After 2 weeks in my favorite state of Wisconsin, I caught a weather window and prepped for my trip toward Chicago. My friend, Lisa, had planned to meet me in Milwaukee and then ride down to her home in Chicago. I was going to drop her off at Navy Pier and pick up my cousin Peggy. Once again, Mother Nature reminded me that I have no say in my schedule. Eight foot waves were hitting the boundary wall in Milwaukee and reports of thirteen footers were in Chicago. Nobody was moving. Peggy had a train ticket to arrive on the Thursday while I was still stuck, so she booked a second train ticket for Milwaukee to meet me. Unfortunately, that meant we had to rearrange Lisa’s visit, so we planned to pick her up in Chicago for a day trip to Joliet instead.
Peggy arrived and we did a final happy hour with my Milwaukee friends, Julie and Jane, and then prepped for our next long day to Waukegan, Illinois, about halfway to Chicago. I said goodbye to Gvitago and Vortex who were my fellow loopers in Milwaukee that morning and we were on our way.
It was a bouncy day as Lake Michigan was still settling from the previous weather but we made it without incident. Waukegan was a pleasant surprise and we stumbled upon a beer garden with a live band of old pot-smoking headbangers. My people! The clientele looked like the grown-up version of the dudes I dated in high school. They even played Metallica’s Fade To Black, my favorite song from the best band ever.
Metal, a bucket of beers, and a taco truck made for a rockin’ experience in Waukegan and an appropriate introduction to the randomness of the loop for Peggy.
All predictions for the next day pointed to calm seas and an easy 4 hour cruise to Navy Pier. Nope! It was the worst weather I have had in my four months on the loop. The waves were three to four footers rather than the one to two footers that were predicted. What the hell!? It was like a washing machine and I ended up having to zigzag to manage the waves. We finally rolled into Navy Pier six hours later. For the birds!
We quickly settled in because we had tickets to the Fireboat architectural tour with Gvitago, Vortex, Wade-ing Around, and Round 4 to check out our Chicago River route for the next day. Off one boat and onto another, but more relaxing than battling waves. Peggy and I have been to Chicago many times but I had never seen it from the water, nor had I ever noticed the magnificent architecture of these historical buildings. It was worth every penny.
Peggy and I met my friend, Lisa, for a quick happy hour that night and did a quick briefing for the next day. We were casting off the lines at 6:15am the next day so that we would be into the Chicago lock early to avoid the chaos of the commercial traffic and the weekenders. In addition, we knew that the Joliet free wall would be packed so we wanted to guarantee our spot. Lisa arrived bright and early and we were on our way!
Chicago was spectacular at sunrise and one of my best days on the loop so far. I am so happy to be able to share this with two people who are so dear to me. Peggy, of course, is my ride-or-die. Lisa is a childhood friend who I have known for close to fifty years.
We made it to Joliet and watched other loopers arrive – a total of 19 boats on the wall. A captain’s meeting to plan for the next day and it was early to bed. What a magical day!
Heritage Harbor Marina in Ottawa was our destination for the next day. We started with a flotilla of nine boats that morning. The locks on this portion of the Illinois River are big, 110 feet wide and 600 feet long with a depth of 30-ish feet but the trickiest part is timing your arrival between the barges. It is not uncommon to wait for hours while they lock the commercial traffic through. Peggy took Kali for her morning constitutional, and I did my engine check. They ask that flotillas choose a leader to coordinate the timing so we left at 6:30am because our leader said we had a window between barges. We had three locks to get through that day. Ready! Kali settled in for her nap in the sunshine.
We piled up at the channel before the lock ready for our go-ahead from the lockmaster. And then…my engine temperature alarm screamed. Fuck! What the hell! I shut my engine off and radio-ed to the flotilla that I could not go through. I called the lockmaster to ask if I could anchor out of the way while I figured out my problem and he kindly say yes, unless someone was coming and then I had to get out of the way. Fair enough. I already knew the dumbass thing that I had done. During my engine check, I had seagrass in my raw water strainer. I closed my stopcock to clean it out and then failed to re-open it. No water in the cooling system is no good and it risks melting my new impeller (that I had just changed in Milwaukee!). Wade-ing Around stayed behind with me and gave me a short tow out of the way. I dropped my anchor and pulled out my tools. This was not my first rodeo at this point. I was like Ralphie’s dad from A Christmas Story changing a flat tire, except I didn’t spill the bolts. Twenty minutes and we were back in business. Unfortunately, the lock was closed and the flotilla was gone. I radio-ed the lock to give him my status update and he said the lock would be open again in about twenty minutes. Shew! I was first in the lock and then a new flotilla of ten more loopers filed in behind.
What a day! The organized chaos of a flotilla is really something to behold. “Floating log on the port side”, “Tow boat passing on the one”, and loopers helping loopers. As we were going with our new flotilla, we came across three of the boats from our original flotilla. One of them also had an overheating issue and determined that they had seagrass clogging their cooling system. Two boats stayed behind to help. One got in the murky “Illinois Sanitary Shipping Canal” and dove down to clean out their intake from underneath while another pulled the crap out from above. I felt better about my impeller issue!
We were seven hours into our day and were finally arriving at the third and final lock for the day. Our original flotilla was stuck waiting for a tow boat to come through and we still had a wait ahead of us, so we rafted up to Wade-ing Around. We made a charcuterie board and waited…and waited…and waited. I had a Walmart Plus order scheduled between 5-7pm to reprovision. Come on!!! Three hours later, we heard the lock horn blow and we were finally cleared to enter. It was approaching 5:00 so I checked the looper app to see if I knew anyone at the marina who could sign for my Walmart order. Cheers! That’s the name of Jim’s boat who graciously agreed to sign for me.
Our combined flotilla included twenty boats! These locks are all floating bollards built for the big barges so there are only four to six on each side, even though the chambers are so big. That means the lockmasters want you to raft up, sometimes seven across. Typically, the bigger boats tie to the bollard and then the little ones hang on like stacked barnacles. Actually, the lockmaster said get in a “wedding cake” formation which is a great visual. As we were moving in, one boat was not joining. We heard on the radio that their anchor was stuck on a tree somewhere below – seven hours of cruising plus three hours of waiting and then stuck…for the next 36 hours. Thank goodness I got my little impeller problem checked off early! Another boat went back to help and they both missed the lock. Ugghhh. We made it through and were the very last boat at Heritage Harbor after twelve hours on the water. I was stinky and tired and Kali had a LOT of energy. But wait, there’s more. There is a Harbor Host at Heritage Harbor who is phenomenal. He gives a briefing of the whole river system down to Green Turtle Bay – anchorages, marinas, VHF channels to monitor, currents, best places to eat, everything! However, it is two hours long. We fell into bed full of knowledge and exhausted.
We got up early the next day and left at 6:45am to get further downriver. Today’s flotilla was fourteen boats and we only had one lock. Piece of cake! And it was! It was a lovely, uneventful day of cruising. Our options for marinas were full so we chose an anchorage south of Little Henry Island over the free wall.
We anchored there with six other boats. It was a great calm anchorage for humans but not for dogs. Thick, deep mud lined the shores. We got out the dink to look for a potty spot for Kali but ended up becoming the entertainment for the other loopers. We had to make a run at the shore to try and get up high enough so that Kali Bong wouldn’t sink in the mud. While we were out, we took a quick spin to see if we could coax some of the weird jumping fish into our boat with the motor. It was not quick enough however, and we ran out of gas without even catching one fish. Thankfully, I had Peggy power and she rowed us to shore. Haaaa!!!
My last stop with Peggy was the Peoria Boat Club. It was a great stop with great people and only $1.00/foot! Free laundry, free pump-out (although it took 45 minutes), a walkable Veteran’s Pub with $1.00 beers, and friendly loopers willing to give rides in their rental cars. It was super shallow though and a hotspot for the creepy jumping Asian carp. Here is Meant To Be pushing through the silt toward their slip amongst the carp.
Peggy’s time on The ‘Nati Nomad was coming to an end. It was such a great visit! One little extra surprise was that my friend, David, happened to be in Peoria for a work trip and stopped by for a quick visit.
Peggy and I said our goodbyes the next morning and she was on her way home…until she wasn’t. Flight cancelled so she would miss her connecting flight through Chicago. Looper magic always comes when you need it most. As it turned out, David was finishing his workday and had room in his car for one more passenger. Peggy came back to the marina where she waited for her pickup and David got her home safe and sound after a long day.
“Be brave, not perfect.” – Reshma Saujani, Founder, Girls Who Code
To support the adventure or to track The ‘Nati Nomad’s progress, visit greatloop.thenatinomad.com.
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