Saturday - September j19, 2010

Left Joliet this morning around 7:45 with the intention of going to Ottawa. Several boats had left ahead of us at 7. As we went down the river we found a lock which did not open until 8. Those people who left at 7 were waiting for the lock to open when we arrived. The early bird does not always get the worm.
We passed though the lock and travelled down the Illinois River. Highly industrialized but interesting. No barges presumably because it is Saturday.
One interesting thing happened though. As we were traveling along, I heard a large bang on the hull of the boat. At first I thought I had hit a buoy or a deadhead, but nothing could be seen in the water. I listened to the engine and the props to see if any damage – nothing. After discussing this with the other folks on Sunday, it appears that it might have been an Asian Carp banging into the boat because Q’s End did a 180 degree turn very quickly and might have startled the carp. These fish are known to jump out of the water and into boats because they are very skittish. In fact, one person was knocked out of their boat into the water when the carp jumped into the boat. They are not small fish.
We arrived at Ottawa and there was a party going on. No dock space so our friends in Windsong and Lazy Dolphin allowed us to raft with them for the night. They had all the dock space. Worked out well. Had a happy hour as usual and bacon sandwich for supper and then to bed. It was a long day.