Illinois Waterway with stops in Dolton, Wilmington, and Ottawa

On Tuesday, September 1 we left Chicago to head to the Calumet River which will lead to the Illinois River. The Calumet leads to the Calumet-Saganashkee (or Cal-Sag) Channel, the Deplaines River and and then the Illinois River. The views of Chicago leaving it were spectacular so I took many photos there. We went south of the Calumet River initially so  we could stop in Hammond, Indiana which had a better diesel fuel price. After that we entered the Calumet River and it was a noticeable contrast between Chicago downtown and the very industrial Calumet River. We stayed at Marine Services Corporation in Dolton for one night. They were very nice there but they are really more of a boatyard and service marina and they are in a nice protected cove. 

On Wednesday, September 2 we left early around 7 am to try and beat the heat as it was going to be another high 90 degree day. There were a lot of white birds out which I think are either egrets or herons. Palos was a nice area to pass through and is north of Frankfort where we lived in the early 90s.  After that  the route gets very industrial with barges, oil refineries, sand and gravel barges. This was also the day we went under the lowest fixed bridge on the loop in Lemont at 19.5 feet but we called them to verify  and water was low so it was at 21 feet (see rusty train bridge below). We also went over the submerged electric fish barrier that is supposed to stop asian carp from getting into Lake Michigan. (see signs below) We had 2 locks today and several bridges to raise in Joliet. We saw the Joliet wall where a lot of loopers will stay but it would have been miserable for us in the heat.   Going under the I-80 bridge I noted the Iowa sign and realized how close we are to home by land. We traveled that bridge many times when we  lived in nearby Frankfort, Illinois and traveled back to Iowa to visit family. We arrived at Harborside Marina at about 1:30 in Wilmington, Illinois on the Deplaines River and docked easily on our own.  We turned on the AC and immediately went to their pool which made the heat bearable.  Harborside is not only a marina but has unique "floating homes" and a restaurant called Twisted Anchor. It was closed Wednesday but we were able to enjoy it the second day. We ordered a pizza the first day from Giordono's. We went to the pool both Wednesday and Thursday as the weather was still very hot and humid. 

On Friday, September 4, another hot day we left early from Harborside Marina at 7 am. We passed the junction of the Desplaines River and the Kankakee River and passed through the Dresden Island Lock with no wait. After this we were officially on the Illinois River. We stopped at Springbrook Marina in Seneca for a part we needed for our shore water connection which had broken. The next lock was Marseilles and we were able to catch up with 5 other pleasure boats and we all locked through together just in time because a barge was waiting to come up river when we got out. We arrived at Heritage Harbor Marina in Ottawa, Illinois in the early afternoon. We got settled in and we installed the new shore water connection so we could happily connect to the water there. By this time we were pretty much melting in the heat so spent several hours in the pool! We met many great people there including Brian and Tabby who keep there boat there, and also Bill and Anne, Loopers on the boat Sequel. We had an amazing dinner at the restaurant on the property called Valentino's Harbor House. 

On Saturday,  we did laundry and ordered a Walmart Delivery for provisions. Later on we took the dinghy to explore downtown Ottawa which was only about 3 miles away on the water. We stopped first at Dockside Grill on the water. We remembered going there several years ago when we brought the Cobalt 220 boat and stayed at Heritage Harbor.  Then we headed to the city dock and walked around the city. Ottawa has a lot of history and is clean and well-kept. Lincoln spent a lot of time there and Washington Square was the location of the first Lincoln-Douglas debate. There are many great restaurants there and we went to The Beach House and B.A.S.H. (Burger And Sushi House). On the way back to the harbor we enjoyed the sunset. Once back to the boat Mark and Debbie (the boat next to us) invited us to sit on the dock with the neighbor boats and had "dock tails".

On Sunday, the heat finally broke! We enjoyed our church service online and then mostly did chores. Mark,  from the boat next to us came over for awhile in the afternoon and he and Tim enjoyed talking about boating and Tim showed him the navigation tools on the helm. Unfortunately we never got a photo. In the evening Heritage Harbor and the Harbor House restaurant had a party called "Last Night in White" based on the old tradition of Labor Day Weekend being the last time to wear white since summer was ending.  We first ate dinner at Harbor House and then went to the party in their boardwalk area, complete with a sand "beach" area. They had a DJ and a fun trivia game which even had a few questions about the Loop. We saw Tabby and Brian who we had met at the pool and we had promised to show them the boat since they are interested in the Loop. So we took them along with Darlene and Greg, and Christine and Mike, to see the boat and ended the night with a mini-beer toast. We truly enjoyed our time at Heritage Harbor in Ottawa, Illinois and will head to Peoria next where we are looking forward to seeing 2 college friends (Rhonda and Karen) !