What an amazing day! Get this…we made it through 3 locks today and I must say the lock attendants are very nice people so far. They seem to always come down and talk to us. But I do get a tad impatient waiting to enter a lock. Bryce has a little more patience then I do. We made it to Ottawa Illinois from Joliet Illinois. It was a bit breezy but the sun won the day. There wasn’t as much traffic on the river yesterday, but it was still fun to see all the new sites. Early in the morning yesterday, Bryce called the lock master to see when we could enter the lock. “In ten minutes” the voice replyed. “Can you be here?” We knew we had to scramble things together and make it there but the lock was three miles from Juliet. Bryce told the man we were still tied to the wall in Joliet. But we will leave ASAP. He then replied back and said get here as soon as we could they will wait for us. About 15 minutes later, we entered our first lock  for the day “Brandon Road lock” they monitor VHF CH 14 the lock Lift down is 34 feet.

Entering the Brandon Road Lock

As you can see they started to lower the water

I had to use the hook stick to help keep our bow off the wall. It was very windy out as they lowered her down.

When we entered the lock we have to tie our spring cleat to this Bollard. Bryce also ties our aft cleat to it too, so Beauty doesn’t bump her mast (which is over hanging the bow and aft) into the locks wall.  A bit of engine straightens her out.

We shared the lock with two power boats this trip. We made it down 34 feet and are now exiting the lock.

The next set of locks are 14.5 miles away. We travel on the average of 7.5 miles an hour so figure 2 hours of motoring time. Lets see👀 what the next 14 miles brings us.

Our first tow for the day. It’s always neat to see these when there isn’t so many at one  time.<
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, by the looks of theses silo they might have grain in them.

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is tow has already been loaded and is getting ready to float way.

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is is a neat picture. It looks like a repair shop for barges.<
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, two hours past us by now. We radio ahead on the VHS channel 14/16 they monitor both  to let the lock master know we were headed to "Dresden Island Locks"  I think he woke up on the wrong side of his bed he was a bit cranky over the phone. We had a 35-45 minute wait before we could enter that set of locks. A few minutes later we were joined by a trawler "Bob-n-Robin" they were tied up behind us on the wall in Joliet but left a day before us. It was going to be just the two of us riding south in the locks. The light turned Green and the lock master hailed for us to enter the locks on our port side. (Left side).

This is Bob-n-Robin on their Bollard

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esden Island Locks lowered us 22 feet down (south) when the gates are completely open you hear a loud horn blast that means you can disconnect your lines and proceeded out with caution.<
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oking back the single chamber lock looks huge. It is 110 wide x 600 feet long.

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oking forward to the Scenic view once again. Bob-n-Robin radio us asking permission to pass us on our port side. That was very nice of them to ask. Of course we said yes. He asked if we knew how far the next set of locks were away. We are going to get a break.. 27 miles ahead.

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is now lunch time🍴 hotdogs on the grill. That is Bryce's favorite. No photo of food. Lol

An RV park along the river

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ticed a few people fishing and strolling along the park.

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urse a pic of me. Lol

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ce picture of Bob-n-Robin very nice guys on board

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is "Marseilles Lock" it dropped us another 24 feet. We are headed to Ottawa Ill. There was a free wall to doc on but as we approached it our keel bumped bottom.

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chored out next to  Schere Island. It's peaceful and the view of the tows are great.