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!)
