Progress so far

Posted bykurthermann 6 Comments on Progress so far

For the last 3 days Sue and I have been trying to get back into boat life and learn the river systems. Our boat has lots of storage but only a small percentage is easily accessible. We’ve been digging deep into the back storage areas looking for the most basic of items that would have taken seconds to find at home. We’re getting it all figured out.

Running the rivers is different than being out in big water. We’re encountering more commercial traffic and it’s hard to give them a wide berth in such tight confines. Pleasure craft have the lowest ranking in passing through the locks. At times, you may have to wait several hours for your turn to lock through. We’ve been going down the rivers with 3 other loopers. We’re the only sail boat and they cruise comfortably at 7.5 knots. I can do 7.5 knots, but I’m pushing it so we can stay together and catch the locks together.

As for the trip, day 1 was motoring from Waukegan to Hammond, where we topped off fuel and then anchored at the mouth of the Calumet River. Day 2 we entered the Calumet, passed through 2 locks, and tied up to the free wall in downtown Joliet. Day 3 was 3 locks from Joliet to Heritage Harbor Marina in Ottawa Illinois.

So far, we’ve been very fortunate with the locks because we’re getting locked through right away. But today, we’re parting ways. The locks are getting further, some wanted to spend extra time sight seeing or getting repairs done and I can’t keep up speed wise.

A tight squeeze passing the tows on the river.
All that keeps the Asian Carp out of the Great Lakes.
Sue doing a perfect job handling the boat while we lock down.
In this lock we rafted up to another boat. Sue doing a great job controlling our boat.
The tows are starting to get larger as we make our way down the river.

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    1. Normally, I would like to travel at least 8 hours a day. As you can probably see from the map, we haven’t. There are 2 reasons for this: 1) The water levels are very low and we have few anchorages and marinas we can get into. Sometimes, we have to stop early because we can’t make it to the next anchorage. 2) Locks. We have been very fortunate with getting locked through quickly. We’re in Peoria already had haven’t waiting on a single lock yet.

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  4. looks like you guys are having a good time. I envy you. Hope the rest of your voyage is smooth. —Hal Shanafield

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