day 2

photo (left to right): mike callahan, scott campbell, mac moore, john kuber, tom reinertson

12 hrs, 71 mi to spring brook marina

we rose to a beautiful morning and shoved off as quickly as we could get dressed.  we were anxious to get underway.

now this is living.  even though we were passing thru a heavy industrial section of chicago, we were surprised at how much vegetation was along the banks.  sure, we saw lots of coal and gravel piles but we pass a lot of serene country too.

that pole and flag you see on our bow is our "bridge whip".   the intent is to hit the low bridge with it before we hit the top of the boat.  the whip is set to the same height as the highest point of boat because although most of the bridges are 24' high, there is one bridge in lemont, illinois, the burlington northern railroad bridge is only 19' and since september song is 18'7" high, this is going to be a tight squeeze.

as you can see, it was close.  but we made it and now the rest of the trip would be easy, at least as far as bridges are concerned.

because the cal-sag is a narrow canal, in spots, we had to spend a little time waiting for barges to pass.

and let's not forget about the asian carp.  the army corps of engineers has installed an electric barricade to try and stop the carp from entering lake michigan.  this barricade essentially electrifies the water for about a half-mile stretch of the canal.

this was also the day of locks.  we had 4 to transit:  lockport, brandon road, dresden island, and marseilles (pronounced marsales).

it turned out to be a beautiful day and there was plenty of time to relax.  we gave scot the day off since he saved us the day before.

because september song can throw off a pretty large wake, we attracted all of the jet skiers on the river.

when we finally made the spring brook marina we hit the only rain of the day so we had to wait outside the marina for a bit until the cell passed.  then mac brought us up to the fuel dock, holding our collective breath since the depth sounder was reading 5', our exact draft, but we made it in and celebrated the day with dinner.