Friday September 24: Ottawa, Illinois

We spent a somewhat noisy night in Joliet what with the passing barges (Steve swears he heard the bridge whistle twice during the night - guess I slept better than I thought!). We were docked with Selah, Surona and 4 other boats that are completing the Loop - 3 of which we had met in Manistee on the Lake That Shall Not Be Named. Quick trip to the casino (right across the bridge) for breakfast and early entertainment and off we headed. We are now officially on the Illinois River as the canal from the Chicago River joined the Des Plains River and then the Illinois River. The barges continue to be plentiful. The power behind the barges is the pusher boats (not really tugs but don't know exactly what they are!). Some have the pilothouse on hydraulic lifters so the pilot can see over the barge but then be lowered to make it under the necessary bridges. VERY WINDY day yesterday (as well as this morning). 35 mph + gusts blowing right at us. Sure glad we're not the on THAT LAKE. We hear there are some Loopers still stuck though so I feel sorry for them. Lots of weird things along the river: fun duck blinds, boat houses (maybe our next move?) and trees whose roots grew right down the bank of the river. Up early this morning for a run into Seneca for breakfast and a quick grocery stop as we took advantage of the marina provided courtesy car. Selah got the prize for the most stuff (Linda/Jim)! Noticed in the marina parking lot was the sign below - which we all thought was very appropriate as we sat at the nearby picnic table and had supper. We left about 11:30 this morning in windy overcast conditions and luckily timed the next lock quite well. A barge was just coming out and we had to wait only about 10 minutes to enter. We are now in Ottawa at the city docks (free tie up + electric - what more could we want?). Steve and I headed to McD's (it's been a while you know :-)) but were distracted by the Thai restaurant so we stopped there, had soup and then continued to McD's. What a great day! We stopped at the site of the first Lincoln - Douglas debate which was held in this park. A mural on the building near the park was fun. Today is a rest day - except the transmission fluid needs changed. Then it's reading time - something I haven't done in at least a week or so. Where does the time go??? And what do we do all day???