Leaving Joilet

We left Joliet when the fog was lifting. Unfortunately, it had not lifted everywhere. We left with Full Circle in the lead, Freedom right behind, we were next, then the next boat Amy K and trailing behind was a sail boat Dulcinea. The first two boats were Sea Rays and made it to our destination three hours ahead of us. We got held up at the last lock for three hours. No place to tie up, we could only drop an anchor in a very small area. While we waited, and waited, and waited we got pushed around by the prop wash of the tug locking his tow through. It took us almost 12 hours to get to our destination 40 miles away.

Still in Joliet

There is a picture of a tow at night shining its spot lights down the river. Harrah's in the background of the bridge closing after the tow has gone through and of course, the nightly captains meeting in the park next to the boats. Actually it turned out to be our last night on the wall in Joliet!

More of Joliet, IL

A P

picture of all the boats along the wall in Joliet, IL. Ours is five from the right. Some will leave and go further down river but right now the end of the line is 40 miles south in Ottawa, IL. We are hoping for word any day now that the river has opened to pleasure craft and we can get going. Now it looks like some of our side trips are out of the question. We will reassess when we get going and move down the rivers. The other picture is one of the many barges passing us by.

Joliet, IL

41 31.428N

88 5.237W

We are now in Joliet, IL. This is the view from our boat. Harrah's Casino is in the background. The locks are not all open along the IL River or the Mississippi. We were told by our fellow boaters that there was room for us at a free dock with electric. The river was mostly free of debris so we decided to leave Chicago and start down the river. It looks like we will be here awhile waiting for the river locks to reopen and commerical traffic to resume.

Some of the scenes along the way

Can we make it under that bridge or do we have to call to have it opened? River traffic was very quite along the way. We only passed a couple tows. The first lock for the Chicago River is only a 2 foot drop but the one we have a picture of here is a 40 foot drop. The locks are massive to accommodate tows but we had the whole lock to our selves.

Chicago River

We were finally able to move down the river. We got up very early, before sunrise on Saturday in preparation for our 36 NM trip. We headed for the first lock at the entrance to the Chicago River which goes right through downtown. It was pretty quite on the river, no tour boats yet but the crew teams were out practicing.

Evening in Chicago

Our last night in Chicago. Fireworks again. It was a lovely evening.