Not brief but a good briefing

Today was a pretty easy day with one exception. That would be the nearly 4 -hour delay getting through the Marseilles lock. When we called the lockmaster about a half an hour out he let us know that he was just starting to work a commercial barge and it would take several hours. He asked that we anchor at a spot a mile or so away. Which we were glad to do. The five boats each picked a spot to drop the hook, and then we just waited. Deb and I both got some music practice and and then I crashed for a while to try and catch up on a little sleep.

Fortunately, the Heritage Harbor Marina turned out to be a delightful place that has close ties to the Alton Marina that will be First Light's home. We were also able to attend a briefing on the route down the river. Something very helpful since we haven't been this way before. Bryce is a life-long river captain, and is now the TowBoat Captain who knows the river. It was very helpful but also reinforced something that I have started to realize. Hard-core river travel isn't really “pleasure boating”.  It is more like mountain climbing. You don't do it for fun. Also, and to to my surprise, there are long stretches of the river that are much more remote than I would have guessed seeing that we are in the middle of the populated part of the country. Services are few and far between and some careful planning is required. Something I don't recall as being much of an issue when we did the ICW in Kintala. But we are in the final stretch and home is feeling really close.

MV Finito, our traveling companion.

We tie up to these floating bollards that slide down inside this channel as the water drains out.

A cool floating tiny home community

The morning departure from the free wall in Joliet

Off the Lake

We crossed the time zone late yesterday without realizing it. So we were up and moving before first light this morning. Which worked out okay since we were already under way when the sun first broached the horizon. Shortly after that, we were officially off the lake and into the river system. For the most part it was easy and fun even though much of the route was one industrial sight after another and a constant stream of bridges. Forty-eight bridges to be exact. We also passed port to port to a couple of barges where there wasn't a lot of room. We were within a First Light boat length as we passed. The nice thing about river barges is that they don't go fast and, except for the turbulence coming off the propellers, don't make much wake. So a close pass isn't much of an issue.

We had two locks to go through. Something we haven't done for many weeks. The first was all of a two foot drop but it seems I did something that irritated the lockmaster. As we pulled out he gave me a nasty look and a brush off hand signal. I had no idea what I did wrong. We had called in on the radio to start. Then I called a back to ask about specifics but got no answer. No one came out to the wall to tell us what was going on. The lights turned green. I drove in (we were the only ones in the lock) we tied off, we went down, the gate started to open, and I drove out. For some reason he blew a long horn blast after we were clear and underway. Ah well. Never going to see him again. Don't really care what his problem was. I hope he didn't stew about it for long but, if he did, that would be his problem, not mine. 

The second lock was a different story. They were working a 3 x 4 raft of barges though the 40 foot lift. So First Light and three other pleasure boats ended up holding station for nearly 2 hours before we could lock through. It was a bit of pain but that is the way it should be. Those folks are working for a living and moving the stuff that keeps the country working as well. It is only proper that the commercial boats take priority. After the barge moved off, the lockmaster called the waiting boats with the order that he wanted us in the lock. We rafted up 2 by 2 to ride the “floaters” (floating bollards which are spread pretty far apart—as you would expect in a lock built mainly to handle massive barges). The lockmaster came out to the boats and explained the procedure. A procedure which Included the last step of him sounding a horn when we could power up and move out of the lock. Apparently that gives the people waiting to go the other way notice that boats are heading out.

If the first guy had bothered to share that with me, I likely would not have irritated him so.

Half of the barge tied off to the wall waiting for the other half.

There were four of us waiting for the lock.

The tug finally arrived with the second half of the barge.

Two hours later and Voila!

Rafted in the lock.

Shortly after the second lock, we passed through four lift bridges one right after the other. Clearing the last, our little armada all drifted a bit to starboard and took up residence on the town free wall. Yes, we are risking another wall, and one that lay athwart a busy commercial waterway to boot. It has good reviews and free power, so we decided to take the risk.

A little while ago, another huge barge & tow went by about 50 feet off our port side. We felt nary a ripple. The wind is rattling the trees but with just over 300' of fetch it has no chance to get a grip on the water and stir things up. And the lake? It is more than 30 nm away along a twisty river and two locks. I don't think even Lake Michigan can come up with a surge that can reach us here.

Have I mentioned about how glad I am that we are done with Lake Michigan? Well, most of the folks in our little armada are of the same opinion. All of us had a story of sitting for days waiting for the winds to abate and most had tales of at least one really ugly day of travel. One couple is on their second loop. On the first, they were on Lake Michigan during the same time of the year as now. They had little problem the first time around and were as surprised as the rest of us at how challenging that part of the trip had been.

Tomorrow, most of us plan to head off together for the next series of locks. The “pleasure boats” traveling in packs from lock to lock is what the lockmasters like to see. I am glad to cooperate so long as they tell me what they want.

Yes, there are four bridges right in front of us...

We kept seeing these odd fountains

This bridge started to open, then stopped, then opened some more, then stopped.

We thought it was breaking and we were going to be stuck.

View from the Joliet free wall

Oops...my bad...

After another long/short day we are at a dock in a really nice marina that isn't mind boggling expensive. A bit of change from those south of the northern border of the US. We have a reservation for two nights. But weather may dictate that we take advantage of one more day without a forecast for storms to get back to moving along come morning. 

Though spending more time in the canal was part of the reason for another long day, the real reason was that I was in a bit of a rush to get going this morning. I really want to have the canal behind me as soon as possible. I know hundreds of people have used the canal without a problem. We have used the canal (so far) without a problem. But it is an experience I am not enjoying. Go slow, keep it in the middle of the channel as much as possible, try not to let the depth gauge spook you too much, and it is still a roll of the dice if you hit something or not. 

I am not a gambler. In my mind planning and skill should all but eliminate luck. That is not how it works in the canal. So I am on edge every minute we are in there.

In an attempt to get out of the canal as soon as possible, we had spent the night on the departure end of the lock, not needing to wait until it opened at 0900 to lock through and be on our way. First Light was underway with the fog still hanging over the surface of the water. What we weren't was on the departure side of a swing bridge that wasn't very far away. One that didn't have a bridge tender on site until 0900. Something Deb figured out while reviewing the route after the lock wall was well to our stern down the canal I really didn't want anything to do with. She usually reviews the route in detail either the night before or the morning before we leave. But we were exploring last evening and I was being a bit...insistent...this morning about getting going ASAP. We did get ourselves out of the canal pretty early. But having discovered that a swing bridge less operator was blocking our path, we sort of power drifted across the first lake of the day, averaging about a half a knot. We still managed to float up to the bridge a few minutes before there was anyone around to make it swing. So I got to play with power and rudder settings while moving at a snail's pace across a dead calm lake. And I have to admit, bad planning or not, being out of the canal made me smile.  Unfortunately, more canal lies in our future. But at least I got a break from it for a good part of today.

You gotta look at the good side...

Have I mentioned that I'm fascinated by bridge architecture???

The swing bridge we had to wait on.

We went through five locks in 4 miles but at least going down is much easier than locking up.

We caught up with S/V Spirit again who we hadn't seen for a couple weeks.

Good to be in wide, open, deep water again. Lake Simco.

Traffic entering Orillia was crazy.

Port of Orillia Marina. One of the nicest we've ever been at.

We've really lucked out on concerts this trip. This evening we enjoyed a big band concert in the park

by the marina with a view of the lake and absolutely perfect weather.