Day 145 … Tues, Sept 12, 2017 … 45.5 miles, 7:45 Hours
Joliet, Ill Free Wall to Heritage Harbor, Ottawa, Il
A really, long and tiring day; Over 7.5 hours traveling is a long day and a bit stressful with 3 locks and lots of barge traffic to work around. We couldn’t leave until 8:30 am, because, with the mast up, we no longer can go under the last 16’6” bridge ahead of us.
First lock was about a 40 minute wait, then we locked down 40’ by our selves.
Friendly lock attendant … below is how we go thru these locks. there is a floating bollard (“floater”) recessed into the wall. We put a line around it at the middle of the boat (midship) and hold the boat to the wall as it floats down with the water level.
Tiny floating house community along the way; more were along another side
Bridge being worked on; we went between the bridge abutment and the working barges very slow as not to wake the workers
At the 2nd lock we caught up to several boats that left the Joliet wall before us this morning. we were allowed to lock down together. 2 Boats grabbed floaters and the other 2 each rafted off one of us. then we continued down the river. We did the same thing at the last lock.
The last lock wasn’t a long wait, but had we been 30 minutes later arriving, it could have been 3 hours before we were able to lock thru. Commercial traffic has the right of way and there was a commercial tow with 3 x 5 barges plus the huge tug boat. they don’t all fit together, so the barges are broken apart and locked thru in pieces. Each lock up for him (going in the opposite direction of us requires the tug boat to lock back down and get the next set to lock back up. Once all up … they he has to put them all together again to move on. Glad we missed that, this time. I am sure we will be caught by this further down the way.
We have had HIGH water levels from the Erie Canal until Chicago. now, we have normal water levels…
The boat is tied to shore, but no longer in water.
Folks from Aurora, NC … look who we passed; another Potash facility
Seems SO weird to see corn ready to be picked in mid Sept.
Heritage Harbor is a very nice spot with pool, restaurant, etc. Very protected, man made harbor as part of a “Marina Resort” with various style housing on the river or harbor side.
Red Dog Grill!
Dinner with Jean & Dan from Time Out. Nice to spend time with them and chat about boat stuff.
Day 146 … Weds, Sept 13, 2017 … 0 miles
Heritage Harbor, Ottawa, Il
We stayed for a 2nd day here. Caught the blog up while Rip spent 5 hours cleaning the boat hull and deck. Going to be an early night … lots of traveling ahead for the next 7 days.
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