Illinois River MM 273 Harborside Marina

This was our 48th day since leaving Syracuse (Brewerton) NY.  We have traveled 1350 miles. We traveled down the Calumet River until the junction with the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.  Very narrow and industrial.  There is only room for a tow and her barges.  You must always have a plan to duck in between the barges to wait for the tow to pass.  Luckily I only had to do this once.  Also a bridge along the route is the limiting bridge for the entire loop at 19 feet 1 inch.  The river level however was down so I had 19 feet 10 inches.  I needed 19 feet as I measured and remeasured it numerous times.  I went very slowly with Debbie on the bow eyeing our radar.  Luckily no scrape.

We had two locks to pass through and guess what, it rained in the lock.

After Debbie secured the line to the cleat I relieved her as it was raining.  IH is tied to a floating bollard the rises and falls with the water level in the lock.  In our case it fell.  




Our stop for the night was Harborside Marina at MM 273.  Again we were placed on the fuel dock.  No town nearby and since it was Monday the restaurant, which looked very nice, was closed.  We grilled out a nice meal.  Note IH in the background.  The floating homes are individually owned.  Many have boats tied up along side.  Also on shore are very nice homes.