September 28th
On 9/16 we left Lake Michigan on the Calumet River and cruised
to Joliet. In Joliet we tied up to the city wall for the night.
Our Flotilla group walked to an Irish Pub for dinner and we
headed off the next day. This section of the river is very industrial. We
encountered many barges and passed large factories along the river. We have
learned on these commercial rivers there are trains that run 24 hours a day alongside
of the river. We have become very familiar with the “Choo Choo” sound. As we
continue down the river we are still met with many locks that have to be
navigated along with some bridges that have to be opened for us to pass through.
We soon entered the Illinois River and headed south. Carp have become an invasive species in this
area of the river system and, if they reached Lake Michigan, could cause devastation
to the fishing industry. In order to address this problem, they have created an
electrical field in the river. There are signs warning boaters to wear life
preservers in this area and to stay out of the water. We are not sure what the
life preserver would do for us if we fell into the water and were electrocuted
but we followed their directions. We have heard many stories about how the carp
jump out of the water into the air and even jump into boats. Our Looper friends,
April and Rio, who are traveling ahead of us have actually had several carp
jump into their boat as they we cruising.
On 9/17th we stopped in Heritage Harbor in
Ottawa, Illinois for 2 days. This allowed us time for grocery shopping, docktails with friends and to take
a quick break from cruising.
Between 9/19 and 9/23 we moved down the river and stayed a
night in Henry, Peoria, Havana, Beardstown and Hardin. Several of our nights
were spent tied up to old rusted barges and docks. Not very esthetic to say the
least but gave us a place for the night when marinas were not available. This
is when we appreciate having a generator so we can run our AC.
To our delight we were treated with many siting's of bald eagles
along the river.
On Tuesday, September 24th we arrived in Grafton
Harbor Marina in Grafton. Illinois. It is a nice marina on the shore of a small
town. We were able to borrow their courtesy car and drove 30 minutes to a
Walmart. Then, back at the Marina, Jack, Evan, Michael and I took a chair
lift up to a Winery for lunch. It afforded us a beautiful view of how the
Illinois River meets the upper Mississippi River. One evening we also had time
to have docktails aboard the Happy Giraffe with a group of fellow Loopers.
After 2 nights in Grafton we took off, leaving the Illinois River and entering the
Mississippi River.
So far, this part of the Mississippi has been beautiful with
lush trees and cliffs along the river. Something like a Mississippi version of
the Hudson River Palisades
On September 26th, after a short 2.5 hour cruise
we arrived in Alton, Il. Our 3 boat flotilla crews decided to spend three days
here and wait out the anticipated rainy weather from hurricane Helene .It started raining during the
night and has been raining steadily all day. So, with no other excuse, after we
checked in with family and friends who sat out the Hurricane in Florida and
Georgia, I have been cleaning the inside of the boat and took a break to catch
up on our blog.
And of course we have to sample the ice cream in every port!
We hope you all survived the Hurricane well! We are off again in the morning,
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