Friday, July 13

Main Street - Havana, IL

Forced out of the channel by this large barge

Graveyard for River Boats

We are now two days into the stretch of The Great Loop known as" Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico".  After cruising the open waters of the Great Lakes, it is somewhat of a relief to be in the comfort of inland rivers.

Henry's Marina inside an old lock

Mobile, AL. is approximately 1300 miles away from Chicago.  The current is mostly in the direction we are traveling with the exception of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, which flow in a northerly direction.  The biggest navigational issues we face (other than barges) are caused by flooding and that is not likely in this year of the Midwest drought.
The first section of this passage is the Illinois Waterway - Chicago to the Mississippi River (325 miles).  It consists of three parts - Chicago River, the Sanitary & Ship Canal and the DesPlaines/Illinois Rivers.
Beyond metro Chicago the shoreline is mostly undeveloped with a few towns, parks & industry scattered along the way.  We are surprised at how green the landscape remains despite the summer heat & lack of rainfall.  We stopped to fuel at Henry Harbor Marina which is uniquely located inside the remains of an old lock constructed in the 1870s.
We passed several large barges, some of which forced us out of the channel because of their wide beam.   A new experience for us was watching the Asian Carp come flying out of our wake.  The river is so overpopulated by this fish that an electric field has been constructed in the river to keep them out of Lake Michigan.

Barge traffic on the Illinois River

After cruising 120 miles we pulled into the Tall Timbers Marina in Havana, IL. Biking through the town it was immediately apparent that we were back in the Midwest when we passed a tractor pulling a cultivator driving down Main Street.