Joliet was a nice stop with free docking and electric in a park setting. On to Ottawa! The river became more primitive with more natural beauty as we progressed. Many Jet skis and pleasure boats with water skiers were sharing the water with us. The Illinois River took us to the beautiful town of Ottawa. However because of the 6 or 7 hours of delays caused by waiting at the 3 locks we didn't arrive until 7: 30 PM! While waiting at the last lock we decided to celebrate "waiting at a lock" by opening a bottle of wine on the sundeck.
Our good friends Roger and Diane assure us that the delays will lessen as we progress; we'll see. They have boated in this area for over 20 years and now live in Florida with us.
The next day we fixed a few minor problems on the boat, shopped and explored the town. We stayed at Heritage Harbour which is a budding riverside housing and condo development that was slowed by the recession. We were welcomed by Jerry who helped us dock and gave us lots of information as well as the keys to the great courtesy van which we used considerably the next day. The next day we met John a person who had done the loop in 2005. He gave us a lot of valuable info about the river systems. The harbour master, Mark helped us solve a few boat mechanical problems. What a great group of people!
The prominent feature that jumps out at you as you walk the town is the large amount of hugh and absolutely beautiful murals throughout downtown. Every local we talked to was very proud of Ottawa and wanted to share their enthusiasm with us.
We may stay another day because of a mixup regarding the delivery of prescriptions to us. If the problem is solved we will continue our trip tomorrow.
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