Friday - Sun, Aug. 17 - 19, 2018

We left Joliet on Friday 8/17, after 8:30am so the bridge could be raised after rush hour – the only problem was we had to wait an additional 45 minutes… why? We don’t know. Suspicion has it that the operator may have been napping. Locks and bridges – all part of the fun!! Dresden lock had a 1 hr 25 min wait to enter the lock; Marseilles lock, expected to be the worst, was only a 1 hr 10 min wait. Five of eight locks on the Illinois waterways done! Arrived at Heritage Harbor 6:10pm. It would have been 10 minutes earlier but we (Sue) missed the harbor entrance (of course a small and unreadable sign) so we had to do a 180 and go back a short ways.

Heritage Harbor was a fantastic dockage – great people, always assistance with docking, terrific food at Red Dog Grill (execllent waffle fries!), nice pool with Tiki Bar. After only 3 days on the water, we already decided to take a little break that turned into 3 nights there. (… we’re adjusting to looper life, the pace should pick up…) Saturday we had our 1st looping guests! Brian’s mom, brother & his wife, Marilyn, Al & Tammy, came to see us and the boat, or our “new house” as Marilyn put it. We took everyone for a short ride on the river, then had dinner at Red Dog. A few chores, and more relaxing and we were ready to be on our way again Monday morning with a 9AM cast off.