Illinois River - 9/30/05

We left Peoria yesterday. We are headed down the Illinois with a couple of sailboats, "Indigo Lady" and "Aanoosh" and a tug boat, "We Be Blest". We all anchored at the same spot, Snicarte Island, just off a bend in the river. Not too much time to visit with each other after getting anchored and fed for the night. It gets dark so early now. This is the first night we encountered lots of mosquitoes. Had to close everything up to protect ourselves.

This spot was so quiet and so peaceful and then quite a bit after dark we started to see big spot lights out on the shore of the river. This went on for quite a while and we started to hear the drone of tug engines. Finally, maybe 1/2 an hour or so 2 big barges rounded the bend in the river. This was our entertainment for the evening believe it or not. There just isn't anything quite like anchoring out somewhere unknown. It may not be everyones thing to do but we are loving it.

I Know I Put That In Here Somewhere@

Illinois River - 9/27/05

We reached Peoria today after waiting out a dense fog in the morning. We are staying at a very nice marina, Eastport Marina, where we can do laundry and clean the boat etc. They had a courtesy car that we used to go into Peoria. We did some sightseeing and grocery shopping. We are going to stay here a few days to take a break from the river.

Illinois River - 9/26/05

We had only one lock to go through today. Still no barges with us in the locks. Only two other pleasure craft boats. The scenery is incredible. Lots of wildlife, cranes, egrets and white pelicans surrounding us all the way. It is our anniversary today. We settled in tonight at a little harbor, Hamm's Holiday Marina, just north of Peoria. We celebrated our 13 years together with a special dinner on the boat in this little harbor.

Calumet / Illinois Rivers - 9/24-25/05

We headed into the Calumet River this morning and had a full day of new boating experiences. The Calumet is an industrial area with lots of railroad bridges, tug boats with barges, locks and many factories. A great perpective when viewed from the river.

We hailed the bridges to have the low bridges raised. We went under about 20 or so that had only 4 feet of clearance and one with only 10 inches. Our first locking experience caught us by surprise. We did not know it was there and we were not prepared. We were both a little frazzled. We made it okay. Luckily we were the only boat going through. By the time we went through the lock outside Joliet we felt like old pros. The second lock had a drop of 48 feet and we were the only vessel in the lock. It is nice to practice with no no one else around to see us panic and hustle. We were also fortunate that since we started the river system on the weekend we have not run into a barge, or many other boats, while in the locks.

Saturday we stayed at a free dock in downtown Joliet. Very quiet and peaceful along the wall that is in front of a well kept park. Sunday we anchored out for the first time by Sheehan Island, (southwest side). Very calm night serenaded by frogs and other nature sounds.

Chicago To Hammond IN. - 9/23/05

We wanted to leave Chicago on Friday to head south to the Calumet River and start our river portion of the trip, however, weather intervened with high winds and 6-8 ft. waves. We waited until about 1:00 pm to let things die calm down a little which it did but not much. So we made the decision to go for it and make the 12 mile trip to Hammond, Indiana (at the mouth of the Calumet). The waves were larger than we would have liked but we made it okay. The Hammond Marina has 1,100 boat slips - quite impressive.

Chicago - 9/22/05

Today Lisa steered Jim to the Art Institute. It is always an inspiration for us. Then we took a bus to "Carmine's" for a 13th anniversary dinner celebration.

Tonight we were guests on a boat we met in the harbor, the "Evelyn J." Mike and Carol Gordon were our hosts, they are also doing the loop from Alabama. We had a tour of their beautiful Nordhaven 47.

We leave tomorrow, weather permitting, for the river system. There is a very windy storm coming through here right now. The temperature dropped quite a bit, but still pleasant.

Miss you all!!!

Chicago - 9/20-21/05

Wow!!! What fun. Tuesday after we tied up at the dock, in Burnham Harbor, we took about a 10 mile walk. Wednesday we packed lunch and took the dingy through the Chicago River downtown. What a perspective of the city. Got some great photos. We will not be able to travel this way when we continue because of our height, so we decided to do it in the dingy so that we would not miss anything.

Wednesday night we met with our friend, Khaki Pixley, who is attending Roosevelt University. She gave us a tour of her dorm and we brought her back to the boat to be our first dinner guest on the boat since we started the trip.

Racine - 9/18-19/05

Nice town. However they have a real seaweed problem at this marina. It looks like moss. Ugggh! However they did have a pool and we had a nice swim to cool off. We are waiting for the weather to clear up from a storm last night to head to Chicago tomorrow (9/20/05)

Milwaukee - 9/17/05

Again we were blessed with calm water and a beautiful sunny day coming down from Sheboygan. We had a great stay in Milwaukee. Nice harbor area with a vibrant downtown. A great deal of harbor activity. Jim took Lisa on a 4 mile walk to what he thought was an historic homes area. The first mile or so were great - however the second part was a less than desirable area. Jim has temporarily lost his walking destination choices.

When we were leaving this harbor (Sun 9/18/05) it looked like about 2,000 people gathered for a walk along the harbor area for fund raising walk - most likely for Katrina. We only moved 25 miles south to Racine - another nice harbor city for a 2 day stay before we head another 65 miles to Chicago for a few days.

The Crossing - 9/16/05

We crossed Lake Michigan today from Frankfort to Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The water was calm for about half way, then it got a little rocky. It is an odd feeling to be out in the middle of a body of water and not see land anywhere for a period of time. Lisa got a little seasick.

We stayed at Harbor Centre Marina, beautiful, clean with pool and hot tub.We were amazed at the town, bigger than what we had thought. All the old buildings downtown have been restored and alive with businesses and activity. Lots of little restaurants and a beautiful river and harbor walk.

Lisa finally made a decent loaf of sourdough bread for dinner. Part of the "Bread Project" for the trip. We knew that we were going to miss the great bread available in northern Michigan so we thought we would see what we could manage to make. Lisa brought 3 bread books with us and I am sure we will have many more experiments.

The moon is nearly full and it provided a nice moonlight walk around town after dinner. Dark already... too early.

Down Lake Michigan We Go - 9/15/05 PM

Today was our shake down-day. We caught the 11:30 bridge opening in Charlevoix and away we went. After all the planning, preparing and stocking up the boat it is hard to believe we are finally on our way. If Thursday was any indication of how our journey will unfold we will be thrilled. We had blue sky, calm water and warm temperature.

Frankfort Municipal Marina was our home tonight. We were surprised to see our new friends Gary & Ginny on "Putzin", from Hilton head, NC, already docked here. We met them on their way through Charlevoix this summer. We settled down with a bottle of champagne we had saved for this occasion, the first night of our trip, to view a spectacular sunset over Lake Michigan.

Goodbye!

Leaving Mid September

We sold our house end of July. We had only 2 1/2 weeks to pack up almost everything we owned. Most went into storage for a year and some found its way onto the boat. We are still stuffing things in little cubby holes so that we can have room to move around.

Lisa has spent a few days non stop shopping in T.C. to stock up. Jim is working on daily maintenance chores to prepare the boat for the trip. We are busy scheduling appointments needed before we leave and time to say goodbye to friends and loved ones.

Early summer we moved the boat to Charlevoix as our name came up unexpectedly for a permanent slip. We love our new summer home... Slip #5. We haven't been traveling at all this summer but figure we will get enough cruising time on the trip south.