Quiet First Day on the River

Yesterday was such an amazing day and the place we stopped for the night, Harborside Marina (MM 273.5) has extremely strong internet so I can post many pictures this morning before we start for the day.  The marina has room for one or two large boats on its gas dock which is where we parked for the night, water depth of 7' and we were able to get shore power and walk around a bit so we were very thankful there wasn't a boat here already when we arrive last night around 5:00 pm.  

The journey down the river is measured in miles in the guidebooks, sort of like the Florida Keys are.  We started at MM 327.4 at the Chicago Lock yesterday morning.  We arrived at the lock at 8:00 am to pass through with another looper boat SnowCat only to learn from the lockmaster that the river is closed in downtown Chicago from 10 after to 40 after every hour for a movie that is being filmed.  We just waited out in the lake until 8:30 at which time the lockmaster let us pass through.  Only a 2' drop in the first lock.  Once through we saw the movie camera's on the side of the river.

In total we passed through 3 locks yesterday dropping 2', 40' and then 34' and the lock delays were minimal:  30 min, 45 min and 10 min.  We went under approximately 64 bridges.  Some of bridges were sooooooooooooo close.  Bert reached up and touched his hands to one of them as we passed under.  The bridges in Chicago were full of pedestrians and we could hear their feet as we passed under many of them.
On one bridge we noticed a man that just stopped to watch us pass.  He had on his suit and his briefcase.  Bert called up to him to jump on and come with us and the guy said:  "I wish I could".  At that moment, I knew we made the right choice to just do this trip now.

We passed by barges/tows too.  Fortunately the "10 miles of Hell" as loopers call it where commercial traffic is heavy and the canal narrow was light on traffic yesterday and we passed right through.  The AIS part of electronics system Bert selected and installed was fantastic because when we had to hail another captain on the radio, we could call the vessel by name because the AIS system provides the name of the vessel.  It also tells us if the vessel is moving, at what speed and which direction, either up or down river.

Once we left Chicago, the river was pretty industrial/commercial and then it turned rural.  This morning it is quiet and there is a great view out the window of the river and trees.  When I opened the blinds this morning there were even two swans swimming just outside the window.  With the windows open all we can hear are the birds.  Just beautiful!

We have no idea where we will end up today but we are hoping to get to Peoria, IL by Wednesday or Thursday.  We have 2 or 3 locks again today to pass through.  Now for the pictures.

Heading for Chicago Lock

Passing our first tow right in Chicago

One of the bascule bridges

The next one is a video of the 10' clearance Amtrak Rail Road Lift Bridge at MM 323.5.  I'd never seen a lift bridge before so I took a short video of it.  Once we hailed the bridge, up it went so we could pass through.

River view once we left Chicago

The marina we stayed at has floating houses.  Below is a picture of one right in front of us at the gas dock.  The view off the aft deck was much better.  More like the one above.  Sitting on the aft deck last night we just saw the river and the trees.  Until dark, when the Coke machine on the gas dock provided us illumination.

View from the bridge of our boat

Radar Mast, part of the canvas and the flag back in place!