This is an exciting day as we are leaving Chicago for the IL River and will be passing under 31 bridges and doing 1 lock in the city. As we passed through Chicago, it looked like a skyscraper canyon with the river running though it. Since it was Monday morning, there was the bustle of trains, pedestrians, commercial boats and commuter boats all jostling to get people to work.
Just south of Chicago on the Sanitary Canal is a work zone of various plants with barges stored along the walls and planes from O’Hare saluting above. After 3 weeks on the wavy Great Lakes, it was a pleasure to have flat calm and to get a boost in speed from the river current.
We did not get a lot of barge traffic until 11am and AIS targeted where they were positioned and even supplied the name of the tug (“pusher”) so that we can contact them directly. We identify ourselves as a “pleasure vessel” which could have a lot of interpretations. We did have to wait as expected in the carp netted area. We proceeded to the Lockport lock which is a drop of 40 feet.
After boating and locking for 7 ½ hours, we pulled over to the Joliet wall where we tied up. What a treat to meet 4 other couples all doing the Loop. We talked for hours about our adventures so far and our plans for the future. This was a wonderful birthday for me as I was able to talk by cell to family and friends and begin some new friendships.
Just south of Chicago on the Sanitary Canal is a work zone of various plants with barges stored along the walls and planes from O’Hare saluting above. After 3 weeks on the wavy Great Lakes, it was a pleasure to have flat calm and to get a boost in speed from the river current.
We did not get a lot of barge traffic until 11am and AIS targeted where they were positioned and even supplied the name of the tug (“pusher”) so that we can contact them directly. We identify ourselves as a “pleasure vessel” which could have a lot of interpretations. We did have to wait as expected in the carp netted area. We proceeded to the Lockport lock which is a drop of 40 feet.
After boating and locking for 7 ½ hours, we pulled over to the Joliet wall where we tied up. What a treat to meet 4 other couples all doing the Loop. We talked for hours about our adventures so far and our plans for the future. This was a wonderful birthday for me as I was able to talk by cell to family and friends and begin some new friendships.
