WEDNESDAY MAY 30TH, 2012

Ross’ brother Kirk arrived late last night. It made for a short night but we’re anxious to get moving and be done with the temperamental Lake Michigan. Am I right about the skyline of Chicago, or what?





After about 11 miles on lake, we entered the Calumet River. It is a very busy area but not with pleasure craft. It is a working area with barges, tows and lots of refineries, steel processing, sand and gravel, etc.



Definitely a busy behind the scenes work area. We tried to stay out of their way and weave our way through it all. We didn’t see a single pleasure boat all day.









Salt is another thing that was being stored and loaded on to barges. I wonder if it’s the kind that ends up in your saltshaker, or on winter roads? Regardless, that’s a serious mountain of salt!











We’re off the lake but now back to dealing with locks. Yuk! Kirk dealing with a floating bollard.

















In an effort to keep the notorious Asian carp out of Lake Michigan, an electrical fish barrier has been set up. It supposedly electrifies the water and deters them. Boats are required to call a phone number and answer some questions before passing through. For good reason, no swimming, kayaking, fishing, etc is allowed in the area. We haven’t seen any of these carp yet, but I’ll be on the lookout and try to get a picture as they jump out of the water.

Part of the trip today took us through a section of water called the Sanitary & Shipping Canal. It’s a 28-mile man-made canal connecting the Chicago River with the Des Plaines River. The Des Plaines runs into the Illinois River, which runs into the Mississippi. The “Shipping” part of the name is pretty much self-explanatory. The story of the “Sanitary” part is this; in 1900 the canal was opened. Water from Lake Michigan ran in to the Chicago River at a very fast rate flushing it down the Canal and on to the Mississippi. The city used the Chicago River to dump their sewage in. They didn’t want it to go out in the lake where they drew their water. So instead they sent it downriver. Nice. St. Louis, Mo was not happy about the sewage and pollution. Canada was not happy about the immense amount of water drained from the lake. The Supreme Court finally had to settle things.