Illinois River, Locks and... its the little things

We were the only boat on the Chicago River.

Bill and I left Chicago on 9/15 after an amazing few days in this glorious city.  So I humbly confess that I have been an ocean snob.  Wrong!  Chicago is laid out along Lake Michigan, and the Lake and Chicago River are integral to life here in this “inland” Midwestern City.  Thousands of boats line the waterfront, sailboat races are almost nightly, and the waterfront parks attract walkers, runners and bikers.  We leave the Great Lakes with so much respect and admiration.

A fellow Looper captured our boat
on the Illinois River.

So we set out early on a foggy Sunday morning and for ten or so minutes, faced the wildest waters we have yet seen on this trip. We safely made it through the Chicago lock and the entrance to the Chicago River which took us right through downtown, under 18 bridges, past historic buildings and glittering sky scrapers. The fog finally lifted as we passed the Sears (Willis) Tower.

There is a section of the Illinois River electrified to keep
Asian Carp out of the Great Lakes.  

As the skyscrapers fade away, huge industrial facilities begin to come into view in notable contrast. The river is no longer green blue, but is now a dark, opaque brown.  It is known as the Illinois Waterway with several named rivers before becoming the Illinois River.  We have 5 locks to get through before the locks close for two weeks for repairs.  Many fellow loopers are in the same race.  We are in communication with these boats by VHF radio and with an app called NEBO.  We have this last race to run before we can finally slow down and not be in a rush.  We got through the Lockport Lock, the first of these 5 locks,  and then spent the night rafted to another Looper boat against the Joliet wall. The wall has a capacity of only 12 or so boats, but we are doubled up since no recreational boats were allowed through the locks today.  Getting through the next four locks is now a challenge, as we are competing with river barges which are also trying to beat the lock closures.

Thus was the view from our roof of our Looper caravan
of boats in the Brandon Lock on the Illinois River.

The next morning, 2 of the Looper boat captains have taken charge of this caravan. They are in communication with the lockmasters and with each of us and are organizing how we can fit efficiently into these 600’ x100’ locks, the first one being Brandon Lock.  We have a green light for a 6:30 am departure.  Kudos to these two captains, as they calmly repeated instructions multiple times to these sometimes nervous pleasure boat captains. Our little boat was called to the front of the pack. Ultimately, about 28 boats fit in beautifully, rafted together in rows of 5 or 6 boats. This whole process took about 3 hours. Then on to Dresden Lock.  We got to the dam and had to wait on anchor for an hour or two to be called for passage. This time, the lockmaster only allowed 12 boats in, leaving the remainder of the boats to wait another few hours for the next opening.  We went through in the first group because our small boat allowed us to be right down front in the lock.

We didn't take this picture of Asian Carp, but I wanted to give
you an idea of what these fish can do,.

That day we made it through 1 more lock, Marseilles Lock, with Bill being the 12-boat convoy contact with the lockmaster.  We  finally tied up at the town dock in Ottawa, Illinois.  We had done 3 locks and 48 miles in 11 hours.  Coming into this dock, we turned up into a rapid current of a small river dumping into the Illinois.  As we are coming in, and I am outside the boat preparing the lines, I hear something huge fall off the top of the boat.  As I am trying to figure out what fell, I then see a huge fish leaping about 8’out of the water next to our boat. Maybe I screamed? Anyway, we get tied up to this rickety dock with the help of the couple already tied and he explains that we have seen an Asian carp, an invasive species that is a terrible nuisance in the Illinois. Look this up on YouTube and you will understand why I might have screamed.  Apparently they were stirred up by our outboard motor, and it is not uncommon for these fish to jump into boats.

The lower half of the Illinois River is serene and sparsely populated.

The next morning, we get through the last of the 5, Starved Rock Lock, with little difficulty.  We immediately turn on our 10 hp motor and raise our big motor.  We had been speeding along so far to stay up with the pack. We can finally slow down, stop racing the clock, or the tricky waves on Lake Michigan, or the lock closures.  As a fellow Looper put it, we feel like we have broken out of prison. Now, everyone can pass us. Our focus on the Illinois had been getting through, and we had not been terribly focused on where we were or what we were seeing. This all now changed.

Here I am in the courtroom where
Lincoln (see painting) argued the
famous Almanac Trial.

Many houses in Hardin were
surrounded by sandbags but still
severely damaged by the flood.

Our eyes were now opened to our surroundings. We hadn’t gotten off our boat in our lock race. We now got off most every day to see the little river towns, see the sites that the locals are proud of, eat the local fare and meet a few very kind people. We can tell you that Abe was everywhere along the Illinois. He won the famous Almanac Trial in Beardstown and represented clients throughout this section of Illinois.  There will be more on Lincoln in our next post.

The donuts were the best!

We had amazing fresh doughnuts from the Mexican Bakery in Beardstown. We had the best dinner of our trip at Mel’s Illinois River Dock Restaurant  in Hardin.

Houses up against the river are on stilts.

We talked to the locals about last spring’s flooding and levee breech resulting in the River rising 40 feet.  The bridge that services this close-knit town was closed for over two months, and the main road through town was only passable after it was raised many feet with gravel. 

Logsdon Tug Service rents out dock space amongst all its
gear and commercial activity.  Salty Paws is dwarfed by
its surroundings.

The ramp to the dock at Mel's Restaurant is not something
that we crossed in confidence, but we loved the town.

We tied up to a barge operation in Beardstown that words can’t describe. We will just say that this dock would have been condemned in Maine, and probably most anywhere else.  People we talked to were so friendly and welcoming. Some of the accents we heard (We don’t have accents in Maine!) were almost not interpretable.

Fortunately, the barge traffic was very light.  Here we
moved to "left descending bank" to await the middle
barge to pass between the two stationary barges. 

The River winds gently downstream. It is remarkable what you can see when you are cruising at a slow 7 mph. We saw countless birds, including eagles, white pelicans, white and blue herons and ducks. Trees come right up to river, with an occasional opening where we could see what was either rich farmland or grass growing in the levees no longer filled with water because of the breach.  We saw almost no houses or other buildings along the River.

We passed an occasional barge, but the traffic seemed to be slow, perhaps due to the lock closures. We always reached out to the tow captains asking if we could pass them on our  “ones” (our port) or the “twos” (our starboard) and they were always kind and respectful.

One of the most magical times of our cruise happened as we were about to leave the Illinois River to join the Mississippy.  We passed throug a migration of white pelicans.  There had to be thousands of them.  They fly in V or line formation and were filling the river and banks ahead of us.  Absolutely breath taking.  Now, on to the Mississippi.

White pelicans in flight.  60% of the migrating birds in North
America are said to follow the Mississippi south.

More white pelicans, or pellies as we call these beautiful, distinctive birds.

Time seems to stand still in many of these small communities.

I got a little nervous when this tug pulled up and stopped just
a foot or two shy of hitting Salty Paws.

The barges are all 35' by 105' and 15 can be rafted together,
3 across by 5 long.  The ones here are empty and secured to
the shore waiting new assignments once the locks re-open
on October 5th.  We passed hundreds of these stationary
barges.

There are few houses right on the Illinois River, and those
that do exist are on stilts.