A Few Trip Statistics 8-08-08 to 9-27-08

On Saturday, September 27, 2008, Freedom's Turn reached the end of the Upper Mississippi at the mouth of the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois. The map above is a word document and can be made larger by double clicking on it. To go back to the blog, click on the back arrow key, upper left corner of screen. Photocopied with permission from Raven Cove Publishing Company. This map was a gift from our sailing friends, Erich and Sharon Homolka.

A few statistics as of this date:

Days cruising: 51

Nights in a marina: 38

Nights at anchor: 8

Nights tied up to a free dock or wall: 5

Weather: except for 1 flood,(!) mostly sunny days in mid 80's; nights in the 50's, 8 days of rain

Engine hours used: 123

Total miles traveled: 968

423 miles: Cheboygan, MI on Lake Huron to Chicago, IL, on Lake Michigan

327 miles: Chicago, IL to Grafton, IL on the Illinois River and Upper Mississippi Rivers

218 miles: Grafton, IL to Cairo, IL: Upper Mississippi River to Ohio River

Ice cream cone costs: $115

Blackberry pie costs: $36

Time learning more about each other: Priceless

Grafton and the flood

Here in Grafton, IL the sky is a beautiful blue on this peaceful Sunday morning, and the sun seems to promise a lovely day. Yet we look out our stern directly to see that the muddy, debris filled, fast moving river water is still having it's way with us. We wait patiently on mother nature to recede her flood waters enough for safe cruising. (Both the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers here are closed 100 miles north of here and 200 miles south of here!) We also wait for the many agencies such as the Coast Guard and the Corp. of Engineers to advise us! Charlie studies several river and weather web sites many times daily to keep us updated and for that I am gratefull. When one is informed one can cope better!

The river crested here Wednesday from 15 ft. to 25.5Ft-(major flood stage here is 26.5) ,three days after Ike's winds and rains hit here a week ago today. The extra water created extra power and thus extra current (up to 5-6 knots here). This condition creates havoc in handling one's boat properly. Add that to no buoy markers to stay within your boundaries, continuous trees and who knows what else floating by on top let alone the unseen mysteries moving below! We are doing OK but are anxiously waiting to leave after nine days plus.

Added to this picture are the 40+ looper boats like us stuck at different places in this expansive area of closed rivers. We are waiting to move not only from marinas but some are tied up to barges and lock walls! This situation has created a need for some sort of master exit plan. One of the more experienced looper boats has now set up a plan with the executive directors of our cruising association to create excel spreadsheets keeping track of the river information and the locations of all of us. These sheets will somehow coordinate a strategic plan for getting us all down river. We now read our specially created emails from the directors and are all known as the "river rats." The problem is compounded by the fact that their are very few marinas for the next two hundred miles of here and we cannot all go down river at once!

We guess this is a part of the adventure we all signed up for!

Charlie and I have been forced to slow down and enjoy the moment now more than ever! We have found new pleasure in catching up with chores (or we convince ourselves we have) and we have had the opportunity to get to know Grafton's quaintness such as buying produce and pies from Uncle Andy's Produce, buying things both necessary and interesting from Jimbo's Food and General store, eating great food (the Mississippi Half Step Restaurant) and meeting wonderful people such as Jan and Joe, our harbormasters here at Grafton Marina. We have been here long enough to enjoy an art show, (!) go through two blackberry pies from the pie lady (Uncle Andy's wife), attend the Grafton Methodist church, and the opportunities to watch two victorious MSU football games on back to back weekends in our marina's bar (the bar's cook let us taste test their delicious chicken strips recipes).

Well, we know this is a part of the adventure we signed up for.

This past Wednesday we decided to attempt to rent a car and go to St Louis, MO about 35 miles from here. Some of the roads were closed but we found our way and we thoroughly enjoyed going to the famous Gateway Arch! We rode to the top in a tram car on the inside of the arch where you can look out. This arch was designed by Architect Eero Saarinen and built from 1963-65. The arch is a structure known as a catenary curve; the shape of a free-hanging chain takes when held at both ends and considered the most structurally sound shape. The span at the ground level equals the height of 630 feet and is the tallest national monument in the U.S.
(This information was obtained by the city's tourist pamphlet and the Internet). The main building material on the exterior of the arch is stainless steel. Charlie and I could actually feel the heat from the sun coming off of the walls as walked by it.

On this day, we also went to the official Lewis and Clark museum near here in Hartford, Illinois. Although we have always been fascinated by this historical boat journey and expedition, it really hit home for us this time. The first site of their expedition is just a short distance from here in Wood River, Illinois. The boat they used was a barge type of boat, 55 feet long, weighed 10 tons unloaded and 20 tons loaded. The museum has a full size replica of their boat cut right down the middle. Lewis and Clark had 26 crew including themselves plus another 20 some boatmen to paddle the big oars. The trip took two years and four months to the Pacific Northwest, beginning in May of 1804. Their successful mission included: making maps, establishing peaceful relations with the Native American Indians, studying plants and animals and bringing specimens back to Congress and President Jefferson. It took them five months to stock the boat with some of the following items: 3,700 lbs. of flour, 3,000 lbs. of pork, and 1,000 lbs. of corn. What was truly amazing to us is the fact that with the exception of Meriweather Lewis and William Clark, all the others had to get off the boat to sleep in tents on the shore! And there were several times when the men had to portage (to carry the boat on land) when the waters were too small (this also took on a whole new meaning for us!). Can you imagine not being able to sleep in your own boat after working on it all day and before going to bed you had to lift it somewhere?

By late afternoon we headed back to our boat, but first a stop in Alton, to visit looper friends of ours at the Alton Marina and last, to the famous Fast Eddies Diner in downtown Alton. The hamburgers and fries were cheap and good and the music was loud and entertaining! By early evening, (yes there is still more) we returned to our marina to find out the river had risen more and our marina was now an island! We had to park our rental car a block away and had to carry our Walmart purchases, shoes etc., in ankle deep river water to our marina!

Every day is truly a different adventure.

It is time to sign off but first we want to talk about three things Charlie and I appreciate. One is our house sitter, Christa, (not our daughter- another Christa) who is looking after our home and property and who is kindly sending us our mail. Two is our great tailgating friends back home who actually call us during their MSU football tailgates to make us feel good, And three to our wonderful new computer and air card from Verizon that we can hook up easily to stay in touch with everyone!

Finally, I'd like to note that it is enjoyable for me to include quotes in this blog from Henry David Thoreau because this trip for us is a lot like what Thoreau felt and what he wrote as he lived "deliberately" in the wilderness. He left many things in his life to go away and take a deeper look at nature. To him, all of nature represented a " spiritual cycle of life" and a miracle; "bigger than all of human nature". We agree with him on that.

Bye Bye,

Linda and Charlie

Rollin' on the Illinois River

First of all, we are safe and tucked away in the Grafton, IL marina at the convergence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. Bud, Monte and Erich: we are fine. Hurricane Ike has come and gone; now the flood! We have had several very exciting, (more below) very trying days, but they are behind us. More about that later. Linda is doing the laundry, so I have to use up a lot of time doing the blog!

We proceeded to follow our river charts as we began the Chicago Sanitary Canal which would eventually lead us into the Illinois River. We went through three locks (out of 8 total) with no wait, each lowering us from two feet, then 42 feet then 22 feet before we reached Joliet. Our river chart book was wonderful in providing us with the details we needed to know each mile of the way. With the commercial barges and other boats on a river, and the bridges to go under and the little towns you pass, we needed to be on a lookout all the time, to be courteous to other boaters when we needed to be as well as not to lose our place on the charts! Before we would reach a lock, we radioed the lockmaster to get directions to proceed the way he wanted us to. It is very different to look up and see automobile traffic coming and going up on top of the bridges while we are down below, like we are in a completely different world.

We have belonged to an organization called America's Great Loop Cruisers Association for a number of years. With our membership, we are linked to several hundred other pleasure boaters who are also either on the same 'Great Loop' trip we are now on, have already gone on the trip or who are planning the trip for the future. The organization provides information through an email link, a website and newsletters where we all share many tips and other valuable information. Until Joliet, we had just emailed a few of our fellow "loopers" but in Joliet we caught up with a traveling party of six other looper boats while docking at the city wall. Since then, we have stayed with a few of the boats as we went through more locks, stayed at Ottawa, Henry, Peoria, anchor near Beardstown and then arriving in Grafton on September 12 (my brother Bud's birthday, he is x!?<> years old.

Upon leaving Chicago (as everyone knows NOT one of my (Charlie) favorite places) I must admit it was quite awesome going through downtown. It almost made me forget (did I say almost!) the $120/night dock fees and $4.90 ice cream scoop. After leaving downtown, it was clear sailing..........until a few miles later the always promised open 11' (we are 15'6" minimum height) railroad bridge was closed! We tried radioing the bridgemaster on channels 16, 14, 13 and 9---no response. The current was carrying us toward the bridge so we had to turn around and look to tie up nearby. As I was looking for a phone number to call, now 20 minutes later, the bridge began to rise. We scooted under and were finally out of Chicago!

Our first destination, estimated at 6 hours, was the Joliet town wall (did I mention town walls are typically free---my favorite, but no electricity or water,) just below the Lockport lock. No problems, except that I quickly found out that the tow boat captains owned the river. Here I thought we taxpayers owned it, but I was wrong! Right where the Chicago Sanitary Canal merges with the Cal-Sag Canal, the channel narrows to around 100 yards. Our clear open channel was now clogged with tugs and barges (combined they make a tow). The barges were joined 1 to 4 wide and on both sides of the channel, but all were apparently stationary. That was until I started to go by one of them on my port (that is the left) and he began to ease out, thus forcing me into stationary barge on my starboard (that is the right). I was about 1/3 of the way around him with no where to go and the current pushing. My only option was to speed up and pass him quickly, so I gave Freedom's Turn all she had! We made it around the tow on the port and just cleared the barge on the starboard. Whew! I felt good that we made it around the tow and were safe; but I couldn't understand why another upstream tug was coming straight at me pushing a ton of water. I went left-he went left, I went right-he went right; finally I went to neutral and drifted sideways, as he did. As we drifted by each other, he shouted across the water in VERY clear words something to the effect that this was a NO WAKE zone! I thought 'all they have to do is put up a sign' stating such, but I had to learn the hard way. Needless to say I am now typically at idle speed when around any tow or tug. Later on, at Joliet, I was talking to other Loopers and one of them stated that he was in the exact same situation and he had time to radio the tow captain and asked where he should go to be out of the way. The tow captain's answer was something to the effect of "back to Florida"! Footnote: many vulgar words have been cleaned up for this posting. Anyway, we got to the Lockport lock in fine condition not withstanding the tows. Along the way we crossed an "electrical fence" put in place to help prevent the Asian Carp (invasive species) from moving into Lake Michigan. These fish are also known as flying carp; they are agitated into 'flying' by boat motors. They can get to 80 lbs. but are more typically 5-15 lbs. I have seen several of them come out of the water 2-3 feet and leave a big splash For anyone interested, you can go to http://www.riverbills.com/ and get more information on the carp (and the Illinois River weather also). At Joliet we were greeted by a single boat, Etcetera, and have traveled with them since, off and on; great knowledge of the trip as they are on their second loop. Our two boats were the only ones at the wall-dock that night.

The next day Linda and I went to eat at the Joliet Harrah's Casino (didn't gamble---$20 minimum tables). When we returned from lunch there were 7 Looper boats tied up at the wall. That evening we had a dock party and slept comfortably. We all left the following morning---quite a sight. 7 boats in a convoy, bridges opening (most of the other boats were taller than us) and locks accommodating. A point of interest---in the locks you are typically given 2 lines from the top of the lock. These are held bow and stern with the other ends secured to the top of the lock wall, as the water goes down (or up) you hold your own boat in place. Some locks have bollards, floating cans in the lock wall, that you can tie up to---as the water level changes your boat floats with the can. Bollards are Linda's favorite. She has become quite the First Mate while in transit (at dock she is The Admiral!). Lines, fenders, docks, locks, charts are all handled quite efficiently. The clinch knot, her favorite (not!), is now tied correctly.

We traveled the next day in the rain to Ottawa (not Canada) town docks and stayed there with Etcetera and Grace Full (we rafted to Grace Full as the dock was quite small). That evening we went to the local liquor store and hit a gold mine. Glenlivet scotch was $32 a bottle ($37 in Michigan). 1.75 L of Southern Comfort was $22. We now are supplied through the dry counties of Kentucky and Tennessee!

The following day (9/8) we traveled in the rain again (getting the picture?) to Henry. We had to stay on a limestone wall because the water was so skinny (shallow) in the marina. Henry was a nice small town, but the marina was very second class in appearance and help. A fellow boater (in a trench coat no less!) helped us tie up under very trying conditions. We walked about 1 mile to get some supplies and then did it a second time because we forgot the apples!

On 9/9 we stopped in Peoria after traveling in the rain half of the day. We stayed at the IVY (Illinois Valley Yacht) Club for two nights. We needed the rest. Most of the other Loopers we were traveling with moved on after the first night. We had an excellent meal in the Yacht Club (pot roast) and got to wear our good clothes for the first time!

At Peoria, we now understood from our friends on Etcetera, that Ike was most likely going to come though our area, and as it had been raining for several days, we knew the ground was already saturated. Perfect conditions for a flood. We made plans to get to Grafton before Ike hit. This meant going 170 miles and 2 locks in 2 days. The first day we were immediately locked through the Peoria Lock and went around a large tow (3 X 5 barges) for this area. We made very good time with a 2-3 mph current. We passed several marinas that we might have typically stayed at because we wanted to travel longer. We got below Beardstown, 3 miles before the La Grange Lock, that evening. We did our first anchor on the river behind Bar Island. It was very peaceful and I watched the Asian Carp jump just off the south point of the island while having a scotch and cigar (Linda's Scarlett O'Hare went down in about 60 seconds!). We slept much better than I thought; we were probably just worn out.

We cleared the La Grange Lock around 8:00 AM on 9/12 after a 15 minute wait on a barge that had to be taken apart to get through (his lock through was over 2 hours, that is why we call ahead). We were making great time when we came upon a rail bridge listed at 21.1' (remember we are 17'6" and go down to 15'6" with the radar post lowered). I figured we did not have to lower the radar because we had plenty of clearance. The closer we got to the bridge, it sure looked lower than 21.1'. I slowed to idle, then to neutral, THEN to reverse! Too late, the current was taking us under the bridge regardless of height. I looked at Linda on the back area of the fly bridge and her eyes were closed waiting for the crash. Luckily only 1 ft. of the whip antennas scrapped and the radar missed by about 6 inches! The First Mate (read: Admiral), very business like, reminded the Captain that it only takes about 30 seconds to lower the radar. Enuf said.

We made it through the Hardin area only to find out that the flash flood warnings for the area were real for the rest of the way to Grafton. Full trees, logs, etc blocked our way most of the time. Radioing into Grafton and having our slip waiting for us was a true pleasure. We got here around 5 PM on Friday, 9/12. The marina has floating docks, water, electricity, pool (80 degrees), wi-fi, restaurant, sports-bar, courtesy car and 7 other Loopers. 5 inches of rain fell here from Ike on Saturday night/Sunday morning. The water level here is typically 16'; by this Wednesday 9/17 it is expected to be 27.7' (the record here is 29.0'). This flood is considered a major flood near 27', but we may not get there. Anyway, the flood will not crest down the Mississippi (near the Ohio River convergence) until Saturday/Sunday 9/20-21. We are staying put, maybe going down to Alton (15 miles) in a few days; just above St. Louis and above the Missouri River convergence. It is uglier down river.

Socially we have been spending this time with the other Loopers (7 other boats here) and had special visitors yesterday. A walleye fishing friend that grew up in Okemos and was a swimmer, Peter Bakker, his wife and mother-in-law stopped by the boat yesterday. They live in St. Charles, MO near St. Louis. We are honored to have friends like this visit and share stories (and blackberry pie and ice cream!). With a little bit of time on our hands we are hoping to get a car and visit Hannibal (Mark Twain), Alton (Lincoln Debate and a casino), St. Louis Arch, etc. Our friend Demetri will not forgive us if we don't! I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we were able to watch the MSU football game this past week-end (17-0 victory, now 2-1) in the marina's sports bar, eating appetizers and drinking beer while our season ticket buddies were in a hard rain and trying to tailgate! We felt so sorry for them.

I must go now. Linda has finished the laundry and is now starting a rumor that there is going to be a dock party this evening at 5:00. We think of you all often and hope life is good. We regret not being around at times of need for our friends and family.

Charlie (and Linda!)

Chicago

Freedom's Turn crossed over Lake Michigan from New Buffalo, Michigan to Chicago, Illinois on Tuesday, September 2. The weather was sunny and very warm and the big lake laid day down nice and quiet for us. We could not see land nor any boats for quite awhile; just like we owned the lake! Hurricane Gustav was way below us and after about a five hour cruise,we hoped we would be fine, tucked into our reserved slip at Burnham Marina, one of Chicago's eight recreational marinas on the 29 mile stretch of Chicago's riverfront.

Charlie won the bet on which one of us would see the city skyline first (6 miles-fog). Our first sightings were surrounded by the remains of a low lying fog which cast different levels of blue gray over everything; the water, sky, and city. As we entered the harbor, the buildings popped out clearly enough to see the magnificent panoramic view! Our marina had most of their of 1,140 boat slips full as we entered Burnham Marina to find our place. We soon realized that of all the boats there, the place was almost deserted; most of them were seasonal rentals and with it being after Labor Day as well as in the middle of the week, we saw just a few people on their boats.

The docks were labeled from A to Z and all had a locked gate with a code at each dock! We were at dock R and a long way to the harbormaster and the restrooms and showers on top of no one around. It was an eerie feeling.

Our marina was about a four block walk north to the Art Institute and Navy Pier and very close to Grant Park, the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum of Natural History. We first rode our bikes in Grant Park; to just get off the boat and to get a better feel for the area. We soon discovered the Shedd Aquarium was closed for the week!

The next day, Charlie really wanted a long walk. He knew I was hoping to go to one of my very favorite places: the Chicago Art Institute. So we set out walking together then separated for three hours. When we met up, I wanted pizza. We found the wonderful "Pizzeria Uno" restaurant where we enjoyed a heavenly deep dish pizza and a beer. For those of you that do not know, this restaurant is credited to be the birthplace of the deep dish pizza in the world. We were glad to have some left over for the next day. Charlie had gotten his long walk in; to the north end of Michigan Ave. as well as to the Navy Pier! Ice cream ($4.90-small scoop) was expensive at Navy Pier but Charlie's craving took over. I bet I walked closed to ten miles by the end of the day and Charlie walked even more. Charlie said that this day was all about Linda. I guess I need to try to find a way to have more of these days....

It is a good thing we got our exercise because the next day the winds and rain from Gustave hit Chicago. With 6-10 footers on the lake and very high winds, we became stranded on our boat and could not leave to go south nor did we choose to even get off our boat. We really felt alone but made the best of it with showers on the boat, a DVD and popcorn that evening. We canceled our plans for more museums and shopping.

The next morning, the waves had subsided to 2-4 ft and the wind had calmed down a bit to 15-20 knots out of the northwest so conditions were good to go. It was Friday, September 5. We went outside of our protective break wall and down two miles into the lock area which would open up for us to proceed into the Chicago River. We had an hour wait for the lock to open due to the storm the day before. Once tied up in the lock, we quickly dropped the two feet into the Chicago River. This lock is approximately 580 feet above sea level. Before we get to Mobile, Alabama we will have to go through many locks!

The Chicago River is an emerald green color and has the distinction of being the only river in the world that flows backward. Engineers reversed the river so that the city's agricultural and industrial run off did not pollute Lake Michigan, which is the source of the city's drinking water. A little farther down, we would go over a specially designed electrical field under the river that shocked fish especially the the invasive species Asian Carp;trying to prevent them from coming into Lake Michigan from the Mississippi River. We have heard stories about these carp leaping into boats and hitting boats down south of us! Yuck!

We were ready to go through the downtown under several bridges. Charlie's design and building of our radar arch support prop was in place so we could lower our radar dome and anchor light to get from our overall height of 17' 5'' to 15'5'' which was then clear enough to handle all the bridges except the Amtrak bridge which opened to let us through. If boats can't clear heights of 17 feet, they have to proceed south by another route, called the Calumet-Sag waterway near East Chicago and Whiting, Indiana. Both ways merge further south on the Illinois River

As we went under the first downtown bridge, the Lakeshore Dr. Bridge, geese were swimming along with us as if to say "now follow us south." Silently and in awe we cruised by skyscraper after skyscraper, looking up and feeling like we were just a dot in the overall picture. We did not see any other recreational boat on the the downtown part of the river that day so we felt like we owned the river as well! Charlie said it was like we were in a river canyon, looking way up at the little people walking along the walkways that lined both sides of the river. The city was moving fast and we were taking it all in while moving slow. The view from the river was so unique and today we remember this time as a 'once in a lifetime' thrill.

Our destination that day was to go about six hours and end up tied at a free city dock wall in Joilet in the afternoon.

Some Highlights of our Michigan visit

1. 
   Our Michigan highlights include: welcoming towns like South Haven, eating Michigan produce and Lake Michigan trout and whitefish fish dinners on our boat, relaxing times, beach walks, Fishtown in Leland, and biking on Beaver Island. And we have met up with other Great Loopers like us along our way! That has been fun and somewhat comforting!