were sinking and broken and there were lily pads and ivy on
the docks. The man told us to go towards the back and he would meet us around
the corner. There was no room to avoid the lily pads and at one point we had to
drive through them were they were chopped up by other boats. The depth was hopefully
4 feet (our draft is 3'8"). We maneuvered around several tight corners and
got to the slip. The slip width was only about 10" wider than our beam and
there was a large sea ray sundancer we had to park next to. I somehow maneuvered in and everyone on the
dock was celebrating, especially us. Also, a fellow looper was on dock who we
had met in Chicago encouraging us into the slip which made us feel much better.
We were so worried our first night would be anchored taking turns looking for
barges and tugs. We covered 60 miles over an 11 hour day on the water which
included 3 1/2 hours waiting at locks (COMMERICAL BOATS GET PRIORITY OVER
PLEASURE CRAFT).
We broke out a bottle of Whiskey and had our
first drinks from the gift Dan and Mary gave us. They told us there would be a
day we would want that drink and this was that day (night).
 |
| Three Rivers Marina on our way out. (We came in the night before in almost dark conditions not knowing what to expect) |
This is the marina we saw in the dark the night before when we were desperate for a place to stay. Can you beleive we actually asked them if they had a slip for us? And they actually did and we were very grateful after 11 hours on the water from Chicago
This train bridge only allowed 10 1/2 feet of clearance. We had to radio on channel 16 for them to raise it so we could pass under it. It was built in 1915 and still operates
Entering the lock at Lockport IL
Going down the canal that was cut in solid limestone south of Chicago
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