We left Chicago on June 30th and spent the first night on the Illinois River in Joliet. We stayed at the town docks and below is a picture of the Harris Casino. There is a lot of barge/tug traffic. The tug boats may be pushing 3 to 5 barges long and 3 wide. That is up to 15 barges. One loaded barge is equivalent to a convoy of 870 semi-trucks or a train pulling 225 jumbo hopper cars. Most of the barges are carrying fuel, coal, or grain. It is amazing how much of the river they take up and they have the right of way. It has been a challenge to get out of their way as Murhpy's law has worked and I've met them in narrow areas, bends in the river and passing under bridges.



The picture below is a barge being loaded with gran.

This is a small load that I met going under a bridge. It was a rather narrow passage.

The locks are much larger than the ones on the Erie Canal. They have floaters or floating timber heads or Mallards which are built in floats in the side of the lock. All you have to do is wrap a line around the floater, mid ship, and it holds the boat next to the lock wall while the lock is being lowered or raised. This system really works well.

This is an approach to a lock.

There is another part to this update. I don't know if it is in front of this or behind this update.