After spending 2018 in Canada's North Channel and the Great Lakes we enter the lock at Navy Pier in downtown Chicago and head south down what Loopers call "The Rivers". Most Loopers leave Chicago for Mobile or New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico to find warmer weather for the winter. For us this means transiting the full length of the Illinois to the Mississippi, then a left turn upstream on the Ohio to the Tennessee where we will "Cross Our Wake" (Looper lingo for crossing the place you started the Loop). From there we will continue upstream on the Tennessee to somewhere near our dirt home in Georgia and a welcome and deserved winter rest for Happy Happy.
Cruising thru the iconic architecture of Chicago with family and friends is a treat and rivals our passage thru New York harbor and passing the Statue of Liberty. From downtown we quickly transition to Chicago's industrial perimeter and see the Chicago Sanitary Canal's importance in getting barge traffic to loading/unloading points close to the Second City.
It takes us a week to transit the full length of the Illinois River from Chicago to it's confluence with the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers near Grafton, IL. Once out of Chicago the Illinois becomes a working river with 24/7 tow/barge traffic and towns like Peoria, Ottawa, Seneca, Peru, Havana supporting the rivers workforce with large bulk handling facilities for grain, stone/sand, fuels and all the stuff that can be transported by barge in addition to tug/tow dry docks and maintenance facilities (and the best diners and blue plate specials!).
Between the "work" zones we find the natural geology and topography of this part of Illinois very much like the Tennessee River where we started our Loop with large exposed rock outcrops and tons of waterway bird life, bald eagles, falcons, white pelicans, great blue heron, even seagulls. Of course spooking schools of asian carp to jump like mullet only happens on the Illinois.
The good: undeveloped riverfront, undisturbed wildlife, beautiful anchorages, the simple life of quiet, no-big-box towns, picture postcard fog. The bad: huge "trains" of tows/barges ("stay out of their way or they'll squish you like a bug"), the failure of our potable water pump, the overheating of the port motor after sucking a load of mud after running over some shallow shoals, a violent squall that caught us in the middle of a narrow section of the river in the process of passing two looooong tows, blinding fog.
The lock at Navy Pier was originally constructed to make the Illinois flow away from Lake Michigan and Terry's uncle had a part in it's design!
Steve and cousin Carla were able to join us for the trip thru the City.
The trip out of the city on the Chicago Sanitary Canal involves many bridges that need to open and few that don't and require that your boats maximum "air draft" be less than 17 feet. Thanks to Happy Happy's sleek profile we can make this journey. For Looper boats that are taller than this, traveling south on Lake Michigan from Chicago down to the Cal-Sag canal in Indiana is the only option for them to get to the Illinois River.
Friday afternoon rush hour!
Steve and friend Jim give Terry some down time at the helm.
and more bridges..............
This is how the Corps of Engineers is trying to keep the asian carp from getting to Lake Michigan.
Yo! Asian Carp are good to eat and seem pretty easy to catch!
Going down 40 feet in the Lockport Lock before arriving at Joliet after a fun day.
........... and then a party with cousins in Joliet!
......................and a new record for folks in Happy Happy's salon!
The siren announcing the opening of the bridge for tows was active all night in Joliet.
South of Joliet things get rustic real quick.
More bridges and more Loopers
...............more Loopers, more tows and more locks!
We watched this huge flock of birds including these white pelicans for an hour or so as we waited for the Starved Rock Lock to open for us.
Starved Rock got it's name from a native american indian battle when the Ottawa and Potawatomi encircled the Illini here until they starved. The area is now known for it's striking geology and is Illinois most visited state park.
Dredges are constantly at work to keep the channel at a depth to allow the tows to get through.
We were alongside this tow (a pass may take 10-15 minutes) when a strong squall came over the lake and brought blinding rain and crazy winds.
The winds from the squall pushed us into the shallow mud shoals outside of the navigation channel. Shortly afterwards one of the motors starting overheating. We were able to flush out the intake strainers later at that nights marina stop (Why did I waste time taking pictures one might wonder?)
This stretch of the river seemed to have a lot of channel markers missing. Probably from flooding and tows dragging them.
Picture postcard fog.
Blinding fog.
