We left at 6:30 AM because the lock master indicated that he could lock us down if we arrived before 7AM. We had several locks today and sometimes you have to wait a few hours for the commercial traffic to get through. Radiance took off first and we were second in line and off we went. Suddenly, Ken exclaimed that he could not get the starboard engine out of gear!
YIKES!! He circled around and was heading towards After Taxes and Terrapin. We tried the radio and could not get any one to answer. I ran out on the bow to yell to them we have an engine stuck in forward gear. Everyone had left the wall, so there was no one to come help grab a line. Ken headed to the wall, I was out on the bow and we were coming in FAST. Loop Dreams CRUNCHED into the concrete wall, I jumped off the bow with line in hand and tied it to a cleat. I could hear her scrapping as the waves kept bouncing her up and down. Once Ken turned off the engines, he came out to the swim platform to throw me a stern line. We had prepared for starboard tie at the lock and all of the fenders were on that side, unfortunately, when he came back to the wall we were on the port side with NO protection. It is not a pretty sight! Nothing structural, just banged her up pretty bad. Ken called around to find a mechanic and we lucked out. A mechanic had the part we needed and he drove 2 hours to repair the problem. We left Joliet by 2PM, it would have been earlier, but we could not get the Chessie RR draw bridge to answer on the radio to raise the bridge. Off to a slow start. We will try to catch up with the group in a few days! That night we docked at Spring Brook Marina and traveled 37 miles.
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| Illinois River |
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