September 17, 2008: Chicago

Today the lock to enter the Illinois River opened for traffic, but we decided to wait one more day to reduce the risk a little. Tom has corresponded with a number of people ahead us on the route, and everyone has their own level of cautiousness. Most he talked to suggested that we wait a day. Hopefully waiting will lower the river, slow the current and reduce the debris.

So I had another day of watching boats. I should comment that this fleet of boats is like a field of sunflowers that turn to follow the sun. The movement of the boats is not to follow the sun, but it is choreographed by the wind. Each boat is tethered to a mooring ball which is positioned on a grid across the bay and is free to swing all the way around the ball. You can tell the direction of the wind because the boats all turn to face the wind.

We are also docked next to the Columbus Yacht Club which was founded in 1892. The signature of this club is that their clubhouse is a cruise boat as their club house.

I should also comment of the fact that we have felt very safe on the water front in Chicago. We have had police come by our boat in a police boat, on horseback and in a police car. The other thing I have learned about Chicago that they have beautiful sandy beaches. I couldn’t believe it when I saw that there were even palm trees along the beach. We rode along the shore with beach on the right and the tall buildings of the city along the left. We separated ways and Tom took the clothes to the laundry in a large camping backpack. He gets full credit. I got to walk along the sand, get my feet in the water, and take pictures of the sandpipers. I was thinking that what was missing was the seashells we have at the ocean, but I even found some small clam shells and one spiral one. Tonight we went back to the pizza place for dinner... hopefully our last night in Chicago.