8/21/2016

Left Joliet very early on 8/21.  We called into the lock and were told we needed to come now or wait for quite a long time.  There were a few barges coming down the river.  Barges have priority over pleasure craft.  We put down our coffee and casted off.  It wasn't easy casting off.  There was long grass accumulated beside our boat and we had to pull the boat back far enough to maneuver past the other boats, who weren't ready to leave.  Funny thing is they caught up to us later.

Below is a picture of how crowded the river got at times.  We had to squeeze our way through.  Later in the morning, due to high water and fast current, we had to keep a lookout for logs.  Decided to spend two nights at Heritage Marina in Ottawa, Illinois, to wait for a slower current and less debris.  

Heritage Marina is new and beautiful.  They have a Chevi Suburban, which we used to do laundry in town, lunch and Farm & Fleet.  We later went swimming in their new swimming pool.  There were quite a few loopers here.  Most of them came down the river with us.  George from Lydia E spent his life as a commercial fisherman.  He mostly fished for lobster in Maine.  One of the first investments we made for our trip was on 4 collapsible lobster traps.  George said they could use some improvement.

Below, Mike is on the pier with Elwood, at Heritage Marina

We took a walk to the Marina entrance to take a picture of the sign.  It welcomes loopers.