Chicago - halfway home.

The weather has been very difficult for boating.  Thunderstorms for this week have been more common than not.  We had storms through last weekend, it was clear on Monday, storms on Tuesday, clear until Wednesday night, then more storms for Thursday and Friday.  On Monday, I decided to head to Chicago, from Hammond, Indiana.  It was a two hour ride.  Approaching Chicago, I couldn't even see the city, until I got there because of the fog and smog.  My timing was good, arriving just as everything cleared up.  It was a beautiful afternoon, I was able to walk around and took one of the architectural boat tours.  The boat tour enabled me to scope out where I would be heading on Wednesday.

Approaching Chicago

Arriving at Du Sable marina, downtown Chicago.

Du Sable Marina

The size and number of skyscrapers can be overwhelming!

On my way back to my boat, I saw another Looper boat, Knot So Fast, which I had first seen in Saugatuck.  I stopped by and met Jeff and Lolly, who are from Alabama.  They are on the last leg of their Loop journey.  We decided to head to Navy Pier and Millenium Park Tuesday morning.  Despite rain in the early morning, we had a clear morning for walking around Chicago.  This was followed by a downpour around noon.  It cleared again in the afternoon for a few hours, then we had more rain that evening.   We ordered Chicago pizza from Lou Malnati's, and I get it... Chicago Pizza is the best!  I don't think I could have left Chicago without having pizza first.

Wednesday morning, I took Lolly with me, to head through Chicago. I dropped her off at a marina/condo complex, a couple miles from the marina.  We took the same route as the architectural tour.  We left the dock at 6:15, entered the Chicago lock around 6:30ish, and it was a peaceful morning, without much traffic on the waterway.  We saw a few water taxis, but the tour boats had not started yet.

This is where I dropped off Lolly, as I headed out of Chicago

This was the start of my very lucky day!  Every day should be as good as yesterday.  Of course, it could have been partly due to poor planning as well.  Heading south from Chicago, on the Illinois river, is an electric fish barrier.  The barrier is meant to kill or deter Asian Carp from getting into Lake Michigan.  It is a mile or two long, and the voltage is high enough to kill a person if they fall overboard.  There are warning signs and rules about going through the barrier, which really isn't a big deal, and only takes a few minutes.  However, they are doing maintenance, Monday through Friday from 7 a.m until 4 p.m.  I had forgotten to call and check on the electric barrier.  When I arrived around 11:15, I was told I needed to tie up to a wall upstream until they finished at 4 p.m.  The wall was not exactly easy to tie up to!  The rocks on the side of the wall crumbled, so I had to tie to shrubs along the wall.  As I was getting settled to read, I heard the discussion between the security checkpoints that the divers were out of the water and taking a break, so they could let boats through.  I radioed to the security checkpoint and they let me through at 12:05.

Tied up to a crumbling wall north of the Electric Carp Barrier

Just south of the electric barrier is the Lockport Lock, which drops 39 feet.  The lock had been closed on Tuesday from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m. for maintenance.  I had called on Monday and they were backed up with barges needing to go through.  On Wednesday though, there was no traffic going through.  I entered the lock by myself, tied up, and took the gentle ride down, which took about a half hour.   These locks are huge, and can hold a tow with 9 barges attached.  Some of the barges have to be split to go through the locks.  Commercial traffic takes precedence over recreational traffic, so there can be major delays in getting through the locks.  The third lock of the day, Brandon Road lock, went just as smoothly, dropping 34 feet.

Just south of Brandon Road Lock,  I stopped at Big Basin Marina.  The waters are fairly shallow here, but work fine for my boat.  The dockage fees are inexpensive at 75 cents a foot, but the woman running the place decided to let me have the night for free.  I am not sure if she was impressed with me being here by myself, or it was the end of a long day and she didn't feel like running my credit card.  I am sure she will run it today, because it is raining on and off all day, and I will be staying here another night, waiting for the weather to improve.

Here are some pics from Chicago.

The amphitheater at Millenium Park

At Navy Pier they have a stained glass exhibit.  I took this because there is another looper, whose name is King Cole.  The stained glass exhibit was my favorite part of Navy Pier.

"The Bean" in Millenium Park

The Civic Opera Building, which my sister and mother would appreciate.

Taking a picture while looking up into the middle of "The Bean"

The water used to flow from Chicago into Lake Michigan, but they changed the flow of water due to pollution.  Every hour, this fountain shoots from one side of the waterway to the other depicting the strength of the current and the water having changed directions.

The face does change... this is in Millenium Park.

On the tour boat, heading under the many bridges of Chicago.

Sculpture in Millenium Park by Jaume Piensa

Heading through Chicago on  tour boat.