Taurus Great Loop

 

Tow Barge traffic is new to us. A tow is the type of boat whose function is to push non-powered barges. Same idea as a semi-tractor/trailer, but on the water. However these tows can push 12 or 15 or 18 barges at once. 😬  And it is our job to stay out of their way. Here’s a video of a tow pushing barges:  Tow pushing barges We went through an area of electric fish barriers which are keeping the Asian carp out of the upper rivers.  It sounds like if you get in the water, you’ll get shocked. Good reason to stay in the boat.  For our night in Joliet, Illinois, we stayed on the free wall in Joliet that also had power for our air conditioning.  There were 10 Looper boats and one of them had a drone to take pictures.  Taurus is the second boat from the left.   We had a potluck dinner and got to meet everyone.   We are getting into the big boat locks. The tows and barges use them and they get first priority. Recreational boats are last priority...

  We left Dolton, IL this morning and made our way through the Little Calumet River. The first thing we saw were several “shipwrecks”. We passed by several homes who had waterfalls in their backyard at the River.  We also noticed that the water treatment plants did the same thing with the treated water.  The main thing about this portion of our trip is it has a LOT of bridges!  The bridges defined our trip today. They just kept coming. We were not too tall to get under most of the bridges, but there were a handful that we had to call to have the bridge opened for us. They ring the bell, stop traffic, and open the bridge to let us through. One thoughtful bridge tender took our picture as we went through, posted it to Facebook Great Loopers group, and I saw it! Here are some of the bridges we passed under today:

We had planned to spend today in Dolton to take care of a number of items before going down the rivers.    Fred called the marina (Marine Services ) last Monday to order additional fenders, parts to address an antenna issue, and oil to change the engines’ oil. The Parts Department (which many marinas don’t have) did a great job and even left the parts where Fred could get them on Saturday when they were closed.  We got the new fenders for the locks, Fred changed the oil, and we have an acceptable antenna solution. The people on the the dock have been very nice, even though they don’t see transients very often.   Not a great place to leave the marina for restaurants, etc. but a very helpful and interesting place to stop and get work done.   As we have mentioned before, many people belong to yacht/boat clubs in the Midwest and we had a nice time talking to the local yacht club, the Calumet River Boyz which you can see at  www.yachtboyz.org .   We have o...

We left the Great Lakes today, so I thought this graphic will remind us of what we did Today we left Waukegan, Illinois (just north of Chicago) and cruised south to the end of Lake Michigan.  It was windy but as we were heading into it, the chop was not too bad. Outside of Chicago, in Lake Michigan water, we saw three objects.  We know what they are, but do you?   Note - they are fresh water intakes for people.  This is #1 This is #2 This is #3 We left Lake Michigan at the entrance to the Calumet River. And said hello to the inland rivers of the Great Loop. We very shortly came to seven bridges. The first two were already open for us, otherwise we would have had to call for an opening.  It’s a weird feeling to have all traffic stopped on the bridges, then they go up and Taurus goes under them. The next three were high enough that we could go under them. And the last two we had to call for them to open.  The Calumet River has a lot of industry on the ba...

I have been waiting for today because my best friend and her husband came to see us today. Many of you have heard me talk about Peg and Carl. The last time we were together in person was our daughter’s wedding in October 2013.  That was 8 years ago!  But today it was just like we saw each other earlier this week.  We talked about everything under the sun and recharged our best friends’ batteries. We figured out that we have known each other 39 years. Wow!!   We are fortunate to have Peg and Carl in our lives.