August 28, 2004 -
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I can’t believe it’s Saturday. One week ago we were in Havana,
Illinois on the Illinois River but once again I’m getting
ahead of myself.
We are almost home and I’m getting anxious to see Taylor and
the Eddy Creek family but let me fill you in on our recent
travels. We left Hammond, IN, 8/18. The day started out hazy
but we got through that first bridge without delay. The trip
down the Calumet River and Cal/Sag Canal was great until we
got to the “12 miles of Hell”. What an apt description. Barges
everywhere! Rock side walls for your wake to bounce back on
you and a very narrow canal to transit. All in all it was
tense and we were happy to see the bridges of Joliet. We had
decided to stay on the wall at the Bicentennial Park in
Joliet, IL. We were right on the river channel but we had
power and a secure tie to the wall. The bridge tender came
down and introduced himself and watched the boats from his
tower for the night.
Seven am and we were on the move again. The bridge was open
and we were moving on. Our next destination on the Illinois
was Starved Rock Illinois. The marina was a little difficult
to get into but they had power, water and it was off the
river. We didn’t have a lot of water but at least the
strainers didn’t get full of bottom dirt.
We left Starved Rock at the more civilized time of 8 AM Friday
morning with the intent of going to Henry Harbor in Henry,
Illinois. We planned to stay at Henry Harbor Marina. What we
didn’t know is you had to get there early to get a good tree.
Now, you may think that sounds strange but we tied up on the
old lock wall there and the only places/things to tie from
were trees and rocks. The picture is self explanatory. Three
boats, 14 lines to shore. We did have power and the protection
of the old lock wall but it was a little different than we
have experienced.
We passed the replica of the Columbus ship The Nina on the
Illinois River. One of the pictures is with their masts
stepped to get under the bridges on the Illinois River. The
other picture is with the masts up. They were on their way to
Quincy, Illinois and then to Alton for the Labor Day weekend
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