Welcome to Illinois !!

We were up early this morning… still functioning on eastern time… and on the go before the sun rose. We enjoyed our smoothest crossing of Lake Michigan… barely a ripple and arrived at the Chicago Harbor lock at 8:15. Smooth and quick lock through and made our way thru downtown Chicago. Getting there early made for an enjoyable cruise as hardly anyone was on the water. Navigating the Sanitary and Ship Canal was painless too as it was Saturday and very little activity. Our second lock though… wow! Let’s hope for no more of that. We were in the front with a barge beside us who had his engines in reverse to keep him from getting dragged forward… but we got all the prop wash and it was hard to stay on the wall even before they started letting water out… which was a long time as we waited on four boats to arrive. This lock dropped 40’ which also took a long time. Our two Chicago locks brings us to 134 locks completed so far this trip. We are now on the Joliet Free Wall with nine other loopers. Enjoyed dock tails with half of them. Five arrived later. We’re now looking forward to a good nights rest. Supposed to rain tomorrow so we may stay here… but one never knows 🤷🏼‍♀️. 82 miles today. It also got up to 92 degrees!!Les mer