Carp-e Diem

Carpe Diem: "Cease the Day": make the most of present opportunities...OK, ok, I just came up with a new translation...how about "Cease The Carp"...literally! --as in , "GET those nets out of our way so we can proceed down the rivers...PRETTY PLEASE"!! It's obvious that the Asian Carp population is a serious problem...and netting them as they swim upstream prior to entering Lake Michigan is necessary, but I am not sure why the corps didn't wait until after the Labor Day holiday (peak boating season in this area) to begin this operation. Hmmmmm.

Last year, due to a certain hurricane that dumped 10 acres of rain for every acre of land, the river cruisers were dubbed "The River Rats"...Floods were prevalent and no one was going anywhere till the water subsided and the locks reopened...It took weeks. Now, as in RIGHT NOW, THIS YEAR...the pleasure boats are backing up into Lake Michigan awaiting the thumbs up from the authorities. -and We are being called 'The Carp Captives'! It seems the powers that be decided that it would be a good time to test out these new electronic carp nets just below Chicago...It's a long fish tale, but if you are interested click on this LINK for details...

As we get closer to our D-day...it's not looking too good for us if we want to venture south of Chi-town...Only 7/10's of a mile is closed off from pleasure boaters locking through, however, that's all it takes to bottle-neck us loopers up for days and maybe weeks...Soooo..for now, we are still planning on coming up later this week & getting provisioned and sitting tight till the Illinois River reopens. Sha and Art are on board [pun intended] no matter what happens. Yeah, we have fun when we are floating regardless of where we are...if it takes 2 weeks instead of one, or 4 instead of two...who cares...Carp-e Diem I say! Carp-e Diem!