It’s River Time! Traveling on the river system is our next learning adventure. We departed Chicago and headed south down the Chicago River to the Illinois River. Prior to arriving to our first overnight stop, we went through two locks, the first at the entrance of the Chicago River from Lake Michigan and then one close to our overnight stop. The river system is teaming with tugs pushing large barges and as commercial vessels with limited maneuverability they have the right of way and priority for passage through a lock. As we were approaching the second lock, the captain of a tug just departing the lock radioed us and said, “You might as well slow down, you have a two hour wait at the lock”. There was a barge right ahead of us that would take priority and then one waiting at the other end waiting to travel through northbound. It takes about one hour for each of them to lock through this lock. Then we heard magical words, ‘Hey, Slo Pace, this is the Gwyneth Anne, you are welcome to lock through with me and tie off on our starboard side. I’ll have one of our guys grab your lines”. Woohoo! What a thoughtful tugboat captain. He didn’t want to have us wait two hours. We had a great time chatting with the “Deckineer” (senior deckhand) while we locked through. They work 21 days on/21 days off and 6 hours on/6 hours off, rotating around the clock. They work year-round – “Just like the Post office, through rain, sleet, or snow”, the Deckineer shared. What a life!
We spent the first night at a town dock in Joliet, IL and met new loopers on a sailboat Knotsofast and semi-loopers on a fast cruiser named Journey (they are just going to Ft. Myers, FL). We introduced our new friends to Little Beers and had a toast to looping and a successful river system passage.
The next day we had 3 locks to pass through on our way to our next stop. Many of the river locks have bollards that you throw a line around and back to your boat and the bollard moves up or down with the lock flow. A seasoned looper had shared they like to use a plastic hose with a line run through it to make it easy for the deckhand (me) to throw over the bollard. Captain Dave was nice enough to make one for me and it worked like a charm. I felt like a cowgirl successfully lassoing her bollard steed.
After stopping in Ottawa, IL, anchoring near Henry, IL, and a stop at the Illinois Valley Yacht Club, we headed to our next stop. Not 10 minutes into our travels, the engine alarm blared, warning of an overheating condition. Dave expertly diagnosed the situation and determined the port engine impeller was not operating therefore there was no cooling water flowing. He shut down the port engine and we made our way on one engine to our next stop, an anchorage near Havana, IL. There he changed a very worn-out propeller and decided to change the starboard engine’s impeller as well. Magnificent Mechanic Dave to the rescue! Unbeknownst to us, the town of Havana had a Mexican Restaurants, so we celebrated the successful engine repair with a pitcher of Margaritas with our friends Rick and Christi on Inked Mermaid. Rick & Christi are “crossing their wake” (completing the loop) at Alton, IL. Just a few short stops away.
The rest of the week was uneventful, stopping at a few more anchorages along the Illinois River, arriving at Grafton, IL for a 3 night stay so we can plug into air conditioning!
Fun Facts: Distanced traveled so far: 3,785 miles in 181 days, stopping at 114 unique locations
Thanks for following along on our adventure,
Brenda with Magnificent Mechanic Dave, and Murphy, the traveling lab.