The Road to Joliet (No dirks!)

August 22, 2024

The long awaited day had arrived! For whatever reason, we had been dreading the voyage down the Illinois River for at least several years, probably because of the stories we had heard regarding the narrow canal, towing and barge activity and concerns regarding crime or violence at the Joliet free wall.

The early part of the voyage did not disappoint. We went through a series of lift bridges with varying but relatively short wait times and then began to encounter a great deal of tow and barge activity within the confines of a canal, narrow by design and further compromised by multiple barges tied up along the walls. As we descended the river, we also picked up some companions, looper boats, Exodus (Dennis and Tammy) and Checkmate (Mike), who fell in behind us and accompanied us all the way down the river to Joliet, Illinois. Joliet is graced by four lift bridges in a very short span just north of the free wall.. We called for an opening for the first bridge and to our surprise the next three bridges opened like they were choreographed. We never even slowed down as we passed underneath all four bridges. What a great experience.

The free wall was pretty much empty and as lead boat we did a little buttonhook turn upstream, and came in to tie up. We had worried somewhat about this as well as there is no marina here and the wall was not in great repair nor easily accessible. To our surprise, a Joliet police officer was standing at the wall where we planned to dock. We called to him and asked whether he would help and he immediately and kindly agreed. We threw him several lines and he tied us up. What service! The other two boats also came in behind us and tied up. There was a third boat already tied on the wall, Et Cetera (Ian and Yolis), at the time we arrived.

It was time to get acquainted before our long night on the wall. I had prepared for this stay in Joliet by ordering braided steel cables to supplement our dock wall tie up so that it would be challenging for someone with a knife during the night to cut our lines and leave us adrift into a busy shipping lane. I also had enough bear spray on board to clear out Yellowstone if necessary. We had a good laugh at the posted sign in the dockside park, which specifically prohibited multiple types of weapons, including dirks. As might be expected with all this preparation and anxiety, the night was entirely uneventful and actually fairly peaceful. The officer who helped us dock had already told us this. However, I also noted that he came by in his patrol car several times during the evening. He told us that he had also heard stories about the Joliet wall, but that he had never been involved or taken a report on any untoward incidents with looper boats there.

We coordinated with everybody in the morning and called the lock for an early start. Unfortunately, the Brandon Road Lock had a different plan and we stayed tied up from 6 AM until noon waiting for the go ahead from the nearby lock to proceed. This was painful. However, shortly after noon we got the call and raced as a small fleet down to the lock which we passed without difficulty.