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| Riva wins the best dog award today for bladder control She was aboard for 15 hours |
Shortly after waking up we called Marseilles Lock and Dam to inquire if they had any long delays since we were only a couple of miles downriver from it. They did not have any commercial or other traffic at the time so we fairly quickly readied the boat and shoved off at 6:45 am. We have a medium distance (45 miles) but long duration day planned today. We will be traversing three locks, the last of which is Brandon Rd Lock and Dam. Because of ongoing construction maintenance on that lock there are restrictions to when boats can go through. No boats, commercial or recreational, can lock through between 6am and 6pm. Recreational boats only get one opportunity at 6pm and one opportunity at 6am so we had to be up the the lock and waiting no later than 5:30pm to get into their queue.
Just as we were told by the lock master we cruised right into the chamber at Marseilles for a quick and efficient lock up river. Upon exiting we continued our slow and easy pace heading toward our second lock of the day.
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| Worlds best yogurt! Add some granola and is a delish, hearty breakfast Thanks for the turn on Mark and Pam!
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After a couple of hours we were within about 8 miles of the next lock and we called ahead to them to inquire about any delays. We were instructed that there is a barge in front of us a couple of miles and if we could pass him and get there quick enough he would lock us down ahead of him, otherwise it would be a 2-3 hour wait. We kicked up the speed to 20 mph and quickly overtook the slow moving barge. The lock master had the chamber prepared for us and we received a quick lift up to the next river pool.
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The Illinois River Lock and Dams are operated and maintained by the Army Corp of Engineers
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As we left Heritage Harbor and made it up through the first lock the landscape of the river was that of almost a marshy lake. There are huge swaths along the shoreline of lilly pads with large yellow flowers adorning them. This is yet another area that would be a bird watchers paradise as many ducks, egrets, eagles and other birds were plentiful.
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| Lilly pads galore! |
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| Canadian Loopers we passed going the other direction |
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| Dozens of duck blinds along the shores and in the mossy areas |
Even with putzing along at 6mph we arrived at the downward side of the lock at about 1:30 pm. We dropped the anchor and settled in for an afternoon of floating and relaxing. Reading books, exploring Great Lakes wave apps, and napping were in order.
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| Derek utilizing the long day aboard to read a good book As many hours as we would end up sitting it’s a good thing he brought a long book….’It’ |
By about 3pm the sun had warmed things and it was getting sticky so we fired up the generator and A/C for a while. While cooling in the boat we made up shish-kabobs and corn/bean salsa for a late lunch/early dinner. At around 4 pm we were joined at the base of the lock channel by ‘Moments’, another boat waiting to lock up river.
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| ‘Moments’ out of St Joseph MI |
A little before 6 pm we heard the lock master communicating on the VHF with the captain of the barge that was going to be lowered down prior to us being brought up and instructing him to prepare to load into the chamber. Our anchor which had been holding fine for the past 4+ hours began to drag as the winds had picked up a bit so we went ahead and pulled anchor determining we would soon be entering the lock anyhow. We waited patiently. Waited some more impatiently. For whatever reason the lock down of the first barge took over 2 hours…ugh! The clouds thickened band the skies darkened as it approached sunset. It started raining pretty heavy which REALLY excited Renee since locking in a rainstorm in the dark is one of her favorite activities (lol).
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| At least there was a pretty rainbow to be had out of the locking fiasco |
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| A nice rainbow is worth a couple pics right? |
Finally after floating and circling around just outside of the lock for what seemed like an eternity the barge VERY slowly exited the chamber allowing us and the other boat to enter. For an unknown reason the lock master asked us to raft off of each other rather than each of us having our own floating bollard on different parts of the large lock walls. This actually was kind of nice because while rafted off together we were able to chat and share about each others trips. It turns out that they are on their way back up to St Joseph MI (where our trip will be ending in a week or so) where there home port is. They were a nice couple with one of their teen age sons. He is a recently retired, after 26 years of service, Marine Corp veteran. Thanks for your service!!
By the time we exited the lock and headed the last 2 miles to the Joliet Free Wall to tie up it was approaching 9pm and Riva had not been to grass or dry land for over 15 hours! We could tell she was getting anxious and ready to be off the boat but overall she was a true trooper! As was Derek who by now may have been wondering if the cruising life is for him after also spending 15 hours aboard for his first day!
Aside from a very brief couple minute delay just outside of the lock to wait for a low railroad bridge to be lifted for us the last couple miles was a slow but smooth cruise in the now dark night to the location where we tied up for the night. There was already one other Looper bot tied to the wall but there was plenty of room for the three of us. After getting tied off we quickly got Riva off to get to the nearby grass area to relieve herself….ahhhh. A few minutes was spent visiting with the crew of ‘Moments’ before we retreated back to the boat for nighttime snacks of cheese and crackers, salsa and chips, and OF COURSE ice cream. Before retiring to bed for what would hopefully be a much needed restful nights sleep Renee and Erik took Riva for a walk through the adjacent park. It appeared to be a nice park worth checking out closer in the A.M
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| Happy Destiny and Moments behind us tied up securely to the Joliet free wall after a LONG day |
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| Harrah’s Casino Joliet is right by us Not enough energy remained by any of us to take our chances |
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