Bob and Gail's Next Adventure: Days 169-171 - Joliet to Ottawa (Illinois)

An exciting day through three locks. Our first lock was the easiest. We called them before we left Joliet and they said they would be ready for us when we got there. We did have to wait a few minutes, but locked through by ourselves. Seascape was supposed to join us but got caught by a railroad lift bridge closing in front of them to let a train go by. They caught up with us by the second lock along with 4 other boats as we had a loooongggg wait there. In comparison to what we hear others have had to wait, it wasn't that long but seemed like it to us. Intuition - the Grand Banks that went UNDER the railroad bridge in Chicago had gone through the locks the day before and had to wait so long for each lock that they didn't arrive in Ottawa until after dark. We called the lock and they informed us it would be about an hour and a half. We anchored out of the channel and settled in to wait. It was closer to 2 1/2 hours as the boats kept coming! When they let us in the lock we discovered there were only 2 working bollards to we rafted 3 deep. That was a first! It was really smooth as we had all rafted before. The last lock was a notoriously long wait, but we were very lucky and only waited about 45 min. As we are a slow boat, all the other boats were there waiting when we arrived. This time we only had to raft 2 deep. All the other boats pulled into a marina 2 miles before the town but we went on ahead to the town free dock with free power! It is a small dock but very comfortable and fairly quiet. The bridge was right over us but not a lot of noisy traffic. The barges going by would throw a small wake, but we were comfortable there for 3 nights.

The journey down the rivers - was different again. We left a lot of the industry behind and entered a beautiful rural area with duck blinds everywhere!

Some of these resemble small homes!

Even with their own garages!

And then there are the real houses!

Such a beauty!

A new one - big!!

And new TINY houses!

We've never seen water lily fields so big and thick!! They are all over this area.

Monday we walked around town, went to the visitors center, went to library, saw a movie (Wonder Woman - the first movie we've seen all year!), and then got caught in a HUGE thunder storm so a quick run BACK to the library!

The beautiful rainbow after the storm.

We waited there for 2 hours until the rain was almost stopped and headed to the grocery store where we picked up a few supplies and dinner at their deli which we took back to the boat. Tuesday was boat project day and lazy day. We started out on a bright note with a visitor. Jake had just finished the Loop and lives near by. He stopped by to meet us and offered any assistance - so nice! We took another walk into town and picked up a few more supplies then back to the boat. There were two sailboats anchored just off the dock that Jake said had been there for several weeks. They'd originally been on the dock but had been asked to leave when they outstayed their welcome. That afternoon the fire department arrived to issue their sailing orders as they were no longer welcome in town. We felt bad for them as one boat didn't run and had to be towed away, but it is nice to see a town that values its water front and wants to keep visitors coming.

Our boat on the left - the two sailboats and the fire boat that evicted them.

This is a barge that was "parked" under the bridge most of the day. We couldn't decide how many barges there were so I walked up on the bridge to see...

...and the answer is - 9!!!

Ottawa is a fascinating town full of history.
It was the site of the first Lincoln/Douglas debate. It would have been a sight to see with Douglas so short and a deep voice and Lincoln so tall with a high tenor voice. Newspapers were very partisan (sound familiar?) and reported the speech slanted to their party's bias although the speeches was recorded verbatim as well.

It is also the home of the founder of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America.

A sad part of their history is the Radium Girls. There was a watch factory in town that used radium to light up the dials of their watches. The girls were paid high wages but assured that it was safe. They were taught to lick the tip of the paint brush to get a finer tip to paint the dials. Little did they know, many of them were dying already. The town is still cleaning up the radio active materials that have spread through the town. This is a statue representing the girls who suffered. In her left hand is a paint brush and her right holds a tulip but no one seems to know what the significance of the tulip is.

The town is full of murals that depict its history. This one shows the digging of the Illinois & Michigan Canal by hand. This canal joined the Illinois River to the Mississippi before the current canal. It took 12 years to build, all by hand. It included an aqueduct, supported by seven towering piers, that crossed over the Fox River and was once considered the eighth wonder of the world.