Monday, September 17, 2018
At long last, we are heading through downtown Chicago. We have anticipated this as one of the
highlights of our trip and are not disappointed! We will pass under 63 bridges on the 43-mile
route to our first stop in Joliet IL. Most
bridges are in downtown Chicago. Our
boat stands almost 26 feet to the top of the antennas and, with the antennas
hinged down, 17’ 7” to the canvas top.
The lowest bridge along our route which does not open is 17’ 9” – way to
close for comfort – and the clearance varies with the water level in the
Chicago River, too. So Robert has spent
countless hours preparing the boat for this day. He has removed our canvas top and laid the
very heavy fiberglass arch over onto supports he built for this purpose. Fortunately the arch has a hinge designed
just for this situation. Preparations
are complicated by thick clusters of wiring that run through the arch to power
instruments on top of the arch (radar, communications antennas, lights, etc.). He needs to make sure the wires don’t break
when the arch is laid over. Somehow neither of us managed to take a picture of the boat prepped for Chicago!
We are leaving early with our friends on Esther Girl. We depart the marina and circle to the other
side of the breakwater to enter the Chicago Lock, then into the Chicago
River. The lock lowers us about 3 feet
and forces the Chicago River to flow south, rather than into Lake
Michigan. Our first bridge lies ahead.
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| Entering Chicago River |
We understand the river was once very industrial and not a nice
place to be. Today a Riverwalk has been
added along the river’s edge with tree-lined walkways.
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| Chicago River |
Tour boats dock along the Riverwalk, waiting to take
passengers on river tours.
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| Chicago River |
Filled with pedestrians and bikes, numerous bars and restaurants
beckon locals and tourists alike.
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| Chicago River |
Newer buildings are designed to incorporate the Riverwalk.
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| Chicago River |
Every downtown street crosses the river by bridge.
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| Chicago River |
Amtrak trains use tracks that run beneath all the buildings
on this stretch of river.
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| Chicago River |
Esther Girl
follows behind us.
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| Chicago River |
And then we grind to a halt at this Amtrak bridge with a
closed clearance of 10 feet! It is now
9:30 but is still down, waiting for rush hour trains to clear. We are told by the bridge tender that she
will raise the bridge as soon as possible.
Other looper boats are stacked up waiting to pass and we fall in at the
end of the queue.
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| Amtrak Bridge, Chicago River |
Thirty minutes later the bridge is raised and we are on our
way again. We are now past downtown Chicago
and enter a very industrial stretch.
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| Chicago River |
Finally we approach “the” lowest bridge. It was once operational but no longer opens.
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| CSX Chessie Railroad Bridge, Chicago River |
NOT a comfortable view!
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| CSX Chessie Railroad Bridge, Chicago River |
WE MADE IT!!!
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| CSX Chessie Railroad Bridge, Chicago River |
We are now in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, a
man-made channel parallel to the Chicago River.
We are traveling with the group of looper boats that were delayed at the
Amtrak bridge.
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| Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal |
This section of the Canal was cut through layered limestone.
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| Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal |
We pass a mineral loading facility – possibly salt?
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| Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal |
By 3 pm we have passed through 1 lock, an easy 50-foot drop,
and are tied up along a wall in Joliet IL. We are now on the Des Plaines River. The city of Joliet provides free electric
hookups and a small park beside the wall. We are now a group of 12 boats, all
loopers. Docktails ensue!
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| Joliet IL |
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
All but 1 of the 12 boats are heading south again
today. We have 3 locks to traverse and
we have coordinated locking all 11 of us through together in an effort to avoid
delays waiting for commercial tows (with barges). We have called the first lock and are told to
arrive by 7, so we get a (too early) start.
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| Des Plaines River |
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| Des Plaines River |
By the time we get to the second lock, we have the drill
down. We tie off to the lock wall, then Esther Girl and another boat raft (tie
off) to our boat. Dog “Bee” waits
patiently on Esther Girl.
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| Esther Girl in Dresden Island Lock |
Two boats are tied off in front of us.
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| Dresden Island Lock |
Another raft of 3 boats ties off behind us and we wait for
the rest of the boats to arrive at the lock.
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| Dresden Island Lock |
We are on our way again, enjoying the scenery.
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| Des Plaines River |
We stop for the night at a small marina in Ottawa IL. Our group of boats is beginning to split up
with some going further and some, anchoring out.
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
We pass through occasional limestone cuts and are beginning
to see Bald eagles keeping watch from the tallest trees along the river.
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| Illinois River |
We see lots of undeveloped areas, interspersed with industrial
loading facilities, as we transit through the river’s floodplain.
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| Illinois River |
We tie up for the night at the remains of an old lock
wall. This is makeshift at best with
rusty rings hammered into the rock as our only place to secure lines. We are supposed to be able to plug into
power but can’t get it to work so we run the generator all night. Hot day so we need the AC. Still, this is better than trying to anchor
along this swift river with lots of floating debris and commercial traffic.
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| Old lock wall, Henry Harbor IL |
Thursday, September 20, 2018
We get an early start, traveling alone for once. We soon see large flocks of White Pelicans
along the river’s edge. These birds
winter in Port Aransas, where we once lived, so it is nice to see where they
spend summers.
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| White pelicans, Illinois River |
By noon we pass Peoria IL.
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| Peoria IL |
Just south of Peoria we stop at Kuchie’s on the Water, a
restaurant with dock space for several boats right on the river. Kuchie’s doesn’t look like much but, with few
options to stop for the night on this stretch of the river, we are grateful to
find this place. We arrive in time for a
late lunch and meet the owners of another looper boat. We are thankful that no high winds are
expected overnight, since the dock looks barely adequate to secure one boat, let alone two large heavy ones.
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| Kuchie's on the Water, Creve Coeur IL |
Friday, September 21, 2018
We are barely a mile from our next lock so before we leave
our dock, we call the lock to see if we will have to wait for commercial
traffic before locking down. We learn
the lock is expecting several pleasure craft, likely other looper boats, so we
time leaving to minimize our wait at the lock.
Sure enough, we lock up as a group of 8 and we are back with the “herd”.
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| Illinois River |
We see more eagles today.
This one was sitting along the riverbank.
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| Bald eagle, Illinois River |
By 5 pm, we are tied up to one of the most unique stops of
our journey. Logsdon Tug Service
operates tug boats (“tows”) and they keep several barges tied off along the
river’s edge to use as dock space for their tows. They are nice enough to allow pleasure craft
to tie to their barges for the night when there is space available. This stretch of the river has no marinas and
few safe anchorages, so most pleasure craft end up here.
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| Logsdon Tug Service, Beardstown IL |
So here we are, tied up to a tug boat with is tied to a
barge. To get to shore, we must walk
across the deck of the tug, across the barge, and up the rusty metal stairs
over a flood barrier. Note the flood
gauge at the base of the stairs. It tops
out at 31 feet! The current reading is
just under 10 feet.
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| Logsdon Tug Service, Beardstown IL |
Just before dark, a final boat arrives and asks to raft to
us since no space is available along the barges. Once tied off, the boaters must climb over
their rail and walk across our back deck to get to shore (via the tug and barge
and metal stairs). Wow! This is crazy!
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| Logsdon Tug Service, Beardstown IL |
We share a spectacular sunset with our new best friends.
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| Sunset, Logsdon Tug Service, Beardstown IL |
Saturday, September 22, 2018
Our next lock is an hour from our overnight stop so we
depart Logsdon as a group and lock through together. We are a group of 9 and are getting to be old
pros tying off and rafting as needed along the lock walls.
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| LaGrange Lock, Illinois River |
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| LaGrange Lock, Illinois River |
Eagles, eagles everywhere.
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| Bald eagles, Illinois River |
We pass occasional industrial facilities …
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| Illinois River |
… but see mostly undisturbed scenery. We assume the river’s floodplain makes most
riverfront land undevelopable.
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| Illinois River |
We wait about 20 minutes for a train to cross this bridge
before the bridge tender will open it for us.
Seems like an eternity, circling and circling, waiting …
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| Illinois River Gateway Western Railroad Bridge |
Finally the train crosses, the bridge is raised and we are on our way. We enjoy the beautiful scenery but must be
ever mindful of debris floating with the current. Numerous logs and entire trees float by and
must be dodged lest we tear up our props.
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| Illinois River |
We stop for the night at another restaurant, Mel’s
Riverdock. It’s not much to look at but
the food was great! A few other boats
have joined us here, but our big group has scattered to other stops.
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| Mel's Riverdock, Hardin IL |
Late in the day, two lady kayakers paddle by. They are traveling with camping gear and
appear to be on a multi-day trip. Very impressive!
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| Illinois River |
A lovely sunset ends our day.
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| Sunset, Mel's Riverdock, Illinois River |
Sunday, September 23, 2018
We have a short run today, just 21 miles, to Grafton IL and
our last day on the Illinois River. We
continue to enjoy the scenery and are beginning to see rocky outcrops and
higher terrain.
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| Illinois River |
We see signs of civilization as we approach a more populated
area.
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| Illinois River |
As we turn into our marina, we catch a glimpse of the
Mississippi River. We are nearing the
confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi.
Lots of current is swirling through this gap, making our entry to our
marina difficult.
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| Cut to Mississippi River from Illinois River |
At last we enter Grafton Harbor marina for a 2-night stay
and much needed break.
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| Grafton Harbor IL |
