I MADE IT

September 9, 2011 Dateline: Seneca, IL USA

Today was a big day for me.  I traveled 12 hours today to go from Chicago to Seneca, IL.  The trip was about 81 miles.  The first 8 miles were out in Lake Michigan and it was rough.  The waves were big, close together and choppy.  Once I got into the Cal-Sag Canal the water smoothed out and the ride was easy.  The first part of the Canal is highly industrial and the banks are lined with abandoned decaying structures from a period of time when this area was the industrial heartland of the United States.  The banks of the Canal then became lined with trees, nothing to see but trees for miles.  When the Canal joins the Illinois River the industrial area starts again.  The river provides economical transportation of bulk cargos via the use of large tows.  A tow is a tug boat pushing many barges. Though I did not see any really big ones today, about half a dozen small tows passed me up bound.  This picture is of a 3X3.

I went through 4 locks today.  These locks are not like the ones on the Erie or the Trent-Severn Canals.  All of the locks were “down” locks. I dropped a total of 112 feet. The first lock was only 2 feet and I didn’t even have to tie up in that one.   The first lock was called a guard lock and is used to prevent Lake Michigan from emptying into the Illinois River.

Along the way the river bank was littered with beached or sunken barges. This picture is of a sunken pleasure craft.  Like many sinkings, it occurred at the dock.

I also passed a lot of duck blinds along the river.  I sure would hate to be a duck flying over this section of the river.

I saw this sign and it almost made me feel good until I saw that it was Cargill Salt---that is not as good as North American Salt.  After all, the first word in “Salt ‘n Sand” came from North American Salt. But I didn’t see a terminal of theirs along the way.

Along my route today was that infamous bridge that is published as 19”1” clearance. My air draft is 19’4”, obviously that presented a problem.  Rich checked the level of the water at that point in the river this morning and was excited to find that there was some 20+ feet of clearance.   So my worries of the one air draft barrier on the route have been overcome.  I MADE IT!!!!

This very pretty waterfall is the outflow from a waste treatment plant.  Some of the cities along the Illinois still put their waste into the river and it is carried all the way down the rivers to the Gulf of Mexico.

Tomorrow I am off to Ottawa, IL