Rivers here we come! We say good bye to Lake Michigan and also Jim\u2019s Joy as they are going to spend a few days here exploring Chicago. \n\t\t
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\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n \u00a0\u00a0 Just outside the Hammond Marina we enter the Calumet Breakwater and are soon in the Calumet River. This area is very industrialized.\u00a0 We lower all of our antennas and wind generator to get under the many bridges.\u00a0 With the water levels down a good foot we are able to sneak under all but one of the bridges without an opening.\u00a0 We are soon to our first lock, The Thomas O\u2019Brien, where we have no wait and only a 2 ft. drop. \n\t\t\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n \u00a0 The Calumet Sag Channel takes us 30 miles to the junction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. This canal connects ship traffic with the inland rivers and also takes all the sanitary waste from Chicago south so that it does not pollute Lake Michigan.\u00a0 Boats coming from the downtown Chicago route join us at this intersection.\u00a0 We could not take the Chicago\u00a0 route due to our height of 19 ft.\u00a0 and low fixed bridges of 17\u2019. \n\t\t\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n \u00a0 The next 12 miles of are known as \u201cThe Twelve Miles of Hell\u201d due to the narrow canal and congested barge traffic in this area. Our lowest bridge of the entire loop is also on this section.\u00a0 It is fixed with a published clearance of 19 ft. \n\t\t\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n \u00a0 Due to the low water levels we are able to clear this without taking down our arch and still have almost a foot to spare.\u00a0 Next up was our crossing of the electronic fish barrier that has been installed underwater to prevent the Asian Carp from entering the Great Lakes.\u00a0 Other than a lot of warning signs the crossing was uneventful. Being a Sunday, we only pass one barge through this narrow section of\u00a0 canal. \n\t\t\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n \u00a0 Our second lock of the day, Lockport Lock, has the largest drop of any Illinois locks at 39 feet.\u00a0 We have a 30 minute wait here while the chamber fills with water.\u00a0 50 million gallons of water flush through this lock with each lockage.\u00a0 This lock thru goes well and we are soon on our way to Joliet where we stop for the night.\u00a0 The town provides free dockage and power along the rough concrete town wall.\u00a0 We are the only boat here.<\/p>\nTotal Miles Today: 49<\/p>\n
Total Miles Year to Date: 1007<\/p>\n
Day 2 Joliet to Ottawa<\/strong>:<\/p>\n \u00a0Before leaving the docks at Joliet this morning, we call the Brandon Road lockmaster to see what the wait status at this lock will be. \n\t\t \u00a0Total Miles Today: 45<\/p>\n Total Miles Year to Date: 1052<\/p>\n Day 3 & 4: Ottawa, IL<\/strong>:<\/p>\n Well we can\u2019t go anywhere for the next two days. \n\t\t Day 5: Ottawa to Peoria<\/strong>:<\/p>\n A call to the lock downstream first thing this morning confirms that the lock is back in operation and the lockmaster tells us to come on down. We make a slow exit out of the shallow harbor.\u00a0 The water levels seem to have risen 3\/10 ft. and we never touch bottom.\u00a0 Harbor Lady, the big power boat who hit coming in yesterday, is up and calls us on the VHF asking what we see for depths.\u00a0 Like us, he is also worried about getting out.\u00a0 Once out in the channel the river is very pretty this morning with a light fog hanging low over the water.\u00a0 We are back in the one and two whistle language of the tows.\u00a0 We encounter our first up bound barge just after leaving. \n\t\t \u00a0Total Miles Traveled Today: 79<\/p>\n Total Miles Year to Date: 1131<\/p>\n Day 6: Peoria to Beardstown, IL <\/strong><\/p>\n Our overnight stay at the Peoria docks went well\u2026we didn\u2019t get kicked off the docks during the night which was a good thing.\u00a0 We are however underway at first light this morning before things get busy on the waterfront.\u00a0 The Peoria Lock is just five miles downstream.\u00a0 We are again lucky with only a 15 minute wait while the chamber is filled.\u00a0 We have an easy 10 ft. drop and are on our way.\u00a0 Outside the lock we find this section of the Illinois to be two foot lower than normal as we get closer to the Mississippi.\u00a0 We have a very narrow channel with little room for error. \n\t\t Total Miles Traveled Today: 74<\/p>\n \u00a0Total Miles Year to Date: 1205<\/p>\n Day 7: Beardstown to Mel\u2019s River Dock<\/strong>:<\/p>\n We are back underway at first light.\u00a0 Our only lock for today is 8 miles downstream at LaGrange.\u00a0 Miller Time joins us as we enter the lock. \n\t\t \u00a0Total Miles Traveled Today: 67<\/p>\n Total Miles Year to Date: 1272<\/p>\n Day 8: Hardin, IL to Alton, IL:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0It is pea soup out on the river this morning with dense thick fog.\u00a0 \n\t\t\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n \u00a0 We are only 2 miles from the lock and don\u2019t want to untie if there is a long wait.\u00a0 He tells us to \u201ccome on\u201d\u00a0 as there is one barge in the lock now and then he will get us through.\u00a0 After a 20 minute wait, we have an easy 34 foot lockdown.\u00a0 Fifteen miles downstream we approach our second lock of the day, Dresden Island Lock.\u00a0 There is a barge going in the lock when we arrive.\u00a0 We radio the lockmaster to let him know we are here and he tells us to stand-by but it will be about a two hour wait. The barge ahead of us has to split his load into two lockages.\u00a0 Well\u2026 the 2 hour wait turns into 3 \u00bd hours.\u00a0 Just as we are about to enter the lock another barge appears behind us.\u00a0 Luckily we are allowed to lock thru before him. \n\t\t\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n \u00a0 The lock master could have made us wait, as commercial vessels have priority over pleasure craft. Once in the lock we learned that he locked us thru instead of the barge because there is another barge downstream waiting to lock upstream.\u00a0 Had he locked the barge thru there would not have been room for the two barges to pass each other on the downstream side.\u00a0 Lucky for us!\u00a0 This lock requires us to do a port side tie.\u00a0 Our boat does not maneuver\u00a0 well on that side and we also don\u2019t have a walk way like on the starboard, so docking is always more difficult.\u00a0 We manage to secure the floating bollard without much trouble and have an easy lock down.\u00a0\u00a0 From there we have a nice trip along the Illinois River to our third and final lock of the day at Marseilles.\u00a0 Our wait here is only about 20 minutes while the chamber is filled.\u00a0 This is good because we are now racing some severe thunder storms hoping to get docked before they arrive.\u00a0 Our stop for the evening is only a few miles downstream of the lock at Heritage Harbor Marina.\u00a0 We had called ahead to check on depths at the entrance to the marina as we had heard from another boater that the entrance was shoaling in.\u00a0 We were assured that there should be no problem for our 5\u2019 draft but to just take it slow.\u00a0 Slow we went as our depth alarm started screaming at us.\u00a0 We ended up bumping the bottom twice and saw one reading of 4\u2019 7\u201d.\u00a0 Ouch\u2026but once in the harbor our depths increase and we have 6-7 ft.\u00a0 at our slip.\u00a0 Today was a long day.\u00a0 We only traveled 45 miles but it took us over 9 hours and three locks.\u00a0 We are just glad to be here.<\/p>\n\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n \u00a0 The Starved Rock Lock, just 10 miles downstream, is closed for maintenance work.\u00a0 The marina here is very nice so it is not too bad a place to be stuck.\u00a0 The marina has a courtesy car which we used to do some grocery shopping. We did find a nice bike path along the I & M Canal.\u00a0 This bike trail goes for 95 miles along the Illinois River.\u00a0 We enjoyed a 20 mile bike ride south to Utica.\u00a0 Two other\u00a0 south bound boaters came in to the marina also.\u00a0 One 60′ boat touched bottom at the entrance.\u00a0 He hailed the marina on the VHF and they came out to help him in.\u00a0 When we touch bottom it is just with our keel as our prop is protected\u00a0 up above the keel.\u00a0 Most of the power boats have exposed props and rudders which makes hitting something much more serious.\u00a0 This boater will have the marina tow him out to the channel when he leaves.\u00a0 We did take the dinghy out today to sound the depths.\u00a0 We plotted the deepest area and hopefully we can get out without hitting anything.\u00a0 There is one 4\u20197 spot that will be hard to avoid.\u00a0 We are crossing our fingers that the water doesn\u2019t go down any in the next day.\u00a0 Not sure what we would do if that happened.\u00a0 With barely enough depth now, we are eager to get out as soon as possible.\u00a0 We just have to wait on the lock to open.\u00a0 Hopefully their repair will go as scheduled and we can get underway tomorrow.\u00a0 We also learned today that Lock #27 on the Mississippi is now closed due to a collapsed wall.\u00a0 We still have over a week before reaching that lock so hopefully it will be up and running by then.<\/p>\n\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n \u00a0 We always radio the barges and ask which side they would like us to pass.\u00a0 One whistle and we move to our starboard side\u2026.two whistles and we move to our port side.\u00a0 Our first and only lock for today, Starved Rock Lock, is 10 miles downstream.\u00a0 Here we have an hour wait while a barged is locked upstream.\u00a0 We lock thru with Harbor Lady and two other sailboats.\u00a0 Just after leaving the lock, we let Harbor Lady pass us as she can travel much faster.\u00a0 Boy does this cause a lot of commotion in the water.\u00a0 The jumping Asian Carp make their initial appearance and are jumping like crazy. \n\t\t\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n \u00a0 There seems to be hundreds of these silver two foot torpedoes.\u00a0 The river is also alive with avian wildlife.\u00a0 We saw hundreds of white pelicans as they seemed to be feeding on these Asian Carp.\u00a0 The tree lined banks are home to several pairs of bald eagles.\u00a0 We find traveling down this section of the Illinois River to be very enjoyable. Our Kadey-Krogen made us proud today while passing one of the barges. \n\t\t\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n \u00a0 After hailing the M\/V Gene Herde, who is pushing 12 barges, on the VHF asking if we could pass, he tells us \u201cI\u2019ll see you on the two\u201d.\u00a0 Just as we were midstream in the overtaking, he hailed us again on the VHF.\u00a0 Our hearts jumped as we thought maybe we were doing something wrong.\u00a0 Did we get our port and starboard whistles confused?\u00a0\u00a0 Well it turned out he was calling to ask about our boat.\u00a0 He thought she was very good looking!\u00a0 We consider that quite a compliment from these experienced and gruff tug captains.\u00a0 Krogen does put a lot of effort in their design and style of boats and it shows. Our good fortunes continued as we reached Peoria, IL.\u00a0 The docks along the downtown waterfront are really our only option for stopping tonight.\u00a0 All of the nearby marinas are too shallow for us.\u00a0 Not sure if these docks are large enough to accommodate us, we eagerly scan the shoreline with the binoculars as we approach.\u00a0 It turns out there are only two places for us to fit.\u00a0 One is taken but luckily for us there is one spot still open.\u00a0 There are signs posted along the docks stating \u201cNo Overnight dockage- Day use Only\u201d.\u00a0 In talking with other boaters ahead of us, they all stopped here with no problem.\u00a0 We just hope our luck holds out and no one kicks us off during the night. \n\t\t\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n <\/p>\n\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n Even in the channel our depths are only 11 ft.\u00a0 Just ahead we catch up with the barge \u201cGene Herde\u201d again.\u00a0 We can\u2019t seem to get away from them.\u00a0 They passed us last night while we were asleep in Peoria but they only travel about 3.5 mph so we keep leapfrogging each other.\u00a0 They tell us it is O.K. to come around but to be careful and stay as close as possible to them.\u00a0 It is shallow just off the green cans, there is a snag in the water, and one of the buoys is out of place.\u00a0 Seeing the situation ahead, we quickly back off and let them know we will wait for a better place to pass.\u00a0 Once on the straightaway, we make our pass with only 10 feet between us and the 12 barges and shallow depths of 9 ft.\u00a0 It is a nail biter as we work our way around them.\u00a0 During the day we have several more tows that we navigate past.\u00a0 Why do they always seem to occur when we are going around a narrow shallow bend in the river\u00a0 and never when we are on the long wide straight stretches of river? \n\t\t\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n \u00a0 Late afternoon brings us to the Lodgston Barge Service which is our home for the night.\u00a0 We tie along side their crane barge.\u00a0 This family operates six tugs that move grain and coal barges around the Beardstown area.\u00a0 We are fortunate that they allow pleasure craft to tie here overnight as there are no marinas or other dock facilities for many miles.\u00a0 At $1.00 ft. with no water or electricity it is still a good deal.\u00a0 The Hilton it is not but it does provide a safe secure place to get off the river. \n\t\t\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n \u00a0 We are joined this evening by M\/V Miller Time, a 60 ft. Viking.\u00a0 We first met Phil and Sandy this summer while in Harbor Springs, MI.\u00a0 They had told us then of their plans to start the loop this fall.\u00a0 Traveling with them is another boater couple from Michigan whom we had also met while on Mackinac Island.\u00a0 What a small world it is.\u00a0 We have a great dinner with them at a local diner in Beardstown.<\/p>\n\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n \u00a0 The 30k gusting winds make it difficult tying to the lock wall.\u00a0 After a 7 ft. drop, we say good-bye to Miller Time as they can travel a lot faster than us.\u00a0 Our day is busy as we encounter four north bound tows in just a five mile stretch.\u00a0 Part of our navigation system onboard is AIS which stands for Automated Information Signal.\u00a0 Each of the tows broadcast their name, position, and speed onto our navigational screen.\u00a0 This is a valuable tool\u00a0 giving us advanced notice of meeting the barges.\u00a0 With the narrow twisty river, it is nice not to have a\u00a0 surprise encounter with one of these big guys.\u00a0 We can set up our passing with them several miles in advance. At mile 61 we reach the farthest west of any point on the Great Loop route and also the farthest west we have ever traveled in IT.\u00a0 Passing under the Norfolk and Western RR Bridge we are at W 90.38.766 longitude. From this point onward, we will be traveling southeasterly on the Great Loop Route.\u00a0 After a busy morning on the river, this afternoon we find a completely different waterway.\u00a0 For the next 35 miles we never see another boat. \n\t\t\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n \u00a0 We are in rural America with nothing but farmland on both sides of the river banks.\u00a0 Our stop this evening is in the small town of Hardin, IL at Mel\u2019s Illinois River Dock Restaurant.\u00a0 For $25 a night the restaurant allows boaters to tie along their 200 ft. floating dock.\u00a0 Jeff returns from checking in at the restaurant with a whole Bumble Berry pie (blueberries, blackberries, and boysenberries). \n\t\t\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n \u00a0 Boy does it look good.\u00a0 The restaurant also has a very good reputation among boaters for their home cooked meals.\u00a0 Another boater from Arkansas joins us this evening and we enjoy a great dinner with them at the restaurant.\u00a0 Jeff\u2019s 2\u201d thick pork chop and my beef brisket were some of the best meals we have had on the trip so far.\u00a0 Mel\u2019s is a great stop! \n\t\t\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n <\/p>\n\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n We aren\u2019t going anywhere for a while.\u00a0 Luckily today is a short travel day with no locks so there is no rush.\u00a0 The fog lifts about 10:00 AM and we are underway. \n\t\t\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n \u00a0 This section of the river is very enjoyable as we meander around the wide and deep bends. It reminds us a lot of the Tennessee River. \n\t\t