Monday, 21 August
2017
Poor start, OK end
So I woke up at 0500 and looked out to see a tow going by our
stern headed for the Starved Rock Lock a few miles upstream. This was very bad news because we were not
able to get underway in the darkness and overtake the tow in time to beat it to
the lock. Thus, after getting underway
at 0600, when we could see the water, we ended up waiting for three hours to
get through the lock as the tow was so big it had to be broken up into pieces
and pushed through the lock piece by piece.
Another worry was fact that two more tows were closing in on us
from downstream, and I was afraid we were going to be shoved to the back of the
line. However, the lock tender sent us
on through after our long wait even as the two tows came around the bend headed
for the lock. After we got through the
lock, we were faced with the possibility of following that same tow through the
next lock which was thirteen miles away.
Luckily we were going at 8 MPH while the tow was going at around 4 MPH,
and thirteen miles was just enough distance for us to overtake the tow and put
enough distance between him and us to enable us to get through the lock before
he arrived. The next lock, Dresden was
not busy, and we got right through it too.
A couple of miles later we turned into Harborside Marina here in Wilmington,
IL after their 4 PM closing time. The
description over the cell phone by the marina staff did not square well with
what we were seeing which required us to try two moorings before we found one
with electrical power.
The TV weather forecast for Lake Michigan has confirmed that we
need to remain here until Wednesday morning which will enable us to get to the
Lake on that evening (50 miles and three locks) and have good weather to cross
over to Michigan City, IN on Thursday.
