Ottawa, Illinois

 

We cast off at 7 am following 3 other boats. This is a railroad bridge….the centre section goes up unless a train is on the way. 

Shot of the commercial traffic that we run into on the rivers; large Tow pushing 2 barges. They also take priority in the locks.

Beautiful morning, the first part of our day was very industrial.

Our first lock today, going down 34 feet. In this situation the lock master drops a line to hold the boat close to the wall. 

2 more locks today, 22 feet and 24 feet.   Both times we ended up rafting up to another boat…”going down?” the captain says to me as we approach him to tie up. Because these locks are designed for commercial traffic they only have 2 or 3 tie ups on either side….that’s all those big guys need. 

Our track for the day.  Because we had to stop and wait at each lock, over an hour at the last lock, Nebo gets confused and thinks you have stopped traveling. That’s why our track is all choppy. 

We were right up front on this last lock… looking over the edge, down the other side. I was nervous about these locks and barges but after 2 days I think we are getting the hang of it. 

Between locks it was beautiful cruising. Lots of birds, Egrets (furthest north we have seen them), Herons and a Bald Eagle swooped down and scooped up a fish out of the river…pretty cool 😎 

It was a long day, but we got tied up at our marina in time for sundowners on the back deck. We will stay here 2 days.