Wednesday, September 7, 2022 -
Well, our time at Michigan City is over, missions all accomplished, and today we headed out for our last trip on Lake Michigan. First, a few views of the area around the Washington Park Marina. Washington Park was an amusement park from the early 1900's until 1970's when they converted it into a park with space for special events, huge park picnic area, marina, beachfront, and even a small zoo. I was especially taken with the stone "furniture" they had throughout the park area...
It was a short distance to travel today...30 some miles. But...the winds were coming from the North and they rocked us back and forth all morning long. Pretty rough! Dropped our table in the salon and moved the HEAVY couch from the wall about 2 ft.!
At last we were on the Calumet River making our way to the Sunset Harbor Marina for one night. Very interesting place. They were full, but the woman who runs the marina, Barb, said we could stay on the gas dock for $30/night. Fine with us since water and power were included. Then when we came in for the night and found we only had one 30 amp plug she had the crew unhook the boat docked on the other side of the fuel dock and let us have that plug. Oh, and also said there would be no charge for the night. Barb always sounded like she had just finished off a fifth of something...
What we didn't know was that they all left at 5 and locked the gate to the marina. OOPS! Maggie didn't get an evening or a morning walk...but she did regularly use the green pad (aka bed until now) for No. 1 business.
Thursday, September 8, 2022
Took off early, as usual, because we had two locks to go through before getting to our marina for the night, Three Rivers. Had a slight wait at the first lock, but the second lock brings on a whole new story......
To begin with, we were going through the busy area called the Calsag and were on watch for moving tows/barges. We also had to navigate bridges that at first were ranging from 17'6". Our highest point was the anchor light at 17'. At the first bridge they had crews working on the sides and the bridge was going to remain down for a while. We waited a while and talked about whether or not to try it...and did. We were almost out when we hit a piece of metal, like a rod of some sort, and it bent the pole that holds the radar and the pole that holds the anchor light. SO...we decided to have the next bridges of similar height lifted. Took a bit more time to transit this area, but soon the bridges were taller. Meanwhile, we went up and took down the large piece that holds the radar arch, etc, (I'm sure that "piece" has a real name, but Wayne's napping right now.) Made going under bridges much easier then.
Finally we had come to the last lock we'd need to go through today, the Lockport Lock. When we hailed the lock to ask for passage they informed us they wouldn't open until 5PM that day. It was then 11AM. I had read a piece from the Army Corps of Engineers about how Illinois is doing a lot of lock upgrades and repairs. I obviously read it wrong concerning the Lockport Lock. Anyway, the lock wouldn't allow boats to tie up on the wall to wait so we went back up the river a little way and, at the lock recommendation, tied up at a rusty wall by an old grain silo. FINALLY, Maggie got to go for a walk, grungy as it was. ;-)
Between 11AM and 5PM about 13 or 14 boats had gathered at various places above the lock to wait. We decided to just spend the night where we were and leave the next morning when the lock would be on regular hours. But then, a large towboat had parked his barge on the lock wall and decided to wait in back of our boat...about 20 ft. away. Not good! The thrust of the tow's engines coming back on our boat had it rocking and crashing into the rusty wall. We decided we needed to move further back up the river to a wall where several other boats were waiting.
We got to the wall, sidled up to it, knowing we were going to have a really hard time to tie up there because of the height of the wall and the crumbly condition. Two boaters came over and tied us up for the night...and then, offered to come over at 6AM and untie us so we could all be down at the lock together when the sun came up. We couldn't thank them enough!
Friday, September 9, 2022
Headed out early for Heritage Harbor in Ottawa, IL. We were there on our first loop trip in 2008 when the marina flooded and we stayed, with a bunch of other loopers, for 2 weeks before the water went down enough for us to continue down the river. It's totally changed and is even better (like WOW better) than it was then.
With about 6 boats ahead of us we were limited in how fast we could go. Passing 6 boats would have been hard, so we just stayed together...slowly. Went through a lock or two, or three, and rafted up in each lock. At the last lock we were tied to the wall and had two larger boats rafted up to us. Felt a little uneasy with the arrangement, but all went well. But...we ended up being the last boat to leave the lock. Must have been 12 or 13 of us leaving and you can imagine the line ahead of us. Bigger boats quickly arranged for passing and we were finally last of about 5 boats. We had met the owners of the boat directly in front of us and were pleased to hear them announce that they would like to do a slow pass (we slow down so not to wake the boat...and they slow down to allow us to pass). We chimed in and said we'd like to do the same. Still ended up behind a couple of boats and followed them to Heritage.
Saturday, September 10, 2022
As usual, left early and headed for Henry Harbor, IL. Foggy this morning so we had to stay put for almost an hour until the fog cleared. We had a great day on the water, though. No locks, for one thing. And the cruise took us through some gorgeous, remote areas of Illinois.
Arrived at Henry in the early afternoon. The little marina is back in a cove that is too shallow for us to enter but the owners, Fran and her husband, have a little area beside an old lock wall that boats like us can use. When we'd called they were "booked" because they have so few spaces. But Fran said she'd let us tie up to her boat and we accepted!
Can't say enough about this couple and how helpful and friendly they were. They ended up moving us to the gas dock in the evening and we topped off our tanks as a gesture of thanks! The couple both have "day" jobs, but also own and operate the little marina. Fran is a cabinet designer and he runs a heating and air repair with his son.
Sunday, September 11, 2022
This day we had reservations for one night at the IVY (Illinois Valley Yacht Club) in Peoria Heights, IL Weather was in the 60's and calling for 90% chance of rain. We had rain for the first couple of hours, but it cleared up enough then that we could leave the front window open.
The next lock, Peoria Lock, is only 10 miles below IVY. The lock is currently on a restricted schedule because they are working on the problem up here with Asian carp. They have infested the river and everyone wants them gone!! They eat smaller fish and feed off the bottom. But when a boat comes by causing a certain vibration in the water these fish will rise to the surface and jump all over the place...including onto boats! They are very thin skinned and will usually injure themselves or die immediately. And the worse part: they bleed all over whatever it is they hit. We found out what that is like as we cruised today because we had 2 jump in the dingy, 1 on the swim platform, and one on the back deck. Looked like we'd slaughtered something!!
Anyway, Peoria Lock is only open now from 3PM to 7AM and all day on the weekend and Wednesday. We could have made it through the lock today...but then there's the issue of where to go after that. No good anchorages and the nearest spot to tie up is 70 miles down the river. So Wednesday is our time to approach the lock.
When we got to IVY Joe, the manager, met us to help tie up. We asked then whether they'd had any cancellations for Monday and Tuesday since they were booked solid when we called for reservations. He said he'd go up with us and look again. Glad he did, because we can now stay on Monday...still nothing for Tuesday. Our option will be to go to the free dock in Peoria on Tuesday and hope there's a place to wait there.
Monday, September 12, 2022
Making use of our 2nd day at IVY by ordering grocery delivery from the local Kroger. Have yet to find out if anyone has cancelled for tomorrow night...more later...
