"Spectacular Tracks" Day 2 - Joliet to Henry Illinois

October 4, 2010

The title of today's blog, "Spectacular Tracks," stands for "A Spectacular Day" and "Making Tracks," which is the best description I could think of for what we experienced ("we" being Soph, David and Myself - Diana and Kodi will join us tomorrow in Peoria).

Here's the raw data:

• Miles Traveled: 89.4
• Cumulative Miles: 130.4
• Locks Traversed Today: 4
• Fuel Used Today: 53.7 Gallons
• Average MPG: 1.6
• Average Speed: 9.5 MPH
• Engine Hours Today: 9:56

MAKING TRACKS:

Soph elected to sleep in his own bed on Monday since his home in Naperville is only 20 minutes from Joliet.  So, after a celebratory glass of wine, his wife, Elena, picked him up at around 8:00pm and David and I sat down to a gourmet salmon dinner.

Now you might ask why would I trouble you, dear reader, with this trivial detail?  Recall from yesterday's blog that there was no power on the wall.  Well, turns out there was.  Sophocles discovered that had we proceeded under the Jefferson Street Bridge, as directed by the cruising guide, we would have had 30 amp power and, since they were there, the company of two other boats on the Great Loop.  So, lesson number one for me is to read the cruising guide's description of the "marina" word for word.  The good news is that the 16KW generator works great, powers the entire boat (which has 4 AC units and all of the appliance and entertainment systems found in a home) and is surprisingly quiet.  This is good information if we choose to anchor out occasionally.

As we departed the wall at 7:30am, Soph pointed out the power outlets as we passed the loopers tied to the wall.  Seven minutes later we arrived at the Brandon Road lock which was "open and waiting" as reported by the Lock Master when we called to advise him of our pending arrival. 30 minutes later we departed the lock having dropped another 35 feet.


Pulling into Brandon Road.  You can see the drop forward of the gate

The weather, to use flying terms, was CAVU (ceiling and visibility unlimited) and we proceeded to the Dresden Lock where we decended another 22 feet.  It too was open and waiting.  Note: Everybody who acted as my advisor warned me to expect delays at the locks of two to four hours.  This is due to the fact that commercial traffic has priority and the tows can have as many as 15 barges.  Tows of this size cannot lock through as a unit so the tug has to break them down into smaller groupings.  Given the fact that the locking process for a small boat takes 30 minutes, it is easy to understand the potential for a 4 hour wait or even more if two or more tows are waiting for lockage.

Approaching Dresden Lock

Down we go - 22ft

The Lock Master at Dresden informed us that the bridge immediately after the lock is the most hit bridge in the US, which is due to the narrow channel (115 ft) and the fact that a three wide tow is 105 feet.  In other words, the tug captain has 5 feet of clearance on each side.  Add wind, current and the length of the tow, as much as 1,200 foot length for a 15 barge tow and, well, it surprising they haven't knocked the bridge down.

The most struck bridge in America

We arrived at the Marseilles Lock, 27 miles down river at 12:35pm and it too was also open and waiting.  29 minutes later we were on our way.  Three down, with no wait.  WOW. 

Our luck changed, but only slightly, when we arrived at the Starved Rock Lock.  Here we has to wait as they lifted an upbound 6 barge tow (two wide three long) which had just entered.  The Lock Master instructed us to "hang" off a cell (a round steel structure used by tows waiting for their turn for lockage).  This was a new experience (see photo below).  Soph had a little difficulty gettingt the line around the bollard and it was a good thing there was not alot of wind. (see photo below).  So, we waited one hour, which was just fine.  19 feet and 25 minutes later we departed for our final leg to the Landings at Henry Harbor.

Soph decided to go "ashore."  David holding a fender to keep us off the "cell"

Descending Starved Rock tied to a floating bollard

All in all, four locks and a one hour delay was not bad.

We departed Starved Rock at 3:32pm.  Our destination, The Landings at Henry Harbor, was 35 miles down river or approxmately 3.5 hours away cruising at 9.5 MPH.  This would put us into the Marina at sunset, 6:45pm, which we achieved by runnning at 20 mph for 30 minutes to make up time.

On the old lock wall.  It got very dark as we were tying up

THE EXPERIENCE

River cruising is an entirely new experience for us.  Heretofore, the only river cruising we did was an occasional trip through the city on the Chicago River, with a turn-around at River City (about two miles) and trips down the Calumet to Marine Services, where we pass endless industry (coal, scrap metal, barges and grain storage towers, etc.).  Needless to say, the trips through the city are spectacular and the trips on the Calumet are not pretty.

The Chicago Lock is not fun to traverse.  Despite only  a 1-2 foot lift, the lock requires at least three people.  Two on deck holding on to lines and one at the helm.  The Chicago Lock is operated by opening the doors and letting water flow in or out depending on which way you are going.  This causes a current that requires the person at the helm to make constant adjustments so that the people on decks don't fight with lines or worse let them go (not good with lots of traffic).  The Calumet Lock works on the same principle and has barge traffic.

By contrast, the rest of the locks (Lockport, Brandon Road, Dresden, Marsellies, Starved Rock and LaGrange) operate differently and are much easier and only require two people.  Lifting and descending is accomplished by letting water in our out through piper in the center of the locks floor.  Essentially, the boat sits still while going up or down.

The river itself is peaceful and calm as compared to Lake Michigan which can get extremely rough very fast with a change in wind direction or speed.  The photos below capture the experience.  Lots of Forrest, a few marinas, lots of barges, occasional Asian Carp and other sites that break the monotony.

Typical scenery

The deer trim the bottom of the trees at no cost to the State

Springbrook Marine, Ottowa, Illinois - The Carver Dealer

Passing a barge on "one whistle" (port to port)

A tour boat in the Starved Rock area

A commercial site

We cruised along at 10.0 MPH burning .gallons per, which translates into 2.5 miles per gallon.  Not bad for moving a 34,500 lb two bedroom, two bath floating home.  The 10 MPH speed is relaxing.  Things happen slowly so debris and shoals can be easily avoided.  And the music sounds good at low engine RPMs (1040 at 10 MPH).