We did go for a long walk in Winthrop Harbor on Monday, Oct 23. It was our 35th wedding anniversary, so we took lunch at Linda’s Mexican Restaurant, which served very good food. The town hasn’t much to offer - a couple of marine services places and a couple of taverns/restaurants - but it was a nice walk. On the way back we took a detour through the Bluff Point Nature preserve. Not a lot to see there in the way of wildlife, but the fall colors were pretty and it was quiet and peaceful.
We left there for Waukegan on Tuesday, an easy hour’s run down the coast. The Lake was a little lumpy, and we did consider keeping going to Chicago, but we pulled into the municipal marina for fuel first, and then decided to just stay there. We were very glad we did, because shortly after we tied up, the wind picked up and soon it was blowing 25 knots. We would not have enjoyed being out on the Lake in that! We spent a quiet afternoon doing laundry and boat projects, and met another Looper boat - Jeff and Erica who are traveling with two young children on their boat Cool Change.
On Wednesday the winds were dying down in the afternoon and the seas were subsiding, so we decided to head for Chicago. We had a decent cruise, though it was a little showery, and made it to the anchorage called the Playpen just inside Chicago Harbor, on the north side of the Navy Pier. Apparently in warm weather, this area is crazy busy, but we had it all to ourselves. Despite the city lights and traffic noise it was a relatively calm night and we had no trouble sleeping.
Today (Thursday Oct 26) we pulled anchor just after sunrise to head into the Chicago River, on the other side of the Navy pier. There was no waiting at the entrance lock. We fit under all the dozens of bridges except the Amtrak bridge, and they were already open by the time we got there, so it was an exceptionally easy and pleasant cruise winding our way through downtown Chicago. There was no other traffic save a water taxi, and no real current, so we could take our time gawking at the skyscrapers and waving to the joggers on the river paths.
Fun fact: the Chicago River was reverse engineered to flow toward the Mississippi instead of into Lake Michigan, in order to send the city’s wastewater out so as not to pollute their drinking water. Canals were dug to widen or connect the Chicago River with the Illinois, Calumet and DesPlaines rivers and voila the Chicago Sanitation and Ship canal. Ships come in from the Great Lakes (or the Mississippi River) and Sanitation (waste water, ‘lightly’ treated and not disinfected) flows out to the Mississippi. It goes without saying that this is not a river suitable for swimming or fishing in.
Once out of Chicago, we moved through the industrial parts of Illinois. Here there are quarries and scrap mills, remnants of old steel mills and refineries, and lots and lots of barges and tow boats. We passed by several barges being loaded or unloaded and spoke to several towboat (they don’t call them tugs here) captains to ascertain how they wished us to move as they pushed two or three large barges ahead of them. We’re in the river system now - these waterways really belong to these vessels. We’re privileged to be able to use them too.
About 1:30 pm we came to the lock at Lockport, Illinois, just before Joliet. Recreational vessels are at the bottom of the priority totem poll for locking and we were asked to tie off to one of the circular cells out of the channel while they locked through several towboats and barges. After a couple of hours, we were resigned to waiting some more as another two towboats came around the corner, but this time, the tows offered us a chance to tie up between them and lock through with them. We jumped right on it. Dan was more than thrilled for a chance to see them up close and personal. Each towboat was maneuvering three barges, and we were sandwiched between the barges, tied securely to one of them as we dropped about thirty feet.
They let us get a head start and we made it to Joliet and tied up at the seawall there before they came through. We’ll stay here for a couple of nights while we wait for our flotilla to join us. We will all be locking through the next three locks together.
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