aded for the Chicago Lock at the head of our Rivers Trip South. Mark helped Debbie learn how to grab a rope on the side of the lock and hold on tight while holding the boat off the wall. We learned not to do anything until instructed by the lock keeper. As soon as we passed through this first lock, we traveled 39 miles to Joliet with a bridge in sight in front of us or behind. We never realized from land just how many bridges there are!Tom liked to sit up on the roof while driving and steer with his feet--a Great View!
Our first bridge was Lake Shore Drive. In the Chicago area there is a street name on every bridge.
Our guide book tells us the exact clearance of each. Just to be sure we knew the height of our demasted boat and the bridge clearance, Tom and Mark got out a measuring tape and began figuring. They measured how high the boat sat above the water and added
the highest part of the horizonal mast (10 1/2 feet). Then they stood on top of the boat and measured up to a couple of passing bridges and compared our Waterway Guide Book's statistics. Some men never grow up - thank goodness - the book was right!Tour boats lined parts of the Chicago River waiting for tourists.
The silver colored building (above) on the right is being build by Don Trumpy. There is another building near the Navy Pier that it is rumored Oprah Winfrey owns two whole floors! Further inland is another building where the architect slanted each glass panel so that the buildings around it formed designs on that building. Next time you are in Chicago take a river boat tour!
This is what it looks like from the underside of a low bridge! Someone should count all the stories in Chicago.
A few flowers along a balcony or walkway added color to this deep in wa
terway. Sometimes boats in front of condo buildings told us about the residents.To soon we left the high rise buildings behind and enter the Sanitary and Ship Canal. This is a canal that was man built from the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River and runs through petroleum storage, building materials (sand and gravel) and even sewage and landfill areas. Let's just say it was industrial.
One bridge we could not pass under was the 10.5 foot Amtrak Bridge about 10 miles into our day. Mark called the bridge on the VHF radio a couple times with no results. He said sometimes they hear us but don't answer. We never heard from the bridge keeper the whole 45 miles Tom back-motored Catrina as we waited for the bridge to go up! However, we did see a number of
trains pass over the bridge so maybe our wait was justified.Barges and Locks were another learning experience and we were so happy to Mark guide us. We will cover those subjects another day.
We also had to stop about 10 minutes for clearance from the Corp of Engineers who were we think using an electric barrier to stop Asian Carp from entering Lake Michigan.
Just before we reach Joliet we passed through the Lockport Lock and entered the Des Plaines River.
After passing under three bridges in Joliet we reached the Tie-Up Wall just below the Bicentennial Park. We discovered four boats already tied up and when we pulled in they appeared and grabbed our anchor lines. After introductions we accepted a dinner invitation to join everyone at Harrah's smorgasboard--Ellen and Woody, Marge and Larry, Barb and Ken and of course the three of us - Tom, Mark and Debbie. Linda and Jack (we met in St. Joseph) were also here but they were out on the town already.
