Day 92 September 20, 2022

 

Day 92 Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Joliet Illinois to Ottawa Illinois, Heritage Harbor Marina

HOTTTT!!! Temperatures in the mid 90's, 105 degrees in the lock.

6:30am start, 6 boats arrived at Brandon Road Lock at 6:45.  Even though we had contacted the Lock and looked at the Army Corps Lock report (a que showing barge traffic wait time) we still waited for a barge to come out.  Finally out of lock at 08:25.  Not too bad in the scheme of things.

Depending on the size of the tow it can take 3 hours for it to lock through!

 Not Peru, New York!!

 Floating vacation homes!

We had a 3 lock day: Brandon Road, Dresdon and Marseilles.  We rafted each time with other boaters (PC = pleasure craft vs tugs)  At one time we were rafted 4 boats wide. The boat next to the wall does all the work so we had it easy. Out of Dresdon Lock at 10:55.  

Floating bollard in the lock.  On the Erie and Champlain Canals you hold on to lines to lock through.  On the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers you need to use the floating bollards.  You pass your line around the bollard at midship and float as the level water changes in the lock.

 We saw lots of eagles!!

  More pelicans!

Last lock, Marseilles -- we rafted with 2nd Chance.  

Rachel on 2nd Chance handling the line at the lock wall.   I could see her through her their starboard from our bow.

Water Witch and Blue Yonder were together, The Grand Wazoo was solo.  All of us in the lock with tug and barge Carol Ann.  We were out at 2:50p BUT the right side door was stuck..... The door did not open far enough for the barge to exit, we had to weave around it (two ninety degree turns) to get out. 

 Tow and barge ahead of us. 

 Check out the stuck door.  2nd Chance made it out!

Excitement over, on to Hammond Harbor Marina.  It is actually a resort with pool, 2 restaurants,, courtesy car, Ship's store with liquor (!), rental boats and vacation homes. We hurried to get tucked in, now 3:45pm.  Jeremy, the dock master gives a daily briefing on our river travel from Ottawa to Paducah,  The man knows his stuff!  He talked for 2.5 hours -- sharing best anchorages, fuel and marina stops, lock and barge etiquette.  Local knowledge regarding low water levels at anchorages and marinas as where to go/not go if late exiting a lock is invaluable. He covered the Illinois, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers.

Now 7:30pm: quick dinner then planning our next day with Laura and Joe. 

Day 91 September 19, 2022

Day 91 Monday September 19, 2022

Hammond Indiana to Joliet Illinois

7am start, engine off at 4pm. 9 hour travel. Sunny upper 70's.

 Sunrise start.

Today was filled with lots of barges  and bridges.  The Calumet River route is very industrial. We traveled the Calumet River for 30 miles before it joins the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and Chicago city route.  We chose this route due to bridge heights but still needed to request bridge openings.  

 Entrance to the Calumet River

  Our first barge encounter was at a bridge opening.  Made for a bit interesting pass in a narrow space.

  

We see more than wild life along the way!

The first lock on the Calumet is the O'Brien Lock.  Joe had to cut his line -- it was tied to the boat while he went inside the boat for a minute.  The water level in the lock started to drop and the tied line prevented his boat from lowering too.  We would do 2 locks today and 48 miles, traveling with Grand Wazoo.  7am start and out of the 1st lock at 9:48 - only 8 miles into our trip. Slow going....

After the Chicago and Calumet River routes we must clear the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Bridge - a hard 19.7 foot clearance.  If you can't make this then you are now doing the "Great U-Turn", instead of the Great Loop.  

Three miles later we passed through the Electric Fish Barrier, preventing the Asian Carp from entering Lake Michigan.  No fish jumping, no excitement.

In Lock #2, Lockport Lock we rafted to Grand Wazoo.  We were out at 3:30pm. We were relieved because the next bridges don't open from 4:15 to 5:15 during rush hour commuter traffic.  Nine boats traveled as a caravan through the 4 bridge lifts.  

The bridge tenders were grateful we were together so they could do 1 lift.  Grand Wazoo, Water Witch, 2nd Chance, Liming, After Hours, Crew Lounge, Blue Yonder, Hele Aku, and us all headed to tie to the Joliet Wall -- a free tie WITH power!! There was enough space for everyone even though 4 boats were already there.  No one had to raft together; a total of 15 boats by evening.

Joliet Wall has gotten a reputation although we didn't have any issues with security or mischief.  Supposedly locals have untied boats during the night.  Local police have increased their patrols. To prevent that we had double lines tied back to the boat and Jerry used a cable with a lock threaded through a cleat back to the boat.  We weren't the only ones!

Introductions were made at docktails.  Greg from 2nd Chance volunteered to contact the Brandon Road Lock at 6am to check barge traffic and wait time.  We are hoping for a 6:30am departure.

Day 88, 89 & 90 September 16 -18, 2022

Day 88 Friday September  16, 2022

More Chicago

DuSable is a very busy harbor.  We were awakened at midnight to what sounded like gunfire! We learned this morning it was fireworks, celebrating Mexican Independence Day.  Streets were closed and peaceful revelry abounded. Only problem was the lack of Uber transportation due to blocked traffic.

Today we watched as helicopters and water rescue drills took place from the nearby Coast Guard station. We Ubered to Chinatown with The Grand Wazoo and lunched at Minghin, complete with chopsticks.  Food was good but our expectations were higher. 

 

Next excitement was groceries at Mariano's.  Three stories of food with a wine bar, piano and a 3 piece band!  Not the cheapest place to provision but within walking distance to the boats.  

 Groceries put away we ended our day eating pie with Laura and Joe while chilling on their docks.

Day 89 Saturday September 17, 2022

Laura planned on shopping/exploring the Magnificent Mile; we stepped out on our own.  First job -- picking up our prescriptions at the nearby Walgreen's (1.1 mile walk).  We asked them for a refill transfer from our home pharmacy yesterday.  Easy, peasy.

Now off to Navy Pier for a ride on the Ferris wheel.  Great view of Chicago.  

 

 View of DuSable Marina. 

We walked the Riverwalk -- shops and bistros that line the Chicago River.  It is the same route taken by the Architectural Riverboat tour.  We enjoyed people watching with a beverage and snack at Tiny Tapp. 

Saturday mass at St. Peter's Church In the Loop.  Run by Franciscan Friars of the Sacred Heart Province it serves tourists and downtown workers, without traditional registered parishioners.  It has over 20 brothers/priests in residence.  Stories claim that the Church was spared during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 because parishioners gathered at the Church and prayed to St. Anthony.  Novenas to St. Anthony are held every Tuesday in gratitude and honor a promise made by the church pastor to spare St. Peter's from the fire.  The current building was built in 1953. They will celebrated175 years in October 2021. 

 

Lou Malnati's for dinner with a 2nd opportunity for deep dish pizza.  It did not disappoint.  Forty five minute wait turned into only 5, with lines out the door.  Excellent pizza and wings.  Pizza was saucier and tastier than Giordano's.  Leftovers too!!    

We covered a lot of ground  over 5.5 miles walking plus Uber rides to dinner and back.  We slept well.

Day 90 Sunday September 18, 2022

DuSable Harbor Chicago to Hammond Indiana

Although we traveled to a different state it really wasn't far away.  After much debate we decided to take the Calumet River route from Chicago to the inland rivers instead of through downtown Chicago. The city route has bridge restrictions that were questionable for our boat with the recent rains. It would have probably been okay but no worries with Calumet.  We had enjoyed the route when we did the tour so we wouldn't be missing anything.  We've been told it's difficult to enjoy the route when you are trying to drive the boat and navigate around the tour boat, pleasure craft and kayak congestion.

Leaving DuSable Harbor and passing Columbia Yacht Club's Abegwit.

 The Grand Wazoo coming through the mooring field in DuSable Harbor at Columbia Yacht Club

 

Hammond Harbour Marina is 12 miles from Chicago and would stage us 3 miles from the entrance of the Calumet River for the next day.  So we had a short 2.5 hour travel day with The Grand Wazoo.  We had a nice leisurely start at 10am with waves less than a foot and sunshine.

We fueled up for $5.09/gallon and headed to our slip where we met local boaters Vikki and Tony (a retired Chicago detective).  They invited us to join them for docktails.

Leftover pizza for dinner!

Day 86 & 87, September 14 and 15, 2022

Day 86 Wednesday September 14, 2022

Waukegan Illinois to CHICAGO, Illinois

We traveled with light winds, waves less than a foot, with a 7am start we were in Chicago by 11:45.  What a skyline, even with the haze!

Sunrise start

  Baha'i House Worship Temple.  It is one of 8 continental temples, the 2nd constructed and the oldest one still standing.  It is on the US National Register of Historic Places.

Arriving in Chicago

We cruised through the "Play Pen", an area by Navy Pier where local boaters hang out and party on the weekend.  It was quiet, with only 1 boat at anchor. 

Our goal was DuSable Harbor Marina, conveniently located near many of Chicago's attractions.  Luckily we already had our slip assignment since we couldn't reach the dock master by VHS radio or telephone.  Windy and narrow slips with BIG METAL pilons. We found our slip with the help of an online marina map.  Wish there had been a dockhand -- we hit/scraped on the portside bow going in.   UGH... Later examination revealed a long scratch that was really tape from the dock and only a small scratch from a staple sticking out of the dock.  PHEW!  Just another war wound.....

Marina reservations in Chicago are tough to get; you are often on a couple of waiting lists.  The Grand Wazoo is docked at the Columbia Yacht Club.  The Club House is an old ice breaker with docks attached. Tug Bussle is at Burnham Harbour awaiting visitors from home.

Finally registered (the dock master was all alone, the reason for no dock hands), we joined The Grand Wazoo to explore Navy Pier.  Navy Pier includes shopping, restaurants, tour boats, Chicago Children's Museum, and amusement rides.  

 Navy Pier

We tried out Chicago deep dish pizza and wings at Giordano's.  We sat next to 2 guys from Germany exploring Chicago then headed to Green Bay for the Packers/Bears football game!

From Navy Pier we returned to Columbia Yacht Club and checked out the ice breaker, Albegwit.  Originally in service as an icebreaker in New Brunswick in 1947 it became the yacht club in 1983.  An all volunteer crew of 61, including 6 Canadians who served on the ship, 16 merchant sailors who shared their expertise and 39 members of the yacht club brought the ship 2,000 miles from Nova Scotia to Chicago. The Albegwit means Cradled on the Waves. She is 372.6 ft long, 62 ft wide, weighing 7,600 tons. Abby steamed 1,145,585 miles.  She had 65 crew, one complete passenger train, 60 autos and 960 passengers.  Her hull is 1 and 1/4 inch thick and could break through ice 18 inches thick and travel at 16.5 knots.

Day 88 Thursday September 15, 2022

The Architectural Riverboat Tour with Laura and Joe was the adventure for the day.  Awesome experience enjoying the scenery while cruising through the center of Chicago.  Our guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining.  We learned a lot and didn't have to navigate all the boat traffic while to trying to see it all.  

The tour boat seems to just fit under the bridge!

 

 

We enjoyed lunch at the Rosebud and then walked through Millennium Park where we saw the Amphitheater, The Bean and then toured The Art Institute of Chicago.

The Bean reflects buildings around it.       

 

The amphitheater made from ribbons of steel.

Just a sample of the art at the Art Institute of Chicago.

 Collections include Van Gogh, Renoit, Picasso, Tiffany window, sculpture and photography.  We didn't have enough time or energy to see it all.

  

 

Such a full day.