Rick was the first one up this morning. The rest of us got up at 6:30 and left about 7:30. It’s another windy day in Chicago, what a surprise. We went through the river that runs through Chicago. This river was man-made and was done in 1848. The river eventually went from downtown Chicago to “industrial park-o-rama”. For 40 miles all we saw (and smelled) oil refineries, sanitation plant, sand pits, coal and mulch storage, and other “dangerous substances, no open lights, no smoking” and Caution signs all over the place. We saw liquids pour into the river that looked pretty awful. At one point, we had to get off of the front of the boat because sandy grit was blowing in all over and getting in our eyes.
The other exciting part was trying to figure out if the boat would fit underneath the bridges (the fourth picture was taken going under the bridge (from the bridge of the boat)). Going under one bridge, a chain from a light hit the bimini top on the fly bridge. We went under 55 bridges, one had to be lifted for us and we went through four lock and dams ranging from 2 feet to 40 feet. We had never been in a lock that deep before. The last lock we had to wait 3 hours, and the barge that came out of the lock kept wanting to move where we were, so they were constantly telling us to move somewhere else. We also locked with a barge, which we've never done before. Carlo had a long talk with the lock guy (from Tomah, WI) and got the scoop about a bunch of things. We didn’t see another boat for seven hours! And, I was told to add that we also went over an electric fish barrier, but I don't know what that is.
We stopped at Harbor Side Marina in Wilmington, Illinois and gassed up. $4.49 per gallon, and the guy was cracking perverted jokes that were not funny. What we must put up with! Our destination is Springbrook marina in Seneca, Illinois. The only thing we see here are boats and boat storage: no stores, no anything. We borrowed someone’s electric grill and Kip left $5.00 for their gas. Rick made a toast for a fun day. We traveled about 65 miles today. The crew is looking forward to tomorrow!
The other exciting part was trying to figure out if the boat would fit underneath the bridges (the fourth picture was taken going under the bridge (from the bridge of the boat)). Going under one bridge, a chain from a light hit the bimini top on the fly bridge. We went under 55 bridges, one had to be lifted for us and we went through four lock and dams ranging from 2 feet to 40 feet. We had never been in a lock that deep before. The last lock we had to wait 3 hours, and the barge that came out of the lock kept wanting to move where we were, so they were constantly telling us to move somewhere else. We also locked with a barge, which we've never done before. Carlo had a long talk with the lock guy (from Tomah, WI) and got the scoop about a bunch of things. We didn’t see another boat for seven hours! And, I was told to add that we also went over an electric fish barrier, but I don't know what that is.
We stopped at Harbor Side Marina in Wilmington, Illinois and gassed up. $4.49 per gallon, and the guy was cracking perverted jokes that were not funny. What we must put up with! Our destination is Springbrook marina in Seneca, Illinois. The only thing we see here are boats and boat storage: no stores, no anything. We borrowed someone’s electric grill and Kip left $5.00 for their gas. Rick made a toast for a fun day. We traveled about 65 miles today. The crew is looking forward to tomorrow!
1 comment:
Thanks again for the unbelievable trip last week. All of us had a fantastic time and have many great memories. We've been looking at our pictures wishing we were back on the water. Hope the remainder of your journey is as fun and exciting as the first was for us. Looking forward to seeing you in Lake City.
Thanks Again and God Bless!
The Henriksens
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