We are leaving Lake Michigan and entering the River Canal system of Illinois.  The problem is that it runs through the heart of South Chicago – a heavy commercial, industrial, railroad and highway bridge area.  Unfortunately, many of these bridges are too low for our boat and require a lift, swing or draw-bridge opening.  Today we traveled 60+ miles and in the first 30 miles we encountered 43 of these bridges!

    

    

Because Lake Michigan is several feet higher than normal this season, we had to be concerned with the reported bridge heights.  So – Karen stood on the dashboard of the helm with a measuring stick as Ron slowly approached.  Some we cleared by inches, one our antennas tapped.  Too close for comfort!  After the antenna would be our navigational equipment!

    

Some bridges didn’t have to be lifted – but it was close…..this is Kara Mia sliding under one of these….

    

We had big massive railroad bridges..the word “rust bucket” comes to mind..

       

we had pretty gray bridges and pretty blue bridges…..

    

we had railroad bridges…..

    

and highway bridges…..

    

and double bridges…..

    

and many times we could see three to four bridges lined up……

    

The most important bridge is the “19.1” (a fixed railroad bridge).  The 19.1 bridge is the controlling height bridge on the AGLCA Loop (America’s Great Loop) – if your boat is taller than 19’1″ – you don’t to the loop!  We thankfully got under it because the Illinois Water System was down by a foot (we checked it on the app) – and because we filled our fuel tanks, our fresh water tanks, and bought extra cases of wine……to lower our height………we got under it!  This added about 5,000 pounds to our boat, making it sit low enough in the water for us to clear the fixed bridge.

    

At this point you may want to skip to the next posting……it’s just more bridges!