Leg #18 - Ogden Dune, Indiana to Grafton, Illinois 9/9/15 thru 9/24/15

We left Vandalia at 8:08 right after my meeting and arrived in Ogden Dunes, IN at 12:06. This is the closest the boat has ever been to home.  Ken took the car back and got a cab back to the boat while I put everything away.  Driving back and forth means that you take all dirty laundry and perishable foods home and bring back fresh everything!

We headed out very early in the morning and knew that it was going to be a little rough.  Since we only had 30 miles to go we thought we could take it. It was choppy most of the way with it getting slightly wild by the time we got into the Chicago outer harbor about 2.5 hours later.

We went into the Chicago Lock when the doors opened and green light on.  Behind us came two boats that we had met in Grand Haven a week or so ago—Kat in the Hat and Gimme Time.  We had a hard time because of the short lines from the walls to the boat and the current pushing the boat against the wall. 

We had reserved a slip at Marine City between State and Dearborn Streets right in the heart of downtown. 

After we settled in, we headed off for lunch at Portillo’s and split a Chicago hot dog and beef sandwich.  We then walked the Magnificient Mile and along the river.  We probably should have gone to one of the museums but since we’d been at it since 6:00am this morning on a few hours of sleep, we both were a little easy to talk into heading back to the boat and river watching for a bit. 

I tried to find the Mariano Market that everyone talks about but my GPS wasn’t working well and I walked around the wrong area for quite some time before I figured that out.  It is always an interesting walk around anyway but the market proved to be quite an additional feat and I gave up. 

We felt the need to try Chicago pizza before we left so we headed to Giordano’s for dinner.  We had a local escort who we tipped for his elaborately fast-paced guidance to our restaurant. 

We headed out early in the morning to make the Amtrak Railroad Bridge before rush hour. 

We began to encounter some first’s:  First time to: talk to and ask which side to pass a barge, to get out of the way of a barge, go in a lock with other barges.

This is the Lockport Lock.  We arrived here with one other boat and then 6 other boats ended up tying up to the wall to lock through, hopefully, all together.  We could hear the barge operators talking and trying to get all of the PC’s into the lock with them.  One tow had 3 (which means he has 3 barges) and one had just one so they thought that we could all fit into the lock with them.  Of course, while all this maneuvering is happening, a storm is blowing over and it starts pouring.  By the time we were entering the lock, at least the wind had died down but everyone was soaked by the time we dropped the 39 feet and headed out.

On to the wall in Joliet.  About ten looper boats ended up on the wall around 4:00pm.  After two people fell in the water and a small crash of stern to bow on the boats right behind us, we gathered for docktails. 

I think everyone was tired from the efforts of today.  It was a first time on this river and encountering barge for most.  Some lively discussion ensued on the correct use of the “1” and “2” direction signals given by the tow operators.  I’m not sure it ever got settled among the group.  All I know is that if someone tells me “pass me on the one” that I’m going to the right and opposite for the two. 

We ate left-overs for dinner and went to bed early only to be awakened at 1:30am with an alarm going off.  Again, the CO2 alarm was sounding and we had some warm batteries to contend with.  After removing one battery from the line, we were able to head out.

Three locks before we arrived at the Heritage Harbor Marina and had a nice dinner with other Loopers at the Red Dog Grill.

Early in the morning, we headed out for Peoria, following Ron and Michelle from Spirit Journey, and arrived at the Ivy Yacht Club where we had dinner across the street with Ron and Michelle and

On to Havana and the Tall Timbers Marina along with Spirit Journey and Monty and Keri on Dreamgirl.  We found a local Octoberfest for dinner and a few groceries.

Our next stop was at Beardstown where we tied to the Logston Tug Service Barge for the night.  We had a nice lunch at River Town Cafe and a decent dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. The town appears to be having a hard time competing with the businesses out by the highway.

We traveled about 90 miles and arrived at Grafton Harbor before dinner. We met up with Something Special and around the pool for cocktails.  Both looper boats left early the next morning.

Update 8/25/16 - The next morning Ken was transported to the hospital in Alton, then to Barnes Jewish in St. Louis where he received 5 stents after having a heart attack while in the Grafton Marina. Ken is doing well and everyone was a great help.  We went back to Ohio were we have stayed while the boat spent the winter on the river.

Leg #17 - Ludington, MI to Portage, IN - 8/24 to 9/1/15

We headed back to the boat via the west side of Michigan--a more interesting and shorter drive.  We stopped in Holland, MI for lunch.  We didn't plan on stopping here with the boat since the marinas are so far from downtown.  It's a beautiful downtown with lots of up-scale shops and restaurants.  We got to the boat early afternoon and rested for a bit until we had to do the rental car shuffle which got us back in time to eat dinner at the Brewhouse.   The waves were high the next morning so we stayed around Ludington for the day.  Since we had a local rental car until 4, we ran errands and down to check out Pentwater since we didn't think we would be stopping there in the boat.  I visited a couple of galleries and, of course, we had ice cream.

The stern of The Badger shows that it is the extension of Route 10 across Lake Michigan to Wisconsin.  The Badger drops his anchor and swings on it to dock.  It's the last of the coal fired passenger vessel operating on the Great Lakes and 410ft. long.

We took the advice of the canvas repair men and went to the Grand Hotel for dinner.  We really only ordered half of the nacho appetizer and I was full.  We had a nice conversation with the young "bartender" who really looked like everyone's soccer playing daughter about her school and college athletics.  We then went for more food and drink down the street.

In the morning, we headed out early for our trip to Grand Haven. We tied up at the Municipal Marina.  We came into a slip next to Something Special, another blue hull Mainship 40 that we had met in Mackinack City.  We knew we had passed another sister ship on the way down and assumed that they would be coming in after us....and they did.  Bob and Lyn on American Pie tied up and made three Mainship 40 blue hulled boat lined up near each other.

We gathered for docktails on the grassy area and talked boating.  We then took the local tourist shuttle around the area which showed all the various areas of the city.  Afterward we watched the musical fountain performance across the water.

Something Special left really early for the cross over to Racine, Wisconsin.  We left leisurely for the short run to Saugatuck and had a slip at the Singapore Yacht Club right in the heart of all the action....literally, we could hear the music from the Coral Gables Hotel next door until quite late. We walked around the very nice town and all of its small boutique shops, had lunch and walked some more.  We visited the Saugatuck Fine Arts Center and saw a very intimate exhibit about a local art teacher and her effect on her students.  Afterward, we relaxed and went for a nice dinner at The Butler and when we got back to the boat alarms were going off.  Ken shut off all of the power and found out that one of the batteries was really heated up and giving off an odor.  Replacing dead flashlight batteries in the dark has always been on my list of fun things to do.  When things settled down, I, in self preservation mode, slept up in the fly bridge in a sleeping bag.  This would serve two purposes--I would live if it was carbon monoxide and I would know how it felt to sleep up top if I ever suggested it to anyone else.  I tried to talk Ken into doing the same but to no avail as he seemed positive that the fumes were out and it wasn't harmful to sleep inside------not I.

The dock master made calls for someone to come look at our batteries in the morning and, again, we lucked out with a good electrician who came early and fixed the battery situation--well, he made us livable with two of the three batteries until we can get new ones.  While all of this work was going on, I was hoofing it around town and walked by the home and studio of Cynthia McKean who has a sculpture garden on her property and has an "open house" scheduled for next weekend, of course, when I am not here.  I then went to the Farmers Market at the art center grounds and found a few items to purchase.  Back to the boat in time to say "thank you" to the fix-it person and off we headed to South Haven.

South Haven was a very short trip.  The water was fine except the inlet going into the harbor.  All of the marinas that we have stopped in have long man-made inlets that do offer protection to the marinas but the waters coming off of the lake at the inlets can be powerful depending on wind and water direction.

South Haven was another nice stop. There were several other Looper boats there so we gathered for docktails out on the dock with the other crews.  We met Julie and Tom from Sum Escape who were on their very first day on the Loop.  They were "committed loopers" which means they sold their house and moved aboard their very nice Grand Banks Europa.  Richard and Katherine from Kat in the Hat and John on Gimmetime were part of the group moving down the coast of Michigan about the same speed as we were.

Later we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant and walked around town again.  In the morning, we headed to the Farmers Market in the rain, had breakfast and then headed out for the 60+ miles to get to our final destination for this leg.  The waves were tolerable at 2-3 feet coming from the southeast for most of the run.  Taking short turns back and forth at the helm made for an easier trip.  A couple of the kitchen cupboard latches have broken during travel on this lake even though the waves have not been that rough.  On occasion, items have been know to "shift" greatly while underway.  We went south on the Birch Ditch and stopped at Marina Shores.  We refueled before heading to our slip and were helped in by our new temporary boat neighbors.  We got a very friendly reception from the locals and joined them in their Venetian Nights potluck dinner and boat parade.

The next two days we took the train that was just a short walk from the marina into downtown Chicago.  We took the Architectual Boat Tour the first day.  This will be the route we take if we decide to go through downtown on our way to the Illinois River.  We took a downtown tour the next day--so many things to see it would take a week to hit a good portion of the museums and much longer to see the over 4,000 pieces of public art.

We picked up a rental car and headed for home the next morning.