North Star on the Great Loop Journey: Joliet, Illinois

We left Chicago under sunny skies and calm winds and the day soon became a very hot one. It was still 35 degrees at 8:00 pm. Our new challenge on the river is the locks and barge traffic. We prefer it to the waves and rollers of Lake Michigan.
The locks are quite large with floating bollards to which you tie your boat with a line midship. We do have to give way to commercial traffic but we did not have to wait long yesterday. We only had to contact two tow boat Captains to ask for instructions. They tell us what side to pass them on or where to wait while they maneuver the barges around.
The Illinois river runs through the heart of Chicago with a great view of the ornate buildings. You then go through an industrial area that is less picturesque. We only had to have one Amtrak railway bridge lifted since we can clear all the rest of the many bridges. We could not raise the bridge master on the VHF radio so we asked a passing Chicago Police boat to call them for us. It turns out we were calling them Conrail bridge instead of Amtrak which is what the cruising guide had the name listed as.

The rest of the Illinois river which turns into the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal winds through forest with low crumbelling granite walls. It looks a lot like the Erie Canal with the same brownish colour water. It does not look like a river you would swim in.

We went over the electric fence that is in place to keep the Asian carp from getting into the Great Lakes. It is in the Chicago Sanitary Canal before Joliet. There is a large sign advising boaters to call the Coast Guard on VHF 16 when you approach the under water fence. They tell you that it is a no wake zone, no passing other boats, no going through when there is an other boat in the area. The area is maked by an arch and the end is at a bridge where there is a sign telling you hat you are leaving the fence zone. We were not told to turn off our electronics but we did anyway. A fellow looper was told that they are not allowed to pull a dinghy but they let them do it this time.

We are tied to a free wall in Joliet with access to power but no water or showers. The Harbour master and his wife came to welcome us as we arrived and offered to take us to the grocery store. Our fellow loopers declined but I accepted this gracious offer and went off with Brenda to the supermarket. Thank you so much Brenda and Dale.
It is really hot and humid again today so we will stay put and tackle the locks when the weather cools a bit.