First Day on the River

October 5, 2001 - First Day on the River

After a couple of warm, beautiful days in Chicago where we relaxed and saw the play The Full Monty, we left port for the rivers at 9:00 A.M. Twenty or so sailboats lined up to enter the Chicago lock on a cool, cloudy day. It was a little hairy the first time learning what to do, but all went smoothly and we were on our way, looking at all the spectacular Chicago buildings - really something to see. Quickly tho' we were seeing the industrial part of the city with its many bridges and barge type businesses - not nearly as pretty as the busy downtown, but very interesting. One Amtrak bridge had to be opened for us; we could go under all the rest. At 2:30 we entered the Lockport Lock, and it's getting rainier and colder every minute, so we had to put on more layers of clothes and we turned on the furnace below so Bev and I could warm up.

Now the excitement begins. About 4:00 pm we arrive at the Brandon Road Lock and were told to get out of the way as several barges were ahead of us. The only place to tie up to get out of the way was an old junk yard. Two other boats were tied up there also. We were still waiting at 5:30, so we turned around and started back to Joliet, with hopes of finding someplace to stay for the night. It's dark now and still raining and very cold. A barge was stuck along the side of a bridge so we couldn't pass him, so we turned around again and went back towards the Brandon Lock just in time for the lock master to tell us that we could finally enter and go through - it's now 6:30. We entered and held the lines in the freezing rain while we dropped 34'. Now what to do and where to go. No place to stay for miles. We had now violated Bills pledge, which was to be in port each day well before dark in order to have a nice dinner and get organized for the next day. This sure was an exciting but a little scary initiation to river travel. The next marina is 13 miles away and we're cold, wet, hungry and tired. Tom and Bill had to follow the green and red markers and charts very carefully to guide us as the river curved around this way and that. Things that looked like shopping malls in the dark, turned out to be barges - some moving and some not. Obviously we had to stay out of their way. This was a pretty intense time for all of us for it took all 8 eyes to spot the markers. Finally we arrived at the Harborside Marina at 8:20 and managed to tie up to the gas dock for the night. Cold , wet and relieved to be in port, we fixed a simple supper of salad and chili, had a glass of wine, a hot shower and fell into bed.

As the weather on Friday is forecast to be just like today, Captain Bill made the decision to stay at Harborside for a day and start out again on Saturday when they say it will be still cold, but dry, I hope.

P.S. We found out later that the barges that held us up at the Brandon Road Lock had sunk at the entrance to the lock earlier in the day. We saw the barge tied up there, but didn't realize that it had sunk there. It made the exit from the lock very narrow. Very interesting.