Chicago to Joliet, IL

Our trip down the Illinois River has begun.  We traveled from Chicago to Joliet, IL. and went through two large locks.  Here are my deckhands.   

This barge blocked the entire canal for about an hour.  

Junction of the Cal Sag and the Chicago Sanitary Canal.

This 19' bridge does not open, and all Loopers must go under it, so your boat cannot be more than 19' high if doing the Loop.  

Due to the invasion of Asian Carp into the Great Lakes, an electric fish barrier has been installed in the Illinois River.  It slowed us down for an hour due to a closure.  

After an 11 hour day, we finally made it to the Joliet City Docks, and several other Loopers were already there.  It was nice catching up with fellow Loopers.    

One of countless bridges we had to open.  Many have restricted schedules, so travelling 40 miles in a day on the river takes time due to locks, bridges and fish barriers!  

The river locks are the big commercial ones, making pleasure boaters feel real small.  We are at the bottom of the pecking order, and if there is lots of commercial traffic we can wait for hours till we get through.   

Joliet.  The leaves are beginning to change.  

The history museum here had these Blues Brothers  from the movie that featured the prison here.