Stats for Monday, October 1st

Origin:  Joliet Free Wall

Destination:  Heritage Harbor Marina

Distance:  45.5 miles

Speed:  6.9 mph

Time on the Move:  6 hours and 39 minutes

 

The next morning Mike returned the rental car and came home with donuts.  It was a perfect start to our 2nd day on the rivers.  We left the Joliet wall (shortly after we inhaled the donuts) along with several other boats that were on the wall that night.  A lot of the “deciding when to leave” depended on if you could get a spot in a marina 45 miles or so downriver.  Again, due to the backup at the lock further downstream, many loopers were at a standstill.  If the boats aren’t moving out, there might not be room for more to move in.  We were lucky, though, and had secured a spot at Heritage Harbor Marina for the night so adios Joliet!!  (Hayley pronounces it Juliet, by the way.)

Our trip was *fairly* uneventful and scenic along the way.  We had 2 locks to get through and we did have to raft up with another boat in one of them.  It gave us a chance to meet Deb and Rhett on the sailboat Twin and get to know them a bit.  We also traveled with the sailboat from the lock incident the night before another pleasure craft that was local to the area.

We were anxious to get to Heritage Harbor where we heard there was a great pool, playground, and other looper amenities.  By the time we tied up on the dock, we were hot and sweaty and looking forward to jumping in the pool.  The pool, however, was a tad bit freezing and only one brave soul from our boat went it.  Of course, it was the pirate who doesn’t actually know how to swim yet.  After a short time at the pool, the kids were, unfortunately, equally unimpressed with the playground.  That left Hayley and I to inquire about borrowing the courtesy car so we could run some errands.  Lots of marinas along the loop have courtesy cars where you can actually use a car, free of charge, for a few hours.  This is an amazing thing for people who need to go to laundromats and grocery stores, like us.  So, the girls were off taking care of errands while the boys took showers and checked out the cable TV connection.

The next day, we weren’t exactly sure what we were going to do.  The boats that left Heritage Harbor the day before got through the lock that was previously closed, but they had to wait for hours and hours to let the commercial traffic through, and then the lock broke down again.  Supposedly it would be up and running soon, but we weren’t sure what that meant.  The marina told us about a great website where the corps actually lists all the vessels waiting to pass through locks, identifies how large they are and if they are going up or downstream, and tells you how long they have been waiting.  It is a very useful website at times like these.  Also, the lockmasters were *generally* very nice (to us) and helpful when deciding when to take off in the morning.

Mike ended up finding some chores to get done on the boat and Hayley and I went for a run around the facility at Heritage Harbor.  It is a growing community with homes, cottages, a restaurant, and who knows what else in the complex.  It was a great place to explore on my first run on the loop.  (That’s right–I’ve been lazy!!).

We heard from our sailboat buddy from the day before, Twin, that they were at the town docks, just 3 miles downriver, and had power and dockage for free.  They said there was room for us and a cute little town you could walk to, so we decided to untie the lines and head on down for some free dockage.

Thank you for reading about our stay at Heritage Harbor!!  We love your comments and questions, so feel free to leave them at the end of the posts!!  Thank you!!