Our first experience on the river was a doozy! We woke up before dawn to make sure we would arrive at our destination during the daylight. It was a sunny but chilly morning with a slight chance of flurries in the forecast. Not exactly ideal sailing conditions, but we take what we can get. Being off the lake means the wind is not much of a factor for us anymore and waves are pretty much non-existent so we figured a few flurries would not be a big deal. We’re from Wisconsin! We know how to dress for the weather.

Navigation on the river is so different from anything we’ve done before. There are new, different hazards everywhere: logs floating in the water, bridges that we might not fit under, big tugs pushing multiple barges in narrow channels, locks to navigate, and more. We did our best with the steep learning curve and managed to pass multiple barges and navigate two locks as we made our way to Joliet. We also saw interesting businesses, lots of heavy equipment working along the shore, and little ramshackle houses with broken piers jutting out into the water. It all made for an unusual landscape. 

Then there was the weather! The chilly, sunny morning turned into a blizzard by the afternoon. We used the dustpan as a makeshift shovel to get the snow off the deck so we could handle the lines in the locks. Still, it was so slippery! We were wet and cold, but we managed to handle it all pretty well.

The two locks today were quite different from each other. The first was a rather mild 3’ drop while the second sent us down 37’! Locks are kind of tricky. You enter the chamber and loop a line to a bollard which you use to keep the boat steady as the chamber empties the water. Sometimes it seems like it’s hardly moving and other times the current scoots the boat all over the place and you have to fight to keep it from slamming into the wall. Today was the first of many locks so I imagine we will get better at it.  River navigation sure is different, but it is beautiful and exciting in its own way.