The last few days of challenging seas behind us, we have Chicago in sight! We arrived on Sept. 24 as Eric noted in his last entry. The height of our boat dictates that we take a secondary route to the east of the city, as opposed to dissecting the city core (which would have been a treat). Nonetheless, we are all too happy to be off the big water and onto calm rivers & canals.
While we expected to face many large barges, we were surprised to find mile after mile of barges 'parked' alongside various supply yards. Not to mention all of the tug boats pushing barges (some are several football fields long), that we need to be forever diligent to navigate carefully around.
We have been surprised by the number and different types of bridges we have encountered for the past two days. Last night we tied up along the riverfront in Joliet, IL. The beautiful bridge behind us is a lift bridge and we have to radio ahead to each bridge requesting a 'lift'. The town of Joliet provides complimentary overnight mooring with hydro! The bonus was that tapped into the free municipal WiFi as well!
Another nice surprise has been the number of lovely waterfalls along the river. Lots of folks out fishing and picnicking on these last warm days of summer (it was high 20's yesterday). Today we hope to make Ottawa, IL, and depending on how we do through the locks, we should be there for dinner. Off we go!
