Today was a highlight of our journey. Taking the Illinois River through Chicago, around the massive buildings, planes, trains, automobiles and people. We went through around 9:00 am when the water taxis and tourist boats were not in full force. First we had to go through a lock. With westerly winds that were absolutely one of the worst winds we’ve seen yet, we headed out to the lock. Only about 600 feet off shore and Scott was using about 50% rudder to control against the wind. Conductance has never had to work so hard for so little. We had to wait for the lock to lock up 2 boats. It was a hard pull to keep her settled while waiting. Upon entering the lock the winds were still in full force and with rollers from the winds making it very difficult to get positioned. This first lock is only a lock through for a few feet down. It is mainly there to stop the Illinois River from free flowing into Lake Michigan with its pollutants.
After locking through we were met by the millennium fountain that sprays out into the river. We missed the spray but did see what looked similar to a firehose spraying out water. The traversing through the city took us past the Trump Tower, the Sears Building and many more that I have no idea what their significance is. The interesting fact is that we passed under approx 45 bridges in a 5 mile stretch. The river is very narrow where barges tie up, Shuttles of tourists are abundant and water taxis too. It is a very busy river. I’m glad it was a Sunday and at 9:00 AM. It must be insane traffic later.
After the beautiful sights of the skyline from the interior we headed up through the industrial area of the river. Barges everywhere, huge barges. Huge tugs and tows. Again we were thanking our lucky stars it was a Sunday but tomorrow will not be. Scott had to move around barges coming towards us with really not much squeeze room. The wind had not died down either. It was gusting at over 50 km/hr. There were whitecaps on the river. I was just about done by this point.
Next we had to putter a lot. There was tons of debris with the odd recreational boater too. No speed limit from what we could find so once we could we picked up the pace. After the excitement of the city this canal is even worse than the Erie Canal. It is narrow, with working huge barge traffic, recreational boaters and industry on every bank. We passed over the underwater electrical guard for invasive fish to stay out of the Great Lakes. The pipe going over the top of it is merely a high pressure pipe and has nothing to do with the electrical barrier.
Our next lock is the Lockport Lock. At 40 ft it is a challenging lock but we have done close to 200 locks by now so this didn’t seem a problem. Sure! I said to Scott that if this wind continues I am not doing any locks. I almost lost the boat in the lock due to the wind. I had it cleated but that didn’t stop it from being pushed. Scott said the Welland Canal locks were worse. I can’t imagine. Between the high winds, the shuttle and barge traffic, the lock, we are done for the day.
