Rita here

I am humbled to say that Scott is out-posting me like 5-1 Not that this is a race As I type this we are underway from Henry Harbor to somewhere in Peoria. It’s about a 4 hr trip with no bridges or locks, so I should have plenty of time for writing.

Let’s go back to Oct 5th – the day we went from Hammond Marina in Indiana to the free wall in Joliet, IL. This was a day of a lot of firsts for Scott and me. This is the day that we first felt like we were really doing The Loop.

With our minds already anxiously anticipating all the new experiences that this day will contain, we get underway in the pouring rain. Is that a good sign? We trust that it is and also trust that God has our angels clearing a path for us. Still, thinking about how we are going to figure out how to tie up or raft in the locks, manage the river and the unknowns that lie ahead as well as the nuances of traveling with so many other boats, most of whose owners we have never met or were just introduced to, is testing us. It tests our faith in ourselves, each other, and God. Ultimately, we put our faith in the right place – in God – and get underway.

We are super thankful that the crew of Summer Place has agreed to be the leader of our flotilla (a bunch of boats traveling together). This makes life easier for us because they will head up communication with the flotilla, the bridge operators, the lock personnel, and tracking and communicating with any barges/tows we come across. This is a huge responsibility, and they have more experience than we do as they are close to completing their Great Loop and thus have dealt with a lot of this. Even so, every river system is a little different, so I’m sure they felt apprehensive also.

We had a smooth passage under our first bridge. I have no idea how many bridges we went under. There were a lot of them, but fortunately not all needed to be opened. We went under a couple though that looked super close. One of the boats ahead of us had their antennas hit the bridge. Yikes! I have video of one that we were nervous about. THAT was TERRIFYING!

The first lock of our lives was the Thomas J O’Brien Lock on the Little Calument River. This lock is 1,000 feet long and 110 feet wide and has stationary bollards which the first mate (that’s me ) loops the line around. Then you hold that line and let out more line as the water level lowers. Boom! Boom! Boom! My heart is pounding! It’s raining and windy, and I pray that I remember all those videos I watched and the advice I’ve received doesn’t fail me. I focus on making sure we have fenders in place, and praying to God that I can loop that bollard. Success! I did it! THAT was TERRIFYING, but we did it. Praising God for his help while paying attention to my line and what’s next, suddenly I feel Jazzy squeezing behind me to get to the bow. What I didn’t think about was the Jazzy factor. We’re stopped, the door to the cockpit is open, and she takes that as an invitation to roam about. Scott got her back inside and safely secured in the salon/living room. Much to our relief, this really went very smoothly. Good team work! Onward we go.

Before we get to the second lock, we had to ‘thread the needle’ between two barges. THAT was TERRIFYING! The wake from our boats bouncing off both barges has the power to just turn a boat right around. You can’t go slow; that’s even more dangerous. You have to find the right speed to push through the wake while still being able to steer/maintain control of the boat. I’ll post the video I took in the comments. Keep an eye on the bottom of the screen/video to see how it turned our boat. Scott did a marvelous job of driving! Praise the Lord Then we decided we should keep track of how many times today, we say “THAT was TERRIFYING!”

At the second lock we have to raft. The way that works is the largest boats are on the wall, and the other boats raft/tie up – first to the boat on the wall, and then one boat just rafts with the next. We rafted 4 boats wide. We have never rafted before, and once again my heart is beating a mile a minute. The boat we raft to is soooooo gracious and kind and helpful. Another lock done with no tragedies. Winning! Initially, THAT was TERRIFYING, but way less so than my imagination was making it.

One more bridge to have opened, and then we are meeting up with the rest of our flotilla and tying up to the Joliet wall for the night. I heard someone say the trick to doing this properly is to stick tight together when going under the bridge. The lead boat keeps moving forward until everybody is under, and then boats can turn and pull up to the wall. As we were pulling up to the wall, we got caught by a wave and the wind, and the bow made contact with the wall. Well, THAT was TERRIFYING! Collectively, we may have made that more work than it should have been. We managed to get everything secure, and after a captains’ meeting, we took Jazzy for a walk.

This was a LONG day – 12 hours of adrenal rushes, anxious anticipation and heightened awareness wears a person out. How do military, medical and any other profession that works under that kind of stress do it?

If you haven’t already guessed, I am not good at being calm when trying new things. Avoidance used to be my answer. In social situations, I’d have a couple drinks to calm me down. But I have given up both of those methods of coping and am learning where my strength truly comes from. This Great Loop journey isn’t just about where we go, what we see or who we meet. It’s also about learning to adapt quickly to unexpected events with wisdom and grace while still feeling joy, gratitude and peace. It’s about getting outside our comfort zones and leaning on each other. Most importantly its about leaning into and trusting our Creator, Savior and Holy Spirit as individuals and as a couple. To be still and listen and allow godly wisdom and discernment to guide us. Oh what a journey it has already been!

Whew! Aren’t you glad I’m finally done! I’ll try to be more brief with the recap of Oct 6th. I do hope you enjoy the read and, of course, the pics below and video in the comment section. Make it a great day! Be a blessing and be blessed.