Log 7; Day 13; June 3, 2008; Heritage Harbor, Ottawa, IL

Log 7
Day 13
Tuesday, June 3, 2008

5:25 AM CDT
Location: Heritage Harbor, Ottawa, IL.
Weather: 68* and mostly cloudy...strong storms in the forecast

Well we made it to Ottawa, Illinois...the place where we will spend a good part of the summer...so I doubt there will be many new updates for a while (I don’t believe most folks really care about all the stories about us spending time with our daughter and grand kids) but I will let everyone know our cruising plans as we go.

Here are our cruising notes from the last few days of travel.

Chicago...as usual, we really enjoyed our time in Chicago. We got there on Thursday the 29th and left on Sunday the 1st. As I mentioned we went to see Jersey Boys and out to dinner our first night there. On Friday I spent a lot of time in the morning really scrubbing the boat and thoroughly enjoyed myself (I have really looked forward to a time where taking care of the boat was my “job” and I’m starting to feel that way). Deb spent the time organizing the inside of the boat and we worked on boat chores a good part of the day. After the storms moved through we took a long dinghy ride and enjoyed looking all the boat in DuSable and Monroe Harbor. On Saturday (which was a beautiful day), we had a lazy morning and then Bec; Jeff; Samantha; and Zac (daughter; son in law; grand kids) came down to the boat (they live in South Elgin, IL) and we took a boat ride around the harbors and checked out the Chicago sky line from the lake. The highlight for the day was Deb and I taking the kids in our dinghy and going down the Chicago River, which goes right through the heart of downtown Chicago. Because our boat is too tall to make the bridges (without raising them), we could not do this in Headquarters...so the 4 of us did it in the dinghy. It was priceless to see the looks on the kid’s faces as we went through the lock with all the other boats, then cruised down through the center of the city, and looked up at all the huge buildings.

Sunday...was another travel day. We were again treated to a wonderful Lake Michigan calm and sunny day. We untied the lines at about 6am and headed out in the Lake (Lake temp. was 60.4 degrees). I had to go from downtown Chicago to Calumet Harbor, which is about 12 miles SSE to join the Calumet River (because we’re too tall to go down the Chicago River). At this point you are at Mile 333.5 on the Illinois River system (the key word here is “system” because you are really on the Calumet River). After a lock at Mile 327 (Obrien Lock) the river takes us through some of the most industrial water we will be on the entire time we are on a boat (water temp. 74.5). It is full of ships; tow boats; and every industry you can imagine. This take us through areas like Blue Island; and Cicero and this is the channel you see as you cross I-94; I-57; and I-294 in the Chicago area. At mile 304 you join the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. It is 100% commercial and (if you could avoid it) should not be traveled by pleasure boats. It is narrow; ugly; and can be dangerous because of the barge traffic. What is really happening here is you are paralleling the Des Plains River (which is not navigable at this point) and in a manmade concrete trough that will connect with the Des Plains River at mile 290 just down river from the Lockport Lock (water temp. 87.1). This is the first lock since Chicago...and drops you 40 feet down and now the water way is starting to look like a real river. The Des Plains River takes you right through the middle of Joliet and under I-80 where you go through another lock at Mile 286 (Brandon Road Lock drops you another 30 feet). At mile 278 you go under I-55 and the heavy commercial part of the river comes to an end. We spent the night at Harborside Marina (we’ve been there many times and bought 3 boats from them) at mile 274.

Monday...Our plan was to spend 2 nights at Harborside Marina (Wilmington, IL) and head out again on Tuesday but when I got up and checked the weather they were predicting strong storms (today) and I did not want to be on the waterway and in the locks so we decided to head out. At mile 273 the Des Plains River joins the Kankakee River and this is the beginning of the Illinois River and this is 1 mile from the next lock, which is Dresden Island Lock. This lock drops you down 20 feet. It had rained hard over the weekend and the Kankakee River was really flowing and brings with it a lot of debris, so heading down the river meant dodging many logs, but the further south we got the less debris...so it was much better. The River at this point is very scenic and winds along many small towns. At mile 247 you take a cut to the left, which takes you 2 miles down a narrow waterway to Marseilles Lock which drops you another 24 feet and put us in the Ottawa Pool of the Illinois River and Heritage Harbor Marina...our home marina for the next several weeks.

Today...begins an interesting time for us. Not really sure what kind of a routine we’ll get in. In planning our move, I left our truck here so we will have ground transportation. I also left our 21’ Boston Whaler here, so we will have a small boat to run up and down the river...which I love to do. My plan is to do a lot of boating in the Whaler; spend a lot more time fishing; and learn to relax more. Most of Deb’s family lives in this area so I’m sure we will also spend more time with them. We both loved living in Michigan...but it’s great to be back in Illinois (and on the central time zone) and particularly back on the Illinois River, which we have always loved.

As I said, I don’t plan to bore anyone with updates on our “lazy summer days”...but will keep you updated on any cruising plans.


BK.