Eagle Alley: Illinois River

 

Here was a typical barge. The tugs pushed lego-like barges one to three “legos” wide and one to eight times long! They were firmly tied together with cables.

THE BIG PICTURE

I would guess that most people think we cruise down the Mississippi River to cross from Lake Michigan to the Gulf of Mexico. It turns out the Mississippi River has few marinas that provide services (slip, fuel, water, pump outs) for recreational boaters. We're told it's very industrial and therefore not scenic. 

Instead, there's a confluence of rivers that Loopers take East of the Mississippi River. This travelogue covers the first leg of the route. (In truth, we travel on the Mississippi for just three days.)

THE CALUMET RIVER

We entered these American waterways via the Calumet River, at 581 feet of elevation. By the time we finish our last lock in Alabama(1) we'll be once again at sea level. So we have many travel days with locks to look forward to.(2) 

Per usual, we were excited to start a new leg of the loop. Once again, almost all the places we'll stop in the river system will be first times for us.

In the top half of Calumet River, there were a lot of low, old-timey bridges that opened for us. It was quite dramatic--like curtains opening. On this waterway, we passed under the lowest stationary bridge on our Loop.(3) One of the challenges with the waterways we entered is that they are in constant fluctuation. Rain, runoff, and the needs of commerce or power generation use will change the depth--and the height between the water and stationary bridges. The Calumet did not increase or decrease as much as the rivers to the South. We knew we could make it under.

As we passed underneath each historical bridge, with some stationary and others opening for us, you can imagine the smell of rust and humid earth, and feel the cool shade on these hot September days.

Looking left and right we saw a lot of busy, industrial action. Raw materials such as coal, gravel, and grains were dug, scoped, dumped, loaded into barges, and floated--and ultimately unloaded. Many people were working hard in this area. It was our job to stay out of their way! 

We looked at the left and right banks, guessing at the enormous piles. We saw this unusual and vibrant chartreuse pile—just once. Then, we smelled the characteristic smell of rotten eggs. We guessed it was sulfur. 

We passed by a huge Ford car or truck plant. It became clear that this was a corridor in the heart of America's industrial might. Here was a sophisticated chemical plant we saw. So many pipes! 

 

Before long, we reached a unique waterway feature: an electric fish barrier in Romeoville, IL. It was erected in 2010 to prevent carp from entering the Great Lakes. Large signs warned boaters against going into the water (like we would, anyway!?) or anchoring.(4) When you used the river as we did, it was apparent that managing these rivers' resources was an ongoing challenge. There's been pollution for more than a couple of centuries, there's invasive fauna and flora (like the Kudzu ivy), and a primary need to control the water flow. 

BALD EAGLES APLENTY

Another unexpected sight grew in numbers: bald eagles. Most of the eagles were juveniles. It's easy to recognize their broad wing spans, chit-chit-chittering cries, and characteristic glides. It felt surreal--while also adding to the Americana-ness--that the industrial Illinois River would have so many bald eagles sailing around, eyeing and diving into the water. They seemed happy to eat the carp. 

We also saw small groups of migratory white American Pelicans like those resting here in this photo. Each day we saw lone, orange, beautiful, and fragile migratory monarch butterflies as well, always flying South.

We saw some modest waterfront homes. There were no water slides or toys on the Illinois like there were in the Trent-Severin Waterway. Locals we spoke with admitted their dismay regarding the polluted water and how carp are real pests. We definitely mangled a few carps as we pushed through a school here and there. There is a short history of these fish and how they were brought in to the waterway—on purpose!(5) 

BARGES AND LOCKS OF THE ILLINOIS RIVER

There was one thing all the tugs had in common: a smoker/bbq right outside the port side exterior door! See the red bbq?

Near the end of day one, the Calumet River meets the Illinois River. We stopped at a city dock in Joliet, IL. The second day was at a nice marina (with a pool!) near Ottawa, IL. Much like the captain's briefing we attended way back in Delaware City, the harbor host/owner held a captain's briefing, here in Ottawa, as well. He was a former tug boat captain and Army Core of Engineers employee. We hung on to every word he spoke in reverence for his valuable knowledge.

He laid out specific anchorages and tie-ups we Loopers would use for the next week. There would be no marinas with services for six days. 

Part of his tutorial focused on tug captain lingo. We needed to communicate with the tugboat captains as we squeezed by them in dredged channels.(6) As it turned out, most of the contact we had was business-like and friendly.. 

The size and power of the locks on the Illinois River were impressive. However, this also made them mind-numbingly slow. We were in the final dozen or so of locks for the entire Loop, so I concentrated on that happy thought. Here’s a few seconds of my view of the floating bollards we tied to in those locks. We went down inches every ten seconds, or so:

INNOVATIVE ANCHORAGES AND TIE-UPS

Our next stop was a simple anchorage, snuggled behind a mid-river island. We buddied up and traveled with two other Loopers those day and went through locks together. It was safer to travel in a pack, since there were almost no resources for recreational boaters. It was also the preference for lockkeepers and tug captains.

We stopped at multiple behind-the-island anchorages at the end of a cruising day. Even though I found the water a tad stinky and muddy, I enjoyed the consistent bald eagle shows. This is Mike’s drone shot. He wrote on the photo to share with some Loopers who were a few days behind us. We, in turn, received helpful information from Loopers ahead of us. It was important to know if the anchorage was deep enough in the current week.

AMAZING SITES ON SHORE

At Peoria, there was a derelict dock owned by the city. We choose to anchor for an afternoon across the river, outside the shipping channel. We dinghied over and found that gulls and Canadian geese were making the most of the dock. 

The key reason for stopping is to see the Caterpillar Museum. No, I'm not referring to caterpillar-to-butterfly caterpillars. It's the Caterpillar brand of tractors and mining equipment. It was more fun than I imagined. We enjoyed the cavernous series of historical displays and modern cockpit simulators. 

Here was a quarter of the two-story Caterpillar Museum behind us.

One of the old-time photos in the Caterpillar Museum. Important advertising history: they were demonstrating that these buckets of beans were the same low cost of one day of diesel for the tractor. 

Mike enjoyed the novelty of sitting on an old yellow tractor.

Honestly, it was scary how Caterpillar proudly illustrated their machines moved mountains and destroyed nature. But I know that I benefit from that too, so... We saw many large, active quarries by the rivers.

During one day's cruise, we approached a crazy-looking industrial plant. It reminded me of the descriptions from some steampunk novels and movies. We smelled it before we spotted it. At first, it smelled like Coca-Cola, maybe? Or sourdough bread? No! It was an old brewery. The exclamation point, as we floated by, was seeing an immense amount of effluent spewing into the Illinois River from the brewery.

South of Peoria we tied up overnight at a restaurant's derelict dock with just two spots that Loopers could use. Because we stayed at the dock, we met the charming owner. She admitted that it was too expensive to keep up a dock along the Illinois River. She said partying people abused it. And there was also the abuse from the river, itself. She said she'd have to redo it each year in order to keep it in decent shape. 

Check out this crazy wonderful drink-appetizer combo Mike had at the Peoria’s restaurant’s marina we stayed at. Take note: that’s a Bloody Mary with a slider, meatballs and traditional accompaniments of celery and green olives. 

We were starting to see more houses now, on stilts. The people here were accustomed to dramatically changing river heights. The River often freezes in winter, lowering the volume. The melt-off in the Spring raises the level. Also, heavy rain raises the level for a few days as well. This time of year, in September, when Loopers travel on the River, the level is fairly low. 

HOW TO THREAD THE NEEDLE

After another pretty anchorage behind an island, we headed out. Shortly, the U.S. Coast Guard informed us via VHF radio that a barge ahead of us ran aground and was blocking traffic. 

As we approached, we saw one tug off to the side, perhaps in mud. Two other tugs were pushing around barge lego-like pieces.

Mike hailed them and asked if we could go around them. We received a nebulous response, laden with a Southern accent. It went something like, "You'll see as you come in whether you can pass us." We took this as an invitation to try. 

We passed the grounded barge to our port safely enough. The other tugs were moving from our left to right (to starboard) and moving with the current. As we started passing, the captain emphatically stated via VHF, "You gotta get up! Get up!" We took that to mean, "Put your pedal to the metal!" So Mike pushed the throttles forward. As we passed them, throwing our big wake, we covertly listened to the two tug boat captains' jargon, complicated for us by their Southern accents. The only thing we heard for certain was, "Yeah, the Devil's Elbow is tough...".(6) 

Loopers' next overnight stay is a tug company's barge at the quaint old town of Beardstown, Illinois. 

Beardstown. I direct you to the upper left hand boats. A smaller, blue-topped boat was rafted to us We were the white boat. We were rafted to a large tug. The tug was tied to their company’s barge. This tie up was the only overnight spot for this day of the journey. Loopers were fortunate that this tug company allows Loopers here, for a small fee. 

Via rusty metal steps, we climbed up and over a sea wall to civilization. This town, like other small towns we had seen recently, had lost its gleam. The downtown square was devoid of people and had closed-up businesses. We came in for a quick grocery run and Mexican meal and were surprised that most residents were not speaking English. This was the heart of the Midwest, in a middle-class town, after all. After some Googling, we read that immigrants were filling the lowest-paying, undesirable work positions in the area: at a Cargill meat processing plant. (7)

After seven days on the Calumet and Illinois Rivers, we unceremoniously spilled out into the Mississippi River on September 10. The river widened for us, although the shipping channel we carefully followed was still the same width. It was a bit emotional, in a good way, as we started down the Mississippi River. It was hard to explain, but we felt we were really in the heart of America now.

Here was the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi River. This enormous American flag flew on the East side of the river in the little community of Grafton. This flag was large! Really large. It was 80 feet by 40 feet.  

Next, we stopped in St. Louis, skirting Missouri, then entered the Ohio River. I’ll cover this and our initial adventures in Western Kentucky in my next travelogue.

FOOTNOTES FOR FUN FACT FANS

(1) The last lock we go through is Coffeeville Lock on the Tombigbee River in central Alabama. We are likely to exit past Mobile, Alabama and into the Gulf of Mexico at the beginning of December.

(2) When we are moving with the flow, the water empties/drops in the locks. When we move against the flow, the water fills/rises in the locks. 

(3) They say, "If you can't make it under the bridge here, your Great Loop becomes the Great U-Turn!" We had perhaps a foot to spare. 

(4) The electric barrier we passed was built in 2010. It was considered not successful enough. There were plans to build more barriers in the river system. Invasive fish are a serious threat to the Great Lakes and many millions of dollars are going into continued efforts.

(5) We heard stories from other Loopers about how jumping carp landed on their decks. They died as they did this and we're told they stink. What a mess! One Looper wrote the dead fish looked like this, “Have half a gallon of Bloody Mary mix, one cup of vegetable oil, three tablespoons of glitter (fish scales). Mix well. Shake and spray all over your boat.”  

(6) As we left the controlled melee behind us, we entered an area of increased current and turns. We noticed popped up and moving tree branches and possible dead heads--although they were outside the channels--for the most part. Branches in the river system were among the most dangerous aspects of The Loop.    

We heard of a Looper that was too close to the back of a tug. They got sucked in towards the tug, spinning them. They were safe and the boat didn't receive any damage, but it was a good lesson to learn. 

(7) In Beardstown I did a grocery run and it reminded me of some of the towns and grocery stores in the rural parts of Alaska. Few vegetables. Basic canned goods. A lot of cookies and frozen pizzas. It surprises me to see a “food desert” in the middle of America.