9/12/14: Ottawa, Il to Peoria, Il.  – 64NM. Our departure time this morning was coordinated with the next Lockmaster. Coordination paid off. We arrived at the Lock and almost immediately got to go in. Three other Loopers;  Blue Moon, As the Crow Flies, & Pura Vida locked through with us.

As of today the Mississippi River is at flood stage so no Loopers can go south. So the marinas south of us are all booked & some over booked. We have a marina to stay at tonight & hope they will let us stay until we can go south.

9/8/14: Joliet, Il – Ottawa, Il – 40 NM to Heritage Harbor Marina. We did 3 locks today and all went fairly quick.  Our arrival at Heritage Marina upped the count of Looper boats to 20. 

Along the way we saw some beautiful birds.

American Eagle

This is a GREAT MARINA. The staff is excellent, restaurant onsite, & free loaner vehicles (no time limit). During our stay here we were able to reprovision, get haircuts, etc. Perhaps the best of all….. BREAKFAST AT CRACKER BARREL…..ahhhhhh.

The weather (are you picking up on the bad weather theme) kept us at the dock. In anticipation of 20 Looper boats all leaving the following day, we had a Loopers meeting. Fifteen boats decided to leave out, with 11 going to Peoria and 4 anchoring out. We decided to wait another day before we headed out.

9/7/14: Hammond  Marina – Joliet, Il – 43 NM. There has been lots of chatter about work on the Cal Sag Channel regarding the 106 Bridge, a sunken Tug, & the fish barrier. We didn’t encounter any workers or problems so were glad we picked a Sunday to leave Hammond Marina & enter the Cal Sag Channel. Some Loopers behind us experienced delays of 2 or more hours.

ELECTRIC FISH BARRIER

LARGE TUGS ON THE CALUMET

We went through two locks between Lake Michigan and Joliet, Il. The longest wait we had was 1 hour at the last lock. The previous day, Endeavor had to wait 5+ hours at the last lock. Thanking God for a quick lock day.

Waiting At Lock Wall with other Loopers

Miss Hadley Locking 

The locks on the Illinois River have “bollards” to tie up to. Wrap one line around the bollard as the water goes down so does the bollard. Much easier than all the previous locks we have encountered.

Bollard

We spent a quiet night with 9 other Looper boats at the free Joliet City wall (free electric).

9/6/14:  We spent 4 days at the Hammond Marina (next to the Casino) just south of the Calumet Sag Channel on Lake Michigan. The weather turned bad for a couple of days delaying our departure until 9/7/14.

We decided to take the Calumet Sag Channel & not go through downtown Chicago. John on Endeavor left Hammond Marina a couple of days early, went to Chicago and took the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal. We will meet up in Joliet, Il.