A Different Pace

The rivers are a totally different kind of adventure than the Great Lakes.  We left Dusable Harbor before the other Loopers but had a 12 mile run to get to the entrance to the Cal Sag Channel.  Once there we were immediately engulfed in heavy industry and scrap metal yards on both sides of the river.  Not 20 minutes later we encountered our first barge.  I just saw the front of the barge coming around the corner but could not see the tug that was pushing it.  It was a tight corner so I held back away from the side that the barge was aiming for.  I thought a smart move but when the tow captain saw me I heard some uncomplimentary comments about what idiot would stop on a bend.  Fortunately, thanks to my segway partner, I was monitoring the tow captains' channel and promptly asked were the tow captain would like me.  He told me very nicely to tuck in behind a barge that was tied up and informed me that his back end would be swinging my way for the next turn.  It turned out that my thinking would have been OK if I had not been in the middle of an S curve in very tight quarters.  Anyway, no harm, no foul.

Barges were frequent but I quickly learned to call the tow captain and ask where he would like me to go to stay out of his way.  This all worked fine but I was busier than a one armed paper hanger.  You see Linda was down with the same, real, flu that I had 2 days earlier.  I was checking the clearance of each bridge and keeping track of exactly where I was so that I could hail the correct tow captain.  For example: Lake bound tow captain approaching the 95th Street bridge this is the pleasure craft....you get the picture.  Eventually, the traffic slowed down and it was a boring trip to the junction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.  My trip down the Cal Sag was about one and a half hours longer than the trip through downtown Chicago.  I could hear the other Loopers dodging traffic but had no idea that the canal was so narrow until I got there and met my first barge.  We both had to go very close to the walls of the canal in order to squeeze by.  There were barges all over the place.  Most were tied to the side while others were inside slip openings.  It was busy and interesting once again.  This is also where the fish barrier is located.  It is a non issue right now.  If it was not for the signs that you were entering and leaving the fish barrier, you would not know.

The first lock on the Cal Sag Channel was similar to the Iroquois Lock on the St. Lawrence River.  It is a leveling lock that only drops about 2 feet so you do not even tie up, you just float or hover until the gates open.  Our timing sucked for the first real lock.  A barge was just entering from below as we arrived so we had about a 45 minute delay.  We were able to tie up to a wall just above the dam.  It is not anything like the Trent-Severn or Rideau systems in Ontario where a wall is supplied to tie up to.  This was a wall leading to the dam with no cleats or bollards.  We did manage to tie onto a railing that was barely reachable.  Inside the lock we tied up to a floating bollard, or "floaters" as the lockmasters call them, and had a very gentle ride down the 40 foot drop.  Nothing like the Seaway Locks.  The staff helped get the line over the bollard and the ride was calm, slow and without any currents or eddies.  The walls of the lock were also smooth and clean so it was unnecessary to keep the boat off the wall.  Two fenders did the trick easily.

Coming out of the lock there were 4 bridges that were very low.  I aimed for between the support girders and ended up having about 12 inches of clearance over my radar unit.  I had plenty of help at the town wall where we were staying because happy hour had already begun for the 5 Looper boats that were already there.

We made it to Joliet, IL.  Linda got up from her bed on the helm and went to bed.