We got the clear that the lock was opened. There were about 5 boats that left the wall. We had us a boat convoy going on.
We passed out first tow. That was interesting. Those things are huge!
We had our second lock delay at the Marseilles lock. Over Ice tied up to a barge then Last Call, Sanctuary and Captain’s Choice all rafted. We did “Locktails” on our boat. Our upper deck is big enough to hold all of us. We had a good time. I have a feeling we’ll be finding excuses and names for cocktail hour throughout this trip.

We saw lots of wildlife on the river today. Sandhill Cranes, Egret, White pelican (lots of them) Muskrat,and a Golden Eagle.

We docked at the Ottawa free wall with free electricity. We are liking this free stuff. The wall is under the bridge, thus making us trolls.

Karen and Scott

We hit the river about 9:30am and were back on the Joliet wall by 10:00am. The lock was being worked on and was closed all day. There was a line of tows to get through so it wouldn’t be until tomorrow before we get through. We took our bikes into town with the crew from Sanctuary and Over Ice for lunch. We rode around town just to see what there is to see. We found a great playground with a zipline and rock climbing wall. Yup we are still kids at heart.

By 4 pm there was quite a collection of boats and docktails were great fun with a big group. By the end of the day there were 10 boats on the Joliet wall.

We enjoyed some down time.

We left at 6:30am and did our first lock going into the Chicago River. We did good for rookies. Going through Chicago was spectacular! The sun was just up and glinting off the buildings. There were so many cool building, both new and old. We were in awe.

Our second lock was HUGE. It dropped almost 40 feet. It was kind of exciting to experience this. Ask us in another 100 locks if it’s exciting anymore? It’s fun to be newbies. The channel we went through was started in the late 1800 and finished in the early 1900s. It amazes me what humans accomplished with such primitive tools.

We spend the the night on the Joliet wall with free dockage and electricity. Free is good. Especially because it was hot and we could run our air conditioner.

Allen and Amanda (Lasher’s daughter) both decided to ride with us that day and they were so delighted because it was truly an amazing day. They shared a car back to Grand Rapids and we were both sad for them to leave.

Sometimes last minute plans work out best. My sister Terrie and Barry, my niece Lauren and Lee and Baby Audie came down to Chicago. We went to the museum of Science and Industry. They have a full German submarine inside. Lee’s grandpa was on the boat that was responsible for capturing it. I’m not a big history buff, but I am slowly becoming one. The German’s didn’t know we had the sub for a year.  We had many of their secrets just a few days before D-Day.

Back to the boat. Barry and I rode bikes in downtown Chicago to get Diordano’s Pizza. OMG that was some scary but sort of thrilling bike riding. I only got swore at once. What eva – I’m a country girl.

I will try to keep up on the blog better. I may need to put pictures up later. The technology on a boat is kickin my butt.

Love to you all

Day 2.   September 4th.  7:00am… “start your engine boys.”  Pull up the anchor and 12 hours later we arrive in Chicago.

The first third of the trip was a little bumpy.  Waves were 3 to 4 feet but hitting on the side of the boat which made for an uncomfortable but safe travel.  We buddy crossed the “Sanctuary” We both flew kites and didn’t do much else as it was a little too rough .  No one got seasick on either boat.  Rrrrr we’re salty dogs.

We actually never lost sight of land on our 90 mile trip across the lake.  It was truly amazing that we could see Chicago 41 miles out.  Of course I was the first to see it.  Henry on “Santuary” said he didn’t think so because you can never see it that far out.  I promptly pointed out to him that he’s a sailboater and doesn’t get to have this high sight advantage.   He responded with “Ya, maybe that’s why I’m getting nose bleeds.”  Hee hee.. Will the battle between” Rag baggers” aka sailboats and “stink potters” aka motor boats ever end.  NOPE never.

Seeing it was the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, we rightfully were concerned about getting a spot in a marina.  Wellllll there were no slips open,

so we stayed on “the wall” in Chicago.  We had every fender we owned and basher boards to protect our boats. The city lights are beautiful!  The wind was out of the south so we got rocked to sleep a little harder than we would have liked.

It was a 12 hour crossing and we were all a little tired when we got in but it was a great day.

Saturday September 3, we left Lake Shore Yacht Harbor at about noon.  It was touching to have so many Yacht Club members there to say “so long” and to see us off.