Friday Aug. 16, 2013

47 miles     Hammond, IN to Joliet, IL

Left Hammond Marina at 0730 to a beautiful sunny day. Went 2 miles and entered the Calumet River heading south. This is a totally different kind of boating then we have ever done before. Bridges, Barges, and Tows oh my (we are defiantly not in Kansas anymore). We cleared under some bridges with inches to spare and past by some barges and tows with only feet to spare. Then came the locks. We went thru 2 of them today. The first one we dropped 1 ½ foot and the second one 37 feet.

Next we came to a section of the river where an electric fence is set up in the water to stop the Asian carp from getting into Lake Michigan. They must have been doing some kind of work on it because the Coast Guard stopped us and we were told this area would not be open for another hour. We were asked to turn around and find a marina or tie up and wait on the wall. We opted to wait on the wall and 40 minutes later were given the OK to proceed.

After 7 hours on the water we arrived in Joliet, IL at 1450 and tied up to a wall right on the river. Joliet is very friendly to their transient boaters. This wall we are on has free power to hook up to. Life is good. We had a very exciting and exhilarating day today and enjoyed every moment.

 

Here is one example of one of the bridges we went under.

 

This is one of the barges we past on the Calumet River.

 

This is the Lockport Lock where we dropped 37'.

The doors are just opening up to let us out.