Well the river is totally astonishing coming up is the fish crossing.  Now we were following a barge and John and I were the only ones on the river so when we came to the sign we did not know that you can only go through the barrier one ship at a time.  The barge called back ot us and told us we had to stay back and only one ship at a time to go through.  Very polite and helpful.  Once he got to the other end he called back to us and told us to proceed. The tugs and barges are so polite.

This is the tug going through first  we have to wait until he gets to the other side.

 

This is the electric fish guard.

Once we got through we caught up to the tug and asked permission to pass on his starboard.  He came back to us and said to go right ahead and thanked us for calling and telling him our intentions.  Ever so polite these tugs and I still don’t understand how they are able to control there cargo when full and put in the right direction.

This is what you see when you come to a lock now the last lock before Joliet as we were the only boat took us through with a tug and the barges.  Really exciting but I could not use my camera as my hands were full.

This is the tug and barge we locked through with.  We tied up on the wall for some time before we could go through.The barge is 600 feet long and the tug unties and then slips in beside the barge we were in front of the barge in the lock.

Another one of my favourite birds a crane but I’m not quite sure of the name.  I have spotted the blue heron several times and got pictures.

 

Arrived at Joliet, now this picture was taken in the morning as we arrived in the dark and tied up on the wall, free hydro. When we arrived to tie up several people came to help us in the dark and it was dark as they had fireworks going on in town as we were tying up.