We left Joliet City Dock traveling with a group about 6 looper boats on our way to Ottawa - Heritage Harbor, The first lock Dresden the wickets are down and we sail right through. The amount of rain has made the river very fast, and the logs and debris floats by us faster than we are traveling so it is constant dodging of stuff and nothing relaxing about the day on the water. The trouble continues at Marseilles Lock. The lockmaster here doesn't like PC's ( pleasure crafts) So we wait for over 6 hours to lock through. Finally about 8 pm he let's us know that we will be able to come down soon. By this time we have over 9 boats and we are all headed to Heritage Harbor that is less than a mile pass the lock. We come out of the lock in pure darkness, no moon, no lights, and our spot light is not working. The marina has people on the end of each dock waving flashlights and guiding us by radios to the right slip. The current is strong and runs us into the rocks on the port side of the boat. Thank goodness no damage to boat or props. This is one of those nights you just want to sit down and have a good cry. We decided to stay 2 nights and catch our breath along with most the boats in our group.

The wall at Joliet City Dock.

village of bright house boats.

Floating Bollords that we tie our lines to to ride the lock up or down.