after another
We had lowered the mast once again to avoid as many bridge openings as possible but we weren't going to fit under that one! Fifteen foot clearance. Luckily the bridge tenders communicate with one another and there was little waiting.
We had a reservation for the night at a marina that turned out to be basically a storage yard on a wide spot in the river, a landfill burning off excess methane gas on one side and a train track on the other side, lovely. But it was a place to stay and it did have a shower. (This is the methane burn-off that night.)
Very busy the next day (8/30) with more bridges and our first taste of working barge traffic. Fog in the morning.
Challenging with lots of radio traffic to the barges with me asking them "just exactly what do you want me to do now?" All in all, we went through 37 bridges in 36 miles.
In an effort to prevent Asian Carp from entering Lake Michigan they (who's they?) have installed a submerged electric fence; boats are allowed to pass through one at a time and no swimming!
A second lock with a 40' drop and more weaving around barges.
We had the mast down because some of the bridges were so low.
We made it to the town dock in Joliet and were later joined by Knot Home, Reflection, and Loukothea (whom we had first met in Midland on Lake Ontario). "Docktails" with everyone on the dock. Lots of barge traffic, close!
Valerie and I went to a Latino festival in the park next to us for $1 tacos. I'm pretty sure we were the only non-Latinos there but we had a great time and everyone was very nice and helpful.
Off the next morning with some minor delays (the engine on It's About Time was overheating) and the 'herd' went down the river to the next lock.
And into the next lock headed down again. Kathy on It's About Time is enjoying the ride,
Kay on Knot Home filming the fun,
And Valerie keeping us safe and secure. These locks have large floating bollards and you loop a mid-ship line around the bollard and gradually descend the lock. Easy.
We all made it to Heritage Harbor Marina in Ottawa, IL. Very nice place, restaurant on the premises, pool, lots of showers and laundry. Had planned on two nights (groceries and errands using the 'loaner' car the next day) but wound up staying an extra night as Kathie had some medical issues that required a trip to the urgent care clinic (all ended well).
Left the next day behind "Plane 2 Sea" (last saw them in Norfolk, VA) and had to wait for the Starved Rock Lock to clear a very large barge.
These barges are so big (15 barges on one tow in this river, up to 36 on the Mississippi!) they have to put the first 9 barges in the lock, disconnect the tug, lift up that set of barges, move the first set out of the lock by cable and then empty the lock, bring up the tug and the other barges, lift them up, and then reconnect the whole thing. Takes about two hours total. Here we are floating around waiting!
Finally got through and on our way to an anchorage behind Lower Henry Island. Very nice but you never know what you are going to get with your anchor. Werner snagged a very nice log!
We were later joined by two Grand Banks trawlers; on the way in an Asian Carp jumped out of the water (apparently the prop wash gets them scared) and landed right in the aft cockpit of one of the boats. Dinner! Not me, not from that water.
Stopped at the free town dock in Peoria, IL. Not much going on, hotter than heck, but Tim made it to the Caterpillar Equipment museum just a few blocks from the marina. They had a huge earth moving truck there; it weighs over 1.2 million pounds, empty! Got to use some simulators for backhoes and D8 dozer. Fun! Unfortunately it was also 'jazz night on the waterfront' and we got to hear blasting music until 1:30 in the morning. Barges going all day and night.
Off the next morning after a quick trip to the local farmers market and a long boring ride to our next anchorage. Barges line the river everywhere.
The activity on the river is amazing, one after another docks with grain elevators, sand & gravel depots, coal-fired power plants, etc.
Here's a crane on top of a huge bollard used to unload the barges - how did they get it up there?
We haven't seen a lot of wild life on this trip but ran across large flocks of white pelicans, flying over head or floating in the marshes.
These white pelicans go far north into Canada to breed during the summer and then fly south to Florida for the winter; true "snow birds".
Another interesting thing is to see how high the river can run at times. as you go along you see that the trees are 'sheared' at a particular height and almost all the houses are on stilts. I guess flooding is just a normal event. There are duck blinds all along the Illinois River and we awaken to shotgun fire at dawn. Paddle faster, I hear banjo music!
As we approach the junction with the Mississippi the geography changes from lowland and swamps and we start to see bluffs that are totally different from the Illinois river.
And more signs of life - cows wading in the river!
We meet the Mississippi at Grafton, IL. Picked up an extra 3-4 knots of current! Get out the water skis! After a long day we finally got to the marina in Alton, IL. Watch out Mark Twain, here we come.......
No comments:
Post a Comment