We left Chicago early Saturday morning; we had about 45 bridges to pass under on the trip to Joliet. It was no wake for quite a ways and we were in no hurry. We left before the taxis and sightseeing boats started so it was a great chance to check out the city.
We thought we were going to go through with a bunch of sail boats, this time of year they will open the bridges one after another on Saturday morning to allow sailboat to get through to a dry dock facility just outside Chicago. The weather was still warm enough for sailors up here so no one had requested an opening from the bridge authority. We had dropped our Mast and were down below 17 feet so we did not need to have any bridges raised. There was one bridge I was concerned about and he gave me his mobile number to call if I had a problem. He said he could have a crew there in about an hour. He and I were both happy that I didn’t need to call him.
The Chicago River was the sanitary canal as well; I guess the pollution remains as there are signs along the banks that warn you to stay out of the water.
Just outside of Chicago part of the waterway has been electrified to keep invasive fish species like Carp from getting to Lake Michigan. When they first put this in years ago boats had to pay to have their boat pulled through, $500.00 each.
We will be in the river system for the next few months, tugboats with barges are KING.
We got to Joliet late in the afternoon and were the only boat on the free town wall. Nice sunset view of the next Bridge and Casino behind Jackets II. We did not venture off the boat.
