Illinois River System, here we come!

Day 143 – 145. October 11 – 13:

We arrived in Hammond, about 15 miles south of Chicago on Wednesday, 10/11 and enjoyed a day hanging with the crews of Coda and Lil Sudden, making dinner together and meeting other boats in our flotilla scheduled to meet up in Joliet, IL at the free wall on Friday. Saturday our flotilla will travel through the Brandon Road, Dresden Island and Marseilles locks. That was a mouthful and why a flotilla? Let me back up.

Why is passing through these locks such a big deal…and why set up flotillas? The three aforementioned locks were closed for repair and maintenance for over 3 months. WOW! So no way to travel south on the river system out of Chicago. That’s a big deal to commercial traffic PLUS the over 250 loopers looking to continue on their journey to Alabama/Florida. Since these locks serve commercial as well as government traffic, pleasure traffic (like us) is the lowest priority. In normal looping time, boats would transition through these locks as they saw fit and would naturally adjust their timing to the capacity of the locks, capacity of marinas north and south of the locks and tolerance for colder weather.

Imagine the log jam of boats with 3 locks closed and no way to transit south. Conventional wisdom is to be out of Chicago by 9/30. The locks were forecasted to reopen 10/1 (but ended up delayed by 5 days). Even without the delay, that leaves mayhem and hundreds of loopers looking to go through. This is where the Americas Great Loop Cruising Association (AGLCA) stepped in and working with the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) organized the looping fleet into manageable sized flotillas (16 boats in each) who were given priority by the ACE to pass through the locks in an organized fashion, one flotilla per day, in coordination with the prioritized commercial traffic. We are in flotilla 9 scheduled to lock through as a group on 10/14 (delayed from 10/9). Part of the plan is we need to continue moving forward as a group for the next several days so we don’t clog up the works for the flotillas behind us. It really is a cooperative effort by all!

So back to Hammond….we tried and tried to get a slip at Marine Services (a marina) in Dolton, about a 3 hour run with one lock from Hammond to Dolton. We knew that bad weather was coming in on Friday and the hour run from Hammond (on Lake Michigan) to the mouth of the river system was going to be very dicey with a forecast of 5+ foot waves. We finally got word that slips were available around 3:00 pm so we left asap to get to Dolton before dark. We had a little bounce on Lake Michigan (2-3’ waves) but nothing like what it was going to be in the morning. We arrived just before dark, had a quick dinner, flotilla meeting and turned in for the night.

It was a quick turn around in Dolton; we were up and out at 7:00 am headed to the free wall in Joliet, IL which is about a 5 1/2 hour run including one lock that would drop us 38 feet and passing under the lowest fixed bridge on the loop – the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Rail Road Bridge in Lemont, IL at 19’6”.

To make it under that bridge, we folded down the mast that holds our radar domes and approached with extreme caution….as they say, approach at the speed you are willing to hit it! If you can’t get under this bridge, the “The Great Loop” becomes the “The Great U-turn!” We made sure our fuel tanks and water tanks were full so we sat lower in the water and thankfully made it under with about a foot to spare (we had expected inches!)

We arrived at the Joliet wall around 12:30/1:00….. hungry but just fine! We had a quick lunch then were on the look out to help catch the second wave of boat in our flotilla that left from Hammond, endured the 5’ waves and was now arriving in the rain. All good – everyone got here safe and sound!

It ended up being a rainy afternoon with everyone watching the weather for the next few days as we decide whether to stay one more day or go. There aren’t really waves on the river, but the forecast for the winds is all over the place right now – 15-20 knots with gusts up to 35. The next leg is a 38 mile run with the 3 newly opened locks and many bridges, including the first that will only open if you are there before 7 am. This leg will be a long day: 10-12 hours depending on wait time at the locks.

The AGLCA had already called off the next 3 flotillas due to forecasted high seas on Lake Michigan (12-15 foot waves!) so we didn’t have the urgency to leave with the flotillas behind us delayed. We were glad we weren’t them! While we were at the Chicago Yacht Club, it was bouncy with 1-3 foot waves, never mind 12-15. Praying for their safety!

Dinner was a collective effort: Boris and Mayli made beef stew; Tonya and Matt made wild rice, Z’s made a chopped salad and Barb and Steve made homemade bread! All delicious and it was later off to bed to assess the weather in the morning and make a go/no-go decision. Stay tuned for what we decide!