We're on the Rivers!! Joliet (no worries, not the prison...yet)

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Stats:

Chicago to Joliet.  7:30 – 8:30.  72 nautical miles.  Four locks (one of them twice!)

There was a small craft warning and forecasted gale winds in the afternoon.  Luckily, we were behind the breakwall in Chicago’s harbour and protected.  The plan for the day was to start the third leg of our jouney and venture into the river system that will carry us down to the Gulf of Mexico.  It should take most, if not all of the autumn to get there.

 We set off at 7:30, with the plan of taking the Chicago river right through downtown Chicago.  This was going to be one of the highlights of the trip for us.  It was a glorious, sunshiny morning. 

In the company of two other boats, Potest Fieri (with Danny and Susan and the wiener dog Lowla, onboard) and Sandpiper (with BC, John and their dog, Pepa onboard), we set off, headed for the Chicago River.  There is one lock at the entrance but the big issue was getting under the bridges.  The lowest bridge was 17' 1". We all lowered our antennas etc., but it is always a concern when you're so close to the maximum allowance.

Errrrr.... STOP!!!

This is an Amtrak rail bridge that lifts for boats.  It was supposed to be up unless a train is approaching.  We could see guys working on it...hmmm?  We contacted them by VHF and, guess what??  The bridge was CLOSED!!  Until later in the week!!  At a 10' 6" clearance there was NO WAY we could get past it.

With heavy hearts and a few choice words we all turned around and retraced our steps back to the beginning of the Chicago River.

Now what?  There was a small craft advisory out on the lake and forecasted gale winds.  Should we go back to our over-priced dock in Chicago?  The next navigable river system, Calumet, was about twelve miles south on Lake Michigan.  Oh Lake Bichigan!  We thought we were through with you!  We all decided to point our bow out there and just see what it was like.

It was a following sea, with waves mainly from the North on our stern, which trawlers don't like at all. There were lots of big waves and wind.  We kept going anyway.  Jeff had to be really on his game to keep the boat on it's course and, well, right side up.  Every once in awhile he'd take his hands off the wheel to shake them out he was holding on so tight.  I was right beside him on navigation duty and also holding on tight with feet firmly planted.  The waves would come up from behind us and it felt like the boat would sort of jerk to a pause, then we'd swoosh down, sometimes almost doubling our speed.  It was pretty intense.  Occasionally we would take one a little too much on our beam and we'd heal over uncomfortably.  We both had sore muscles today from bracing ourselves against the heave and ho.

While we were out there being hammered the coast guard officially announced that the gale wind warning had arrived.  Um, yeah.  We noticed.  We also overheard a conversation on VHF between a marina and the Chicago police.  The marina was reporting a "floater".  A floater?  We weren't sure what they meant but they followed up with a clarification: A corpse floating in the water at Navy Pier, right where we had just cruised through. 

It's a different world out there.

We travelled the twelve miles south and entered the Calumet river system.  This was a very different landscape as it is primarily an industrial system. 

It was a long, exhausting day.  We arrived in Joliet in the dark and tied the three boats up to the free wall.  We hunted around with flashlights and eventually found the electricity.  We will spend a couple of days here at the wall, doing laundry, shopping and resting up before we head further down the river.