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| Entering the Calumet River |
I am calling this the second day as the 1st day was spent crossing Lake Michigan and it was really very uneventful. It got a little rough for a couple of hours but for the most part just a long boat ride. We spent the first night at Hammond Marina in Hammond Indiana which is located at the Horseshoe Casino. It is a very nice Marina and we enjoyed our stay there.
Due to the high water level in Lake Michigan we were unable to utilize the Chicago River to enter into the inland river system. At normal level there is a bridge with 17' Clearance. With all of our antenna's lowered, the top of our radar is 15'9". With the 2 1/2 foot higher than normal water level, we could not clear this bridge. We instead entered through the Calumet River to the Cal Sag Waterway.
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| The Deadly Draw Bridge |
The draw bridge in the distance has a clearance of 7 feet. As we passed under it the bridge tender decided to lower the bridge with us directly underneath, but just before it came down on us it began going back up, this was our 1st bad situation.
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| Sadie Too in the Calumet River |
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| Typical look at Calumet River |
The above picture is a typical look at the Calumet River. You will notice the boat Panda Bear in many of our picture, they were our traveling companion for the first few days of our trip.
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| Entering Thomas S. O'Brien Lock |
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| Last look at the Calumet River From Thomas S. O'Brien Lock |
The above pictures are from the Thomas S. O'Brien lock which will drop us from the Calumet River to the Cal Sag Channel. This was our 1st of over 100 locks we will travel through.
9/1 was the big day for beginning our journey. Although crossing Lake Michigan was a little rough, it was beautiful with clear blue waters all the way. Sadie was a little nervous, but two benedryl in a wad of cheese and she slept most of the way.
ReplyDeleteWe made friends with other loopers in our first marina mooring. Panda Bear, Larry and Flora Moynihan, of Boston traveled with us for several days. We will miss them, and we hope to reconnect later in our journey.
I was disappointed in not going through downtown Chicago. Shame on me! We got to see the working hub of Chicago. It was fascinating! There were endless bridges and only one attempted to close on top of us. WHEW!