Hurry Up and Wait ... The Ending is the Best Part

Day 111  |  Joliet to Ottawa |  9 Hours  |  40 Miles  |  3 Locks

Our fleet of seven Looper boats left the Joliet wall at 7:00, paused briefly for a bridge opening, and then entered the Brandon Road Lock. We were able to get Crossroads tied to a floating bollard, which we prefer as its a single point of attachment and requires no line adjustment during the lift. I only had to make sure the bollard slid downward on its 34-foot track and that the line did not get pinched. This bollard was a little sticky and required a bit of assistance to get moving on its way. As usual, the view of the lock wall from the stern was not the best, but the egret that came to sit on the sill was a nice treat.

It may sound like a fisherman's dream, but the invasive Asian carp do jump out of the water and onto boats. If you become their landing pad, you must secure them for proper disposal and not return them to the water. Our journey down the DesPlaines River took us by many sights that would become commonplace during our day -- barges, waterfowl, and industry. At several points along the way, old rusted-out barges laid sadly along the shore, some even had trees growing in them.

More typical of our barge encounters were massive assemblies of up to nine barges (3x3) being pushed by a single tug. Another egret stood in shallow water in search of fish. Three Loopers led the way as we neared the Exxon-Mobil plant.

For all the industrial use of this river, it must be pretty healthy and well-stocked with fish. Another egret camped out on the marshy eastern shoreline. We passed under the Historic Route 66 Bridge (now Interstate 55). Yes, we mentioned the song and hoped to get our kicks, but it wasn't even marked with a sign. Oh, well. Maybe one day we'll drive the entire route in Barry's Corvette or a land yacht. A few miles downstream, the Des Plaines and Kankakee Rivers merged to form the Illinois River. We began to see more fishermen out and about. These guys were pulled deeply into the water lilies.

Duck blinds fashioned from pontoon boats and small travel trailers began to pop up. To me this shot reminded me of the crows sitting on the scarecrow. Harborside Marina is primarily a little development for Harbor Huts. These look to be higher-end cousins to the Aqua Lodges found on Broad Creek back home.

We entered the 20-foot Dresden Lock, and found yet another way to make passage. This one dropped us 3/8-inch polypropylene lines which were really too small for our cleats and ended up being barely long enough by the end of the cycle. We survived with only a few choice words shared between crew and moved on, only to meet more barge traffic.

We passed a sheep ranch (a first for us) and reached the staging area for the Marseilles Lock at 2:30 in the afternoon. The AIS information on the chartplotter showed that there was one tug/barge in the lock (Tom Berenger), and two waiting in front of us (Wisconsin and Mallard). We knew we'd have a wait so our flotilla, which had grown to nine boats, dropped anchors and proceeded to kill time in various ways. Wow, look, more egrets and herons.

Our anticipated three hour wait came and went. We could see that two additional barges had staged themselves for upward passage. Commercial traffic has priority over personal vessels here. We fixed dinner and ate it in the pilot house as we kept anchor and AIS watches for movement. The Loopers were all beginning to get restless and radio chatter was nonstop. Barry was monitoring three stations and the squelch could not be turned down far enough. Four hours passed and still no word from the lockmaster. Five hours passed. Mallard finally entered the chamber and all the Loopers pulled up anchor and formed a line because its so much better to sit idling close together in a cross wind and current at dusk than to be safely anchored for little a while longer.  ;-)  The nice sunset had concluded and darkness descended. I received a text from Terri aboard Change of Pace (a fellow Selene 43) who was staying at our destination marina. She sent me a photo of what we'd see when we arrived and assured us that she and Jeff would help us with our lines. That helped tremendously to ease our angst.

At 8:30 we entered the lock. We tied up to a floating bollard and Felix, a 42-foot power cat rafted up to us. The 26-drop was uneventful and seemed to take much longer than it actually did. The lock gates opened and all nine of us exited out in single file into the darkness. We still had over two miles to go. A huge shout-out to Heritage Harbor Marina for their efforts in getting all of us in safely. They sent a small boat into the river, directing us into the harbor. A staffer talked each boat to their slip as we filed in. All the employees stayed late and recruited plenty of hands to assist. I'm not sure if I ever did notice the houses lit up on the hill, but I sure noticed Terri and Jeff who tied us up safely around 9:30. We had been on the water for 14.5 hours. I was so anxious to get off the boat that I did so with my life jacket and gloves still on. (I did remove my headset.) A nice hug from Terri was a perfect end to a very long day. We chatted for a few minutes, but quickly called it a night after deciding that we needed an additional day here in Ottawa to recover, walk and explore.