September 28, 2009

Joliet. Spent five days there, but before we get into that, let me tell you about the Asian Carp. You might want to grab a cup of coffee.... Perhaps you've read or heard of this invasive species that, like so many accidently or intentionally imported critters, has become a problem in American waterways. This guy is a voracious carp (think ginormous goldfish) that grows to 75—100 lbs. How? By, you guessed it, eating everything in sight and upsetting the ecology of the waters. Starting near the Gulf of Mexico, the Carp have migtated up the Mississippi and into the Illinois River, heading for the Great Lakes. Besides the ecology issue, it seems the fish gets agitated by the sound or vibration of motors in the water, and leaps out. People have had stitches, and even been killed by being whacked by a leaping fish. In 2002, the US Army Corps of Engineers became concerned that the Great Lakes would be devastated if the Carp got into Lake Michigan. Their solution was to build an electric barrier across the Chicago Sanitary Canal (remember how the canal was created to reverse the flow of um, 'Sanitary' water, if you get the drift, away from the Lake.). The theory: the fish will swim up to the electric current and say, “Hey, what is this? No thank you very much” and turn around and go away. Well, apparently it worked for awhile, but over time, the fish weren't so concerned with the electric charge and this year the COE decided to get their attention with a stronger electric barrier. Problem is, the current was so strong that the Coast Guard became concerned that someone besides the fish would get zapped. NO good. There's evidently enough electricity in that 0.7 mile cage to do serious bodily harm. The solution? Testing. But while they were doing the testing, the decision was made to close the Canal to all non-steel hull traffic. Tugs and barges are steel. 99% of pleasure craft (PC's we're called) are fiberglass or wood. So, as of the end of August, no PC's could get out of Chicago. Well, one could reverse the route, return through the Great Lakes and go back down the East Coast, but that is really not what we Loopers (and there are a whole lot of us) had in mind. New solution. Non-steel boats could be towed through the barrier by steel tugs using a non-steel towing cable. The charge? $600. You can't make this stuff up, can you? Needless to say, there was an outcry from the boating public, and as of Sept. 12, after many towing fees had been paid, the canal was opened to PC's—with caveats. Wear a life jacket, sit in a chair, if something falls into the water (including your spouse, child or pet) do NOT retrieve it, simply wait for it to be carried through the barrier by the current, etc. etc. And, oh yes, you DO understand that you cross the barrier at your own risk, don't you? On the 21st the Coast Guard sent a message to PC's to hurry and get through, as the barrier may be closed again. On the 22nd, along came YOUNG AMERICA, and since we'd gotten our usual 'early' start, it was after 5pm when we were hailed by the Coast Guard guys who were staked out at either end of the barrier. They told us the barrier was closed until further notice, but we could be towed through if we chose ($600???) We said no thanks, and by the way do you know when it will re-open? Yes, said they, at 7 am. WELL, then, we'll just tie up on the wall and wait. Hmmm. A few minutes after we'd tied up on the wall, a miracle happened and, as no commercial traffic was in the area, we were given the ok to pass through. Fred shut off everything that could be shut off—except the engines—we donned our life vests, sat down, and proceeded through without incident. Time will tell what happens with these critters. STILL BUSY was anchored in the Mississippi and awoke in the morning to find that a foot long carp had jumped into the dinghy. They are certainly a problem. The solution remains to be seen. We have put it behind us. The barrier is in Romeoville, IL. Just beyond that is Lockport, where Fred lived as a kid, graduated from high school, and learned to fly—the Lockport airfield is still there! There is, in fact, a lock at Lockport—although to his amazement, Fred never visited it when he lived there. As we approached, we met our first really big tow. 3 barges across and three barges long—they were tied up waiting for the lock to empty and bring up the other part—3 across and 2 long, with the tug. We found a place, once again, to tie up on the lock wall, and got out our chairs and binoculars to watch. By the time the whole load was reassembled, it was dark. I would NOT want to be that tug driver, but off he went. We went to sleep. In the morning, we slipped into the lock between barge loads, and travelled the 3 miles to the City of Joliet free wall. We spent 5 days there! My brother lives in Geneseo and two of his children, Tracy and Sandi, live in Rockton and Plainfield—all within 2 hours of our lock wall, so we rented a car and did some visiting. We really lucked out as neice Sandi's grandson was being christened, and we got to attend and celebrate with Amy, Jason and baby Logan. Another of Sandi's daughters, Sarah, brought her husband Bob and son Parker for a visit on the boat. Additionally, we spent a day with Cynthia and Michael from the Chicago yacht club—they motored down and we had a fun time aboard YA and at Harrah's Casino across the way! Also spent time chatting with fellow cruisers aboard MISS RUBY and SOMEWHERE. This morning we returned the car to Enterprise, and headed off into the river, facing some pretty hefty winds. (Tornados moved through the area last nite, but bypassed us). The ride was a tad rocky, but there is always a bright side. It was way too windy for barge traffic, so we had the river pretty much to ourselves. Opted to stop early here in Spring Brook Marina, and were glad we did, as the winds blew us around quite a bit as we docked and it took a full hour to get securely secured. Weather forcast is for a calmer day tomorrow, so we'll continue on as we head for the Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, and Tombigbee Rivers that will bring us to the Gulf of Mexico. How lucky are we? What a fabulous trip this is! WOW! (see map for current location) Good night for now and we'll 'talk' again! Be well... Linda and Fred

September 25, 2009

Well, I lied. Didn't write from Newburgh, and didn't write Monday, either. Oh my. Here goes a lengthy update! We did dock in Chicago. It was splendid. We were welcomed at the Columbia Yacht Club—whose building is the retired ice-cutting ferry ABGEWEIT. Beautiful old ship, refurbished to make a very unusual and special club. We couldn't have been more 'downtown'. Step off the ramp and the Millennium park is two blocks away. Mayor Daley has done a magnificent job of space for Chicagoans and tourists. The Jay Pritzker Pavillion—a National Medal of Art winner designed by Frank Gehry has an amazing steel ribbon and pipe design over and above the 120'stage and seating for 11,000. Free concerts are offered every summer day at noon. What fun it was to wander among the sculptures—the “Cloud Gate”--a seamless stainless steel kidney bean that reflects the cityscape and clouds, and provides a 12' arch below where it is a hoot to see and touch all the reflections. The crown fountain features –well, see the photo. 1000 Chicago citizens were photographed to show the diversity of the city. For 30 seconds every 5 minutes the children are 'squirted', the rest of the day they frolic in the thin layer of water between the columns. In the summer, the food court is, well, a food court. From Nov. to May, it becomes an outdoor skating rink. For many years, I've heard about the 'Pump Room in Chicago', almost as a joke. Turns out it is there, in the Ambassador Hotel, and we had dinner 2 booths away from the space reserved for Frank Sinatra when he was in town. OK, so it's a bit tired and looking for some tender loving care, but it is now off my 'bucket list'. Claudia, the launch driver gave me a very special hour on the water. I stowed away on the launch and we chatted as she shuttled folks to and from shore. Fun. Wed. afternoon, I saw a matinee of Jersey Boys, which,it was noted, included authentic New Jersey profanity. On Wednesday evening we were 'treated to the twice a week fireworks display. Chicago is a fine city and I hated to leave. But leave we did, and headed south (ahead of the ice and snow). Next stop, Dolton IL on the Calumet River. We arrived at Marine Services Marina in time for pot luck dinner with STILL BUSY, MEANDER, and RIFF RAFF. It's great to re-connect. Our weekend was spent cleaning the boat, working on the Carp barrier fiasco, and packing. I flew from O'Hare on Sunday morning to meet Maureen and Freddie, two long standing friends with whom I shared Nursing school in Minneapolis and apartments in San Francisco. Had a great visit in Ventura CA where we waded in the Pacific, spent hours over coffee and red wine, and did some touring. One stop was Ron Reagan's library—on a beautiful piece of land. An Air Force One is there, as well as an identical copy of the Oval Office. Spent a day in Ojai and Santa Barbara and enjoyed the missions, and the art that is everywhere in Ventura. Meanwhile, Fred was off to Kansas City, MO for a USPower Squadron meeting. I met him there on Thursday, and together we flew to NY on Sunday. How quickly we got into the Newburgh groove---spent time with all six of the seven children (and their children) who are in the area, caught up with friends and with the UU, MHPS, DOF's, and SBCA—the alphabet soup of our non-cruising life That week lasted about a day and a half, I think. YOUNG AMERICA has reclaimed us and today we're in the Des Plains River at Joliet, IL. Will catch up with this segment next week. Till then, keep smiling and share the love and laughter! Linda and Fred

September 7, 2009

Hi guys-- No blog this week. Fred and I are both off the boat. Will get back to you next week from Newburgh..... Linda and Fred

August 31, 2009

Did I say summer? 'Twas a jest. Six of the past seven days have been in the 50's or 60's, and the early part of the week was so rainy we began to look for the animals coming two by two! One indoor task we accomplished was to test our PFD's. (For the non-boater reading this, a PFD is the Personal Floatation Device one wears when leaving the boat to enter the water—usually unexpectadly.) Back in the days when the boat was 'put in service' in the spring, that was on the check list of things to do—right up there with draining the anti-freeze and charging the batteries. Living oboard is a different ball of wax. It's been over a year, and instead of winterizing, we just took the boat to a warm place. So this is one of the annual events that just slipped by. We do know, now, though. that if a life vest is needed, it'll float! The rain was a good thing in that it kept us here while the workers worked, and it worked to work with them. Got that? We did do some walking early in the week and explored the train station and nearby Waukegan Yacht Club where we had a good lunch! By Friday we were ready to get out of Dodge, and we hopped aboard the Metra and took ourselves to Chicago. We spent the afternoon in the Museum of Science and Industry. Fascinating place. It's Harry Potter time there, but we bypassed the display of movie props. Spent some time with a WW II submarine that was captured just before D-Day. The Allies were so afraid that the Germans would discover the capture of the boat—and encoding machines and charts, etc. etc. etc., that the sub (U-505) which was captured 150 miles from Africa, was towed to Bermuda! Over 1700 miles across the ocean. The German crew (all but one survived) was then put into a POW camp in Louisiana—separated from other German prisoners-- to prevent their talking about the U Boat's capture and compromising the intelligance gains of the Allies. Lots of info about it in google. Very interesting. My favorite exhibit was a huge model train display. It included a mock up of Chicago—harbor and transportation hub, then the tracks took off across (or through) the Rockies to Seattle and a Pacific Ocean display. The only problem with it was the plexiglas wall that prevented touching and playing with the signals etc. There were trains running all over the place! We WERE allowed to touch and move and throw and wind and swing stuff in the Children's area. We actually had to beg, and only got in with special permission since we were not accompanied by anyone under 10 years of age. They are tough at that museum. I guess there was some concern about why we might want to be in the Children's area, as they made us promise not to take any photos. They just didn't know they were dealing with two grown-up sized children. We loved the children's area. No pictures though. We behaved and kept our word. It is a great museum—one we highly recommend. There is even an old time ice cream parlor on the third floor! They make a great Root Beer float! We rounded out the day with a delicious dinner downtown to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. Caught the train home and it was a fine day. On Saturday, my neice Mary Newnam and her daughter Kyra drove to Waukegan from their home in Rockton, IL. After they had a tour of YA, we rode into Chicago with them. The one hour trip took over 2-1/2 hours! Traffic came out of nowhere on a Saturday afternoon, and we moved at boat speed a good deal of the time! We drove to the Wendella sightseeing boat tour company. It's right downtown—400 Michigan Ave. I had no idea that the Chicago River is right there! There are many, many bridges over that river--more, we were told, than in any other city. The tour guide discussed the architecture of the city and it was very interesting. Did you know that the Sears Tower is now the Willett Tower? Chicagoans don't care that the name is changed--it'll always be the Sears Tower to them. Donald Trump has a big tall building here, as well. (Just thought you'd like to know.) The tour boat went through a Lock into Lake Michigan, and that was a hoot. It seems that way back when, the sewage being dumped into the River as the city grew was making a mess of the Lake, so the city fathers, in addition to creating sewage management, dug a canal to connect the Chicago River to the Des Plains River. Cleverly named the Chicago Sanitary Canal, it was created to be 15 feet deeper than the Chicago River, and therefore, we were told, when the Canal was opened, the Chicago River began to flow toward the lower point—away from the Lake and into the Des Plains. Thus was created the only River in the whole wide world whose direction of flow has been reversed. Sounds like one for Ripley, eh? (Remember, we just returned from Canada, eh?) In any case, the strategy of the Lock, in order to level the Lake and River, is to simply open the gate at the Lake Michigan end of the Lock and allow the water to pour in. In our trip, a family of ducks swooshed in as well. Looked as if the babies were having fun! Within a moment or two, the level of the Chicago River was raised the eighteen inches necessary to make smooth transition. No mechaanical devices required, just build a box and open and close the ends of it on demand. Very clever. It was great to visit with family, even though it was brief. My brother and two of his (gorwn) children and their families are in Illinois, so we're hoping to catch up with more of them soon. Sunday was truly a 'lay-day'. We didn't do much of anything, except stay inside and keep warm. Today I grocery shopped, and Fred readied the boat for tomorrow's run to the Windy City. (By the way, did you know that it is not weather that the nickname refers to, but the seemingly endless talk of local politicians!). See you next week. Be well and keep smiling! Linda and Fred