Chicago River
The rules to take your boat thru downtown Chicago are that you must be able to get under a 17’ bridge. Next Chapters air draft is 17’9” with the radar still mounted. I had spoke to a river boat captain who said the river level was down almost 2’. So Stray Cat decided to chance it being at 17’ band went down the river. He was kind enough to have a crew member use a pool noodle to to physically measure each bridge.
Let me tell you there is a ton of them between downtown and the intersection of the Cal-Sag. He called me after he reached Jolliet and said, “come on you can make it.” So to have a little insurance I went thur the pain of removing the radar dome. I then put my sister on the Sundeck and told her to stand there and if her head hit one of the bridges to let me know. Well it was pretty funny I thought.
I can write her response as I am keeping this G rated. I must say it was another boating experience that defies description. Fortunately the 38 mile ride to Jolliet was uneventful. When we arrived the wall was packed with Loopers but room for us. Now Jolliet is not one of those quaint little towns. In fact there have been some issues that boaters on the wall have run into with some of the locals.
Fortunately the town and police have not taken kindly to that so mast nights there is a police car stationed there. The officer was kind enough to come over and introduce himself and assured us they had pretty much resolved the issues. Unfortunately this would be where we would say goodbye to my sister and future brother-in-law. The night went without incident except for the fact it got pretty cold, once again reinforcing the fact we need to push south.
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