After replacing the freshwater pressure pump and enjoying both the Harborside Marina and Ottawa, Illinois, we are off again up the Illinois River. Today, after moving the boat to the fuel dock for a pump out, we will be traveling 31.3 miles to Wilmington, IL, specifically to the Harborside Marina. At the fuel dock we had to wait for the marina to open at 9:00 am, but fortunately the staff arrived on time to quickly accomplish the pump out. It should take less than five hours since the current seems to be less than 0.5 mph so we will still have a leisurely trip even given the late start. It has been a struggle lately with both pump out and fresh water pump problems, which are basic to life style on a boat. However, both of those problems now seem to be solved, and we are looking forward to smooth travelling in the future!
We had gone less than 2 miles when we arrived at the Marseilles Lock and Dam, which is our first of two locks for today (photo at right). Fortunately, the water was in the down position so we were able to more or less enter right into the chamber. The lock has a lift of 24 feet. Most of the locks in this upper part of the river seem to have only one floating bollard in the whole lock except at the corners, but in all cases lately we have been the only pleasure craft so we could use it. Otherwise, the Lockmaster's assistant would throw down lines to hold onto for holding the boat in position. The ropes do not work well with a lift this large since they are tied almost straight above the side of the boat. This means that you have little leverage to hold the boat against the lock wall until the lock is virtually full of water.
Just north of the town of Marseilles we passed this potash fertilizer plant. The potash is mined to be used to make various potassium compounds (e.g. Potassium nitrate) that are then used to make fertilizer. Pioneers made ashes from the burning of logs when they cleared fields for farming, and the ashes were placed in water in a pot to leach out lye to make soap. The name potash was derived from the water in a pot process. Today most potash is used in the production of fertilizer, which is important locally in the Midwest for farming.
After nearly 30 miles, we came to the Dresden Lock and Dam with a lift of 21 feet. If you look closely, you can see a dirty water mark that extends about 8 feet up the outside of the lock gate (photo at the right). This dark area would represent the high water mark for relatively recent flooding in this area. Like virtually every lock and dam that we have passed through on our trip, this lock and dam is also undergoing maintenance with a crane visible above the lock.
The heavy lift crane is fixed mounted on a barge, and the heavy lift capability would enable the crane to lift and replace an entire gate on the lock.
The final railroad lift bridge for the day is the Elgin-Joliet Railroad Lift Bridge, and fortunately, the bridge was in the up position. I really enjoy seeing these lift bridges, but I definitely like them better when they are in the up position...
We arrived at 3:00 pm this afternoon after continuing to have beautiful weather, and you can see the cloudless sky in the photo at the left. Our headphones ran out of power during the
last locking, and we did not have time to charge the batteries before our arrival at the marina so we
were a little out of our normal element during our docking. We originally planned on docking stern first, but
that did not work out at all well so after two quick attempts, I gave up and chose (wisely?) to go in bow
first which worked much better in spite of both a cross wind and a cross current. When we go in bow first, I can see the forward third of the boat from the fly bridge so the lack of voice communication with the Admiral was not a big factor. The photo above left shows a view of some of the marina and part of my view of the bow during the docking maneuver. The metal buildings across the entire background are part of the boat storage and service facilities at the marina. In the foreground you can see several floating houses that seem to be rapidly filling the river front portion of the marina. Out the stern of Lucky Us we had an unobstructed view of the Illinois river. In the future if the floating houses fill this part of the marina, as seems likely, the remaining docks will be inland up a channel just out of view to the left. Those landlocked docks have no view, and thus, much of the of the appeal of this marina will unfortunately be lost in the future...
We are about to head off to the marina restaurant (after walking Lucky around the grounds). Now that I have had an additional 2 miles of walking I am looking forward to a relaxing dinner... The marina grounds are nice enough, but other than the marina we are isolated from civilization, which has both pluses and minuses.
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