September 14, 2012  Day 126      Peoria, IL      Total miles to date:  2596.0

Are we there yet? Such a long 11 ½ hour day! We traveled 79 miles, waited almost two hours to enter the Starved Rock Lock, and had to run on one engine most of the day! 

Early morning fog

However, the Illinois River was very calm, there were few boats out, and we saw deer and lots of pelicans. Joyce thinks she saw three Asian Carp also because they were flying out of the water behind the boat.  They were just small ones!  We saw some carp fisherman out in their boats with their spears!

Katie & Jessie on their sailboat, Louise

We passed this guy on our port side -
we always have to ask!

Pelicans!

We left Heritage Harbor Marina in Ottawa at 0645 and arrived at the lock at 0810. We were fortunate to be able to tie up to one of the large cells and turn off the engines while we waited for the tow and barge to exit the lock.  By the time we were ready to enter, Loopers, Katie and Jessie on Louise showed up and locked in behind us.

We had been having some starboard engine concerns shortly before the lock and even after shutting down the engines for two hours, it did not help. We had white smoke billowing out of the exhaust. Then the oil pressure started to drop and that is when we shut it down for the rest of the trip. Bill called Caterpillar Marine Services in Peoria (what better place to be when you have 3208 CATs than Peoria!).  They will see us early Monday morning to diagnose (and let’s hope fix) the problem. 

We arrived in Peoria around 6:20 pm and found space on the town dock wall.  There are signs here that say no overnight docking but many people have done it without being questioned.   There are several boats here. Now we have to stay here for at least three nights, but can’t really move until we get the engine fixed.

After we got the boat secured, we walked around looking for dinner. We almost ate at Joe’s Crab Shack but a policeman told us about the Octoberfest being held a few blocks away.  So we walked down there and had a nice German meal and enjoyed the music. The event is going on all weekend so who knows, we may try it again!

 

September 13, 2012  Day 125      Ottawa, IL      Total miles to date:  2517.0

We stayed at Heritage Harbor Marina in Ottawa as planned although the other three Looper boats headed out this morning. We used the day for (need we say all the laundry is done), reading, computer tasks, engine room chores (strainers cleaned), etc.  It was a chilly day that eventually turned to rain by 5pm and we were happy to stay in port.

Katie (with dog Reggie) and Jessie on Hydro Bikes

In mid-afternoon we heard voices calling us off the stern of our boat and looked out to find two Loopers pedaling on the Hydro Bikes that the marina has. Katie and Jessie (and dog Reggie) are on a 27 ft. sailboat, Louise, and began the Loop in Michigan.  They arrived today and stopped by to say hello to us. They are energetic and excited and are having fun as they are in the early part of their adventure!  We were very happy to meet them. They have already had their mast stepped and will pick it up in Mobile along with other sailors on the Loop.

We had dinner on board then finished the chart plotting for tomorrow’s very long journey to Peoria.  We hope to find space on the town wall because the marina near there is too shallow for our draft.

September 12, 2012  Day 124      Ottawa, IL      Total miles to date:  2517.0

The Ilini Park provided a nice view
along the river before we reached Ottawa

Today marks our 4^th month on the Loop. It is still hard to comprehend that sometimes.  We still enjoy our travels, rise to the challenges, admire the scenery, are amazed at the size of barges, and are thrilled to meet so many wonderful people.

We thought we had the Illinois River to ourselves...

...until he came along -
then we passed him on our starboard

We had a short 9.3 mile boat trip today from Seneca to Ottawa. We saw on AIS that a tow with barge was a couple of miles away and we decided to head out in front of it. A quick call to the Marseilles Lock confirmed that, and they told us to call when we were near them. They opened the gates and let us right in the lock with no waiting and we locked down 28 feet!  That is the way to do it! (if only it were always this easy!) 


Heritage Harbor Marina

We arrived at Heritage Harbor Marina, in Ottawa at 10:30 this morning. This is such a nice marina and they do cater to Loopers.  They have a discount rate and they have a new courtesy minivan.  We used the van to buy oil and other supplies for the boat.  We still had other tasks (always the laundry) and used the time to get some things done.

We had a late but quick dinner then walked over to visit the other three Loopers who had stayed here today: Snow Cat, Our Bubble, and Took the Plunge. We talked until the mosquitos became unbearable!

We decided to spend tomorrow here in Ottawa and get more work done. There is also a high percentage of rain in the forecast, so we will stay put.

We will head to Peoria on Friday!

September 11, 2012  Day 123      Seneca, IL      Total miles to date:  2507.7

Waiting with 5 boats for the tow and barge to exit the lock

Another day, another river…we left the DesPlaines River and entered the Illinois River today on our way from Joliet to Seneca.  The other Looper boats left Joliet at 7am to make the bridge opening (it does not open between 7:15 and 8:15 during the week). We left just before 9am, went through the Brandon Road Lock at 9:25 which lowered us 38 feet.  Then we arrived at the Dresden Lock at 11:30 – only to find the other Loopers waiting there!  We never expected to see them again today and feel badly they had to wait so long to lock through. We waited an additional 45 minutes after we arrived, but the commercial tow boats come first.  So we finally locked through with 5 other pleasure craft boats and were lowered 20 feet.

We continued on to Seneca while everyone else went to Ottawa to dock at the Heritage Harbor Marina.  Our choice to come to the Spring Brook Marina in Seneca was in recognition of our boat.  The original owners took delivery of this boat at this marina in 1989, and we (her 5^th owners) brought her back (is that a loop of its own??).  Ironically, the captain who had delivered the boat to this marina (we met him in Charlevoix) arrived here less than an hour after we did, delivering someone’s boat to them. He recognized Carried Away and we had him over for a visit!  A very small world for us to have seen him twice!! 

Traffic on the river

Today was a windy, sunny day and we saw almost no barge traffic. Many were pulled over, but we saw one exiting the lock and then one other while were underway.  We are sure this will change! We do see them on AIS and can tell in advance if they are moving or not and at what speed, etc.

 

We finally saw wildlife today!

We had dinner on board, did laundry and some other boat tasks.  Tomorrow we will go the short distance to Ottawa and stay at Heritage Harbor Marina. They are very accommodating to Loopers.

September 10, 2012  Day 122      Joliet, IL       Total miles to date:  2471.6

Today was a good day to stay in Joliet.  We got some boat chores done and also worked on our schedule for the next month.  We want to be in Green Turtle Bay on Lake Barclay by September 24 and planned potential stops along the way. Two of Joyce’s sisters will visit us for a couple of days and our oldest two grandchildren will visit us while we are there in early October.  We made a reservation for 3 weeks to give us time to relax and have plenty of time for visits!

Dinner with Barb and Skip (Moor $tuff)

We were so happy that Gold Loopers Skip and Barb (Moor $tuff) drove down to visit us this afternoon. We last saw them in Waterford, New York.  Barb took Joyce to the grocery store while Skip and Bill visited on our sundeck.  Then we all went to dinner at the new Paula Dean’s restaurant at Harrah’s here in Joliet.  It was so good to see them again! We stay in touch through texts, email, and phone calls but seeing them again in person was perfect!

More Loopers arrived today at the wall here in Joliet: Snow Cat (whom we met at the spring Rendezvous) and Our Bubble who are traveling with their two young children. Loopers on Tango are also still here.

Tow pushing a very large barge
coming under the bridge near us

We watched more tows pushing their barges going up and down the river today. Tomorrow we will leave Joliet and head to Seneca.

September 9, 2012  Day 121         Joliet, IL            Total miles to date:  2471.6

Well this was quite the day!  We were not sure if we would leave our marina in Chicago and go to a different one, or if we would go to Joliet which was about 58 miles away.  The big concern was Lake Michigan with a forecast of 3-4’ waves – been there, done that.  By the time we left, it was after 8:30, but we made the decision to go to Joliet. That meant venturing out into Lake Michigan for almost 2 hours before entering the Calumet River. Lake Michigan did not disappoint the forecaster – the waves were three feet at first then increased to five feet, and we experienced a great deal of rolling because of the direction of the wind.  We found things on the floor that have never fallen before! Fortunately, nothing was broken, no one got seasick, and we survived.



Entering the Calumet River

One of many bridges

Industry here!

We left our marina with its towering buildings and beautiful parks nearby, and people out walking, jogging, or riding bikes and segways, and we entered a very industrial river system with coal, steel, grain, and more all ready to be loaded onto barges and pushed up or down river by the towboats. We were on the Calumet River, the Cal Sag Channel, the Chicago Sanitary Shipping Canal, and the DesPlaines River today.  We finally realized that since it was Sunday we were seeing very little commercial boat traffic.  We did go through two locks today. We entered the first one as soon as we arrived, but waited about 45 minutes for the second one. In the first lock we just floated in the middle without tying up, but tied up to a floating bollard in the second lock which lowered us 40 feet.  We also entered the area of the Fish Barrier which puts electrical currents into the water to prevent the Asian Carp from entering Lake Michigan. We will see these fish soon enough on the Illinois River!  We went under many bridges and had already taken our radar and antennas down so we could get under them. (We could not get low enough for the bridges on the Chicago River, or we would have gone that way).

More industry

Train over the river!

This tow boat went right by us pushing a barge after we were
docked on the wall in Joliet. We will see many of them!



Keeping the Asian Carp out of
Chicago and Lake Michigan



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 By 5:30 we arrived in Joliet and were immediately greeted by two Looper boats Northern Spirit (Toronto) and Tango (Montreal) who helped us with our lines.  Then we were greeted by local AGLCA Harbor Hosts, Dale and Brenda Karlson, who stopped by to welcome us to Joliet and answer any questions we had.  It was very nice to meet friendly people after our long and tiring day!

We had some wine, had a late dinner on board, and watched the Broncos-Steelers football game. 

We have decided to spend two nights here on the wall at Joliet. It is free, and we have 30 amps for power, and we have free wifi!   We need to get some work done on the boat and also figure out our schedule for the next few weeks so we can get ready for more company in Kentucky. Sometimes it is just better to stay put! 

(We have many photos of our trip today and will try and get them posted tomorrow.)

Happy Birthday to our son, Bill!

September 8, 2012  Day 120      Chicago, IL       Total miles to date:  2413.6

Day three in Chicago greeted with us sunshine and much cooler temperatures – a great day to be outside.  We had to say good bye to Chuck and Becky this morning as they took a taxi to the train station. We had such a good time having them on board for two weeks and look forward to their next visit. We will miss them!

5-K Cookie Classic

Walking on the BP Bridge

 

Millennium Park

We walked back to the boat and organized a few things and then took off again. We passed a large group of people of all ages on a 5K Cookie Classic run to support the Girl Scouts (actually they passed us). We walked through part of Millennium Park to get back to Michigan Avenue. This time we found the BP Bridge, a beautiful architectural structure with wide sweeping curves that make it fun to walk! We wished we had found this cut-through yesterday! We followed the path to the Cloud Gate, (aka “the Bean”) and had fun taking pictures of it – it provides wonderful reflections of the Chicago skyline and is a natural place for everyone to gather!

The Cloud Gate in Millennium Park

Then we walked over to the Cultural Arts Center which also houses the Visitors’ Center and we picked up literature, maps, etc.  We made the long walk up Michigan Avenue, across the Chicago River to the Magnificent Mile past many high end shops. Our destination however, was the Apple Store. We had an appointment to have our IPad analyzed. Fortunately the Apple Genius that we saw fixed the problem by changing some settings and we were good to go in a short time!

Segways are popular here!

The view from our boat

More walking – we headed east toward the water. We found a deli, bought sandwiches, walked until we found Jane Addams Park and had our lunch there, watching many bikers and joggers. We continued back down Lake Shore Drive to our marina!  We really needed to get some things done (chart plotting, laundry, cleaning, etc.) We hope to leave Chicago tomorrow, but will need to hear the latest forecast in the morning. Right now there are 4 to 6 ft. waves predicted and that is not inviting.