Joliet

Joliet
The city of Joliet has a very nice wall for boats to tie off to. The wall come with FREE power which makes it even better.
Unfortunately there isn't much else that makes this little city a draw for boaters.

A large tow passes behind Time& Tide tied to the wall in Joliet

This huge tow about a 1000 feet  in length got stuck between the two bridges
and came very close to" touching" us on the wall

The wall is near an area which was described to us as "the projects" HOWEVER, even though we saw many people walking up and down the waterfront , we never felt threatened or in danger in fact everyone was friendly and all they wanted to do was chat and ask questions. The police did stop by to warn us of possible troubles but were quick to say that there had never been any incidents with boaters.

Sean, the friendly Joliet police officer who surprised me by talking to me in Afrikaans. 

The town seems a little run down, which is a shame because it looks like there has been some effort made to make it a tourist friendly destination. It has a museum (which is well worth a visit) with exhibits about the Blues Brothers (I'm a soul man!!) and the Famous Route 66 which stretches all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles and passes through Joliet.

Get your kicks....

Chillin with the Blue Brothers

The museum also incudes the history of waterway, railways, the Rialto Playhouse and a man named John Houbolt who was is a retired aerospace engineer. He is generally credited with having effectively promoted the lunar mission mode called Lunar Orbit Rendezvous or LOR. This flight path  was chosen for Apollo program in early 1962.

In front of the Route 66 sign

Look Ann, I got my Blues Brothers hat and glasses too!!!

Route 66 starts in Chicago goes through Joliet and eventually ends in Los Angeles.

A Lincoln highway marker, of the original 175 there are only 25 left.
The original Highway from
New York to San Francisco covered 3,389 miles

Joliet is known as the City of Stone and Steel. From the 1880-1890 the industries grew
with the help of immigrants , many of them Irish.

Fact: At one time more horseshoes were made in Joliet than anywhere else in the USA.

Joliet trolley

Random shot

Eternal Flame

Sitting  pretty.
The Yellow seat/car behind Gary is a Salvador Dali  art chair.

St Joseph Constructed out limestone as are many of the other older buildings

The down town area was like a ghost town when we were there, granted it was a Sunday so that probably explains some of the lack of people. We walked to the only grocery store around ( everyone shops at the big mall outside of town) which happens to be a store that specializes in Hispanic food. We  picked up some chicken and beef fajita mixes and I cooked it up for dinner which we shared with the crew off MV MY Therapy.

Next stop Ottawa, Illinois. As we duck and dive around the big tow and barges and go up and down enormous locks.....

PS. I hope I don't sound too harsh about Joliet. It is a very nice little town and everyone was very friendly.

.................to be continued