Today our plan was to leave early and go through the Chicago lock and then through downtown. This was a great plan. We got an early start. All was good. But as soon as we got into the lake headed to the lock entrance we were engulfed in a thick bank of fog. This is one last gift to us from Lake Michigan.

Fortunately we were only going a few hundred feet to the lock and after a few minutes of reduced visibility we were soon safely tied up to the lock wall. By the time the lock doors opened the fog was slowly starting to thin out.

Motoring through downtown Chicago was lots of fun. The tour boats were not yet running so we didn’t have much traffic to deal with. There were also lots of pedestrians walking to work in the city. We slowly made our way from one bridge to the next. Soon we were past downtown and there were fewer bridges and more barges.

Several miles south we caught up with a group of looper boots and we ended up going through the Lockport lock with 16 other boats. The 17 boats then all docked at the free Joliet wall. It was quite a sight to see. We don’t normally enjoy traveling with a large group, but in this case it was the best way to get through the lock.