Month: September 2019

We woke up early and prepared to depart. We held our breath while I turned the key to start the engine. It fired right up! Whew! Now we feel we’re back on track, and can breathe a little easier now that we understand ‘power management’. There is still work to do to understand this completely, but I won’t bore you with it right now.

We left on a warm morning, pulling out of the dock and turned down river. We have to pay close attention to the channel markers and ensure we’re staying inside of these, as well as watching out for floating and submerged logs/trees or other debris. Our trip was uneventful, passing a barge coming up river, and other than that, not much else traffic. There were a couple of train bridges we had to call on the radio for a lift, but they were polite and immediate in their openings.

Around 2:30pm we passed our last draw bridge. According to our charts and notes, there is a place to dock around here at the Logsdon Tug Company. We passed a small shipyard with barges and tugs, but continued past it a bit not sure if this was the spot or not. We went about a quarter mile before turning around. I was confused, as this did not look like a place to tie off a pleasure boat. We found a phone number and called them. They told us they were indeed just past the draw bridge, and she would let me know where to tie up at. In the mean time, we are now working our way back up river, against the current. What was an 8 knot trip down was under 5 knots trying to go against it. The woman on the phone told me to tie off of the ‘material barge’ at the end. I clarified where she meant and we worked our way there.

Upon approach, there was a large tug boat and barges rafted out into the river. We found the end barge, and again approached with our bow upstream. There was about 50 feet of space in front of the parked tug to get into the spot they wanted us to tie up. Going upstream helped, as this slows our progress yet I still have control. We came in and docked without incident. Frank is usually quick to want off, but here he might have been intimidated by the barge and couldn’t actually see land. Once secure, I had to go across a few barges, filled with equipment, a crane, lines and tools everywhere, literally hopping from one barge to another, to a steep, open slotted set of metal stairs leading from a work barge to land. Here I found the office, which I had to pay a dollar a foot cash or check only. The office ladies also gave me a map of town and some recommendations for dining.

Paperwork out of the way, I returned back to retrieve Frank. We took him across the barges and up the stairs. He wasn’t too thrilled with the ascent, but did it anyway. He was rewarded with lots of grass to explore and mark. We returned him to the boat and I took the bikes up one by one. We had researched and found out this is where President Lincoln spent some time, and there is a courthouse and museum dedicated to this. Before he was president, the town was the sight of the Lincoln/Douglas debates, as well as “The Almanac Trial”, in which Lincoln was the defending attorney.

The trial resulted from a nighttime brawl, and the resourceful Lincoln produced an 1857 almanac, which was the year the incident occurred, to argue that the state’s witness could not have seen Armstrong kill the victim. There was no moonlight at the time and he was a long distance from Armstrong, so theoretically he could not see that far in the dark. Lincoln also produced a witness who helped acquit Armstrong. On August 12, 1858, a few months after the trial, Lincoln appeared in Beardstown to speak as the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. He spoke on a platform in the city park, a site marked by a plaque across from the courthouse. His opponent, Stephen Douglas, spoke the next day, and later that month they officially began their famous series of debates. The jail is still there as well as the courtroom where the trial took place. A judge holds court there once a week, so it is still an active courtroom.

After we had done the tour, we rode around and stopped at a Mexican bakery for some treats, as well as a Mexican restaurant which we shared a bucket of beers and some burritos. We continued around town a bit, then went back to the boat. We got to see the tugs moving barges up close with guys working around us. We brought Frank out again and let him have some more land time, then retired back to the boat. We fired up the generator and let it run for an hour and half, as there is no power or water available tied to a barge. We are still keenly aware of power management and want to make sure we are doing everything we’re supposed to be doing.

Tomorrow we have another long stretch, as well as another wicket lock and dam to pass through. We will be going another 60 miles to Hardin, Illinois and making our way farther south. Hardin is one of the last stops before we hit the Mississippi River! The marinas and fuel stops are getting farther and farther apart, and soon we will not have any options but to anchor out once we get past the next couple of stops.

This morning we started our trip toward Havana around 9:30am. We had to travel 40 miles, and go through another lock. Actually we had our first experience with a different type of lock. Before modern locks and dam with their lock chambers and lock gates where built, another type of construction fulfilled the purpose of regulating the river in a way that boats where able to navigate the rivers almost throughout the year, independently of the natural water level. Wicket Dams consisted of movable planks that were only raised when needed. At high water levels when the dam was not needed, boats ran right over the lowered dam. The dam was raised and lowered by steam-powered work boats. If the wickets are ‘up’, we would have to use the lock. As it was, when we approached we called the lock-master and he told us the wickets are down, so we could pass right through the channel without stopping. This expedited our trip a little.

The 40 miles took us about 5 hours with the current pushing us down the river. We approached the dock around 2:30pm and was happy to see no one else there. This gave us a large dock to land at. We passed it and turned up river to dock, having learned the lesson from Joliet. We secured the boat and hung out for a bit. The process goes like this: dock and tie up. Once secure, Lauren takes Frank for a walk. This is because he will bark incessantly until we take him off the boat anytime we hit land. He has a knack for this, and if I even throttle down, he thinks it’s time to get off. So Lauren takes him while I secure the rest of the lines and do my after trip shut down and walk through. We are usually in sync, and I complete my part while they are returning.

Once settled in, we took the bikes for a short ride around town. There wasn’t much to see or do, so we returned back to the boat. The nature center where we docked was closed too. We were lounging on the back deck when a woman came down inquiring about where we were from and giving us a little history about the town and river. After a little chit chat, I ran the generator and we made dinner. We let the generator run for an while, ensuring the batteries were charging. So far, so good. All was working well, and after a little more than an the hour, I shut it down. We’re still a little leary about power consumption so we made sure everything not being used was off at the breakers.

The evening settled upon us and we watched the darkness take over and marveled at the stars for a bit. I eventually took Frank for another walk and retired for the evening. We are finally back to another uneventful day, which we like. Our immediate mechanical issues have been attended to and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. We are planning to go to Beardstown, which is close to 60 miles. We will also see if the boat starts tomorrow morning, as this is our first night with no shore power and running the generator to keep the batteries charged…

We departed Hennepin around 11am. Today we were traveling about 35 miles toward Peoria, specifically the I.V.Y. Marina, which is known to Loopers for it’s hospitality. We made the trip in about 5 hours, and have noticed the currents have been helping us both with speed and fuel consumption. We are using less fuel due to the extra push. Our arrival was around 4pm, which was enough time to settle in and get cleaned up, have dinner and relax.

The next morning, my project at hand was this generator. I removed the covering over the belts and went to work trying to remove the pump. I used some NutBuster which is like WD-40 and let it soak for a bit. Then I muscled the bolts loose. This allowed me to remove the whole pump, and slide it free of the belts. Once this was free, I removed the bolts on the rear of the pump and opened it up. The impeller, or what was left of it, came right out. All of the paddles had disintegrated and broke off. I spent some time getting all of the pieces out of the pump and heat exchanger. I sure hope I got all of it. Then I took the pump and the broken impeller in a backpack to a marina a half mile down the street. The ride there was a little scary as there were no sidewalks and I was on a main thoroughfare. Once at the marina shop, I showed the mechanic what I was looking for. He had several options of all sizes, except the one I need. He offered to order one, but it wouldn’t arrive until Monday, and today is Friday. That was not a good option for me. I decided to try another marina in the opposite direction by about 3 miles. Nothing like a long bike ride in 85 degree heat and sunny- (on a side note: we’ve been experiencing a ‘heat wave’ and it has been HOT way more than anywhere in Michigan!) I made my way there and was very cautious as again there was no sidewalks or bike lane to travel in. I found the marina and went to the shop. Music was playing, but no one was around. I found an area where they had impellers and searched through them all. I finally found one that matched, I think. Now I had to find someone to pay. At this point I had been in the shop for about 30-45 minutes, looking over everything and trying to ensure I had the correct part. I wandered down to the dock and saw someone on a boat. I asked if he worked there, and he said yes, he was the only one here. I explained what I was looking for and thought I had the right one. He followed me back to the shop and we confirmed it was indeed the correct one. He explained how it is a bit larger than where it fits in as the paddles bend, which cause the suction, pulling the water through. This made sense, and I was going to buy a backup but I wanted to make sure this was correct before I dropped another $40 for something that might not be right. Hopeful I biked back to the marina and went to work. I installed the new impeller and put the pump back into place, re-connecting the belts. Now was the moment of truth. I fired it up and went topside, holding my breath. I was greeted by the sound of gushing water! It worked! I let it run a bit to make sure. It was running beautifully and I shut it down after about 20 minutes. I re-assembled everything and went to the pool to tell Lauren the good news. Now that this project was done, we were able to relax a bit. A little later I got a phone call from the shop asking if the impeller worked? I replied it had, and he offered to bring me a spare that I had said I would want if this one worked. We arranged for him to drop it off around 5pm when he closes up. This was awesome that he cared and wanted to help us and save me another bike ride (and make the sale!). He even offered to pick up anything we might need tomorrow? I declined this as we are pretty well stocked for now.

The next day, Saturday, we were supposed to depart. Upon our arrival, they had told us we could only stay two night, as they were full and had reservations for others coming in the next couple of days. When we woke up, the weather was not good. We had been watching the forecast, and knew some rain was coming, which we really don’t want to travel in if possible. We did our normal departure preparations, and at the last minute decided to go ask if we could stay. We had seen others depart in the last day, so were hopeful some space had opened up. At their office I spoke to the harbormaster and he at first said there was no availability, then changed his mind and told us we could move to another dock and stay there. This was good news. We moved the boat to another slip and re-tied up. Now that we were here another day or two, we decided to go into town. We ordered an Uber and got dropped off at an old church which has been converted to a restaurant/brewery. Obed and Isaac’s was a neat place to have lunch, and then continued to The Caterpillar Museum, as in the tractors and machinery. Propaganda at it’s finest. We continued on to to see some public art, and then wandered down to the waterfront. There was an Oktoberfest going on, and as we were making our way there, it started to pour down rain! We mingled outside the gates, debating whether or not to go in. Due to the forecast, we decided to call and Uber and head back to the boat.

The next day, Sunday, was not so great weather-wise either. This was okay with us, as we would stay here and watch the Browns game. In hind sight, we probably should have done something else as I get quite upset watching them lose. Anyway, we spent the day watching football and Lauren made chili, and we got the boat cleaned up. We looked at our next stop, which will be Havana, Illinois. There is not a lot there, but they do have a free wall to tie up at on our way south.

Here’s to hoping the generator works…

The reality came to us that we had to leave Heritage Harbor and get past the last lock scheduled for closure. We had done our shopping and fixed our generator issue. For the moment…

So we begin on a pleasant morning, knowing we only have to go about thirty miles, which will include getting through the last lock scheduled to close. We are not in a hurry to leave, and with the currents pushing us south, we will make good time. It only took us about 4 hours to go 29 miles, with a 35 minute delay going through the last lock. I kept a close eye on the instruments on the way, making sure the batteries were charging and all was good. We had left the marina at around 10am, expecting to get to our next stop in Hennepin by around 3pm. Hennepin has a free wall which boaters can dock at. There is no water or electric, but we are self sufficient enough to not need these amenities every day.

Hennepin from Wikipedia: “population was 757 at the 2010 census, up from 707 in 2000.  Hennepin’s Putnam County Courthouse, built in 1837, was as of 2007 the oldest county courthouse in Illinois still serving its original purpose.” This was a small town. (Follow this link to laugh at the TripAdvisor ‘the BEST things to do in Hennepin‘) Before arrival we reached out to another boat ‘Trinity’ which we’ve run across several times in our travels. They are the boat we almost dragged down on when our anchor wasn’t holding in Grand Haven. Also the same boat we were with in Frankfort, Michigan for a few days waiting out the weather. We knew they were there due to Nebo and reached out for some advice. They told us there was space, and they would assist us in docking. The docks there are not protected, so you are open to wake/waves from passing boats, which could be uncomfortable if taken on the beam. When we arrived, they told us they were backed in along the only dock, but we could raft off of them so our bow would be facing the river. This makes for a comfortable night for sleeping. We agreed, and after a couple of attempts, we finally were in the correct position to tie off of them. We walked to the courthouse, and around the town. There was a park we stopped and sat on a swinging bench, and just enjoyed the early evening. There was nothing else to do. Simplicity at its best.

We wandered back to the boat, and I fell asleep on the back patio. Lauren was reading a book, and Frank and the cats were lounging as they do. I was awoken by talking, and Lauren and Sonja from Trinity were chatting about the town. At this point it was close to dinner time, and Lauren had made some guacamole in preparation of our planned meal. It was time for us to run the generator to charge the batteries and have the power to cook our meal. Trinity retired and I went down to start the generator. I fired it up and came topside to listen for the flowing water. I was greeted with black smoke, and no sound of water. WTF!? It worked a few days ago, now what!? I obviously diagnosed it as no water. I checked all the hoses and found we had water flow, but it was not getting pulled to the engine. This means it must be an impeller. I have read enough about boat engines to know about this. It is a rubber wheel, which has paddles around it, This spins, creating a suction, pulling water through the engine to cool it down. From what I have read, the paddles break and you lose the suction. It should be as simple as pulling the broken one out and inserting a new one. Yeah, simple. At this point I am sweaty from being in the engine room trying to figure out why this is happening, then trying to figure out where the impeller is on the generator. And I do not have a replacement on hand. I’ve checked the engine one, but not the generator. I have now spent an hour or more on this and I’ve lost my appetite due to frustration. I call it a night and go to bed.

The next morning we awake and take wanted to take Frank for a walk. Since we are rafted to Trinity, we have to walk across their boat to get to the dock. They have a dog named Sophie. She is the ‘Trinity’ of Duane and Sonja. She is also a very good watch dog. We wait until they depart the boat with her before taking Frank. Once everyone’s business is done, I am talking with Duane , who is aware of our issue earlier with the batteries, and has more knowledge than me. We deduce it is the impeller, and he offers to come take a look at it with me. We decide the impeller is in the raw water pump, which is inaccessible unless you remove the whole pump. The pump is behind the belts, which are behind a protective covering. This all has to be removed, wrestle off the rusted bolts and then remove more bolts to get to the impeller. This sounds daunting, and looking at it, it was. This also meant we spent the night conserving our power by turning off every breaker that wasn’t necessary. At this point it was getting time to decide what we were going to do. Stay or go. I had walked up to town and inquired about an impeller…The only marine store in town told me he only works on outboards, but if we go to the next stop, there are a couple of larger marinas that my be able to help and possibly have the part I need.

It is now almost 11am and we decide we should go to the next stop. We bid our good-bye’s to Trinity and shove off toward Illinois Valley Yacht Club (IVY for short). This is in Peoria Heights, and it is also known to be a “Looper Stop” and we were now in search of an impeller…

Today was the most interesting and stressful day so far. We had to go through three locks today which was about 40 miles. It took us 15 hours and finally docked around 9pm. And I learned a new thing about power management. This sounds simple- keep the batteries charged. The thing I didn’t realize, was by not doing this, you can wear a battery down so much it will not re-charge. The electronic equipment still worked and the lights worked, but the refrigerator was starting to defrost a little. We thought this was due to a loose door, which I tightened up and thought was fixed. Let me digress and explain this a little more thoroughly…

We awoke to the sound of engines being started…We had agreed to a 6am radio call, and as of last night we were going to have to go in two groups as the lock-master requested we stagger our arrivals. We had overslept a little as we had decided we would go with the second group. I poked my head out about 6:10am and asked our neighbor what was going on? “We’re all going!” he replied. Me: “What?! I thought two groups?” “Lock-master said we can all go!” he explained. “Crap! I mean Great!”. Lauren and I hurried up, got dressed and prepared to cast off. There was a process which the boaters up river had decided due to the debris being set loose as boats pulled out. We were in the middle of the pack so to speak, so we could get out of the way of others departing. I turned the key and the engine didn’t turn over. Hmmm…I went down in the engine room and used jumper cables to jump the starting battery from the generator battery. This worked and we departed without another incident. I din’t give it a second thought…

As the flotilla departed, we ended up at the end of the pack due to our slow speed. We were now in a group of 26 boats as a couple more had arrived overnight. There were a couple of boats that were the clear ‘leaders’, as they were in contact with the locks and organizing everything, and this was fine with us. The lock-masters supposedly prefer this as it expedites the process and they don’t have to repeat themselves to everyone calling in on their own. We were buddied with another boat to raft off of due to our sizes. The flotilla arrived to our first lock of the day: Brandon Road Lock and Dam. We were told there would be a delay due to commercial traffic, so we all floated around and waited. Once we were given the green light to enter, it went smooth, with us rafting off of a very nice, newer 45 ft boat without incident. Since there were so many boats in the lock, someone was calling out for us all to shut down our engines. I understand this because no one wants to breathe in exhaust fumes for the time we were in there. We shut down and the lowering took about thirty minutes. Once we were down, we all started our engines. Except ours wouldn’t start! I ran downstairs and tried to jump it. Nothing. Here we are, tied up to another boat floating in a lock, dead on the water. I am dumbfounded and confused and embarrassed. The boat we were rafted to looks over and says “start your engine! let’s go!”. “It wont start! I’m not sure why!?” was my reply. “start your generator to charge the batteries! I’ll pull us out, but can’t go far with you”. Ok- this makes sense. I run down to start the generator, forgetting about the issue we had a couple of days earlier. I fire it up and start to come topside to check the water flow and hear the guy yelling “FIRE! FIRE! You’re on FIRE!- I’m cutting you loose!!” Holy Shit! I run down and kill the generator and pop back up topside “We’re not on fire! It was the generator not getting water!” I yelled as the black smoke clears. He is looking at me and the side of the boat to ensure there is no more smoke or fire. He slowly pulls us off the wall and heads out the gates of the lock about 100 feet. He turns to us and says “I need to let you go, I can’t pull you far”. My response was an “ok” and we certainly were grateful that he was even able to get us out of the lock. As we were being let free, his wife missed a line attached to their boat, so instead of drifting to the side of the channel, we got yanked back in the middle.

Now we are sitting in the middle of the channel, feeling helpless. I was prepared to drop anchor, but didn’t want to do this in the middle of the channel, which would block any traffic from coming and going to the lock. I had asked Lauren to call the towing company. We had signed up for TowBoat US membership, which is like AAA on the water when we purchased this boat. They have an app (of course!) or a phone number you call, then they assign a towboat to come and get you. I’m sure it is the best $85 yearly membership spent in the big picture. Tows can get very expensive very fast, but this covers us for ‘free’ since we are members. She was calling them when I got the idea to jump in the dinghy and possibly use it as a towboat to at least get us out of the way. Our little dinghy vs. 40 thousand pounds was no match. The little dinghy engine was smoking under the strain of trying to pull it, but I felt like I was making a little progress. In the mean time, another boat that was in the flotilla circled back and asked if we needed help? “Yes!” I have never felt so grateful on the water than this moment right now. “Whats the problem?” he asked. “I’m not sure- it won’t start or turn over” I replied. “Sounds like you have a dead battery or something- Toss me a line and I’ll pull you out of here”. We tossed him a line and he secured it to a bridle he had on the back of his boat. He starts pulling us forward and we start making some headway. Lauren in the mean time has made contact with the towing people, and they are inquiring about our location. I inform them we are being towed currently and not sure where I will end up. He asked me to keep him updated, and he will head our way in about an hour if we still need him. We ended up cancelling the towboat. I am now on the radio talking to Rick and Kim on SeaBatical, the boat that is towing us. He asks about the generator and I explained there is no water coming out. He gives some recommendations and I go down in the engine room to see if I can figure this out. I disconnect the hose from the seacock and no water is flowing. I use a screwdriver to poke down through, and I get a stream of water shooting out! Great! I turn off the seacock and re-connect the hose. I then try starting the generator. I come topside to see black smoke spitting out, but I also hear the sound of flowing water. Yay! That is music to my ears! the smoke goes away and water is flowing out of the exhaust. I relay this info to Rick, and he tells me there is a marina a little ways up he will get us to. He advises us to let the generator run a while to charge the batteries. We call the marina and advise them of our situation and they are good with it. We get to the marina and it is a bit shallow, so Rick gets us in the general area and lets us loose. We drift in to the docks and grab hold. Whew. We now are at least secured, albeit sideways along a couple of docks, but we are safe. The marina manager assists us in tying off and says we are fine for now, but if we stay we will have to figure out how to move us. We agree, and Lauren takes Frank for a walk while I sit on the boat listening to the generator run and hopefully charge up the batteries. Lauren and Frank returned and we had let the generator run for about and hour or so. I decided to try starting engine, and it started up! We look at each other in amazement and decide we should go ahead and leave and continue on our way.

At this point we are hours behind the group. We pull out of the marina and head down river toward the next lock: Dresdan Lock and Dam. We had another boat text us while we were charging our batteries at the marina and they advised us they were all there, but the lock was not letting them through due to commercial tug traffic. We were far behind, but not missing the lock through, yet. Now that we were running again, we were hopeful we would make it back to the group. We did make it there while they were all waiting. Again, all ending up at the same place at the same time, no matter when we left. We let the ‘leaders’ know we were back, and it was nice to hear encouragement from others. We all had to hang out again and wait, so we just motored around in slow circles, staying out of the way of traffic until it was our turn. This lock-master wanted two groups, so one half of the group went first and we waited until we finally got the green light. Since this lock was smaller and there were half as many boats, we were teamed up with a boat on either side of us. We rafted off of one boat, and another boat rafted off of us. Once in, we were advised to again shut down the engines. I was a little hesitant, but figured if it started after charging, and we’d been running this long, we should be okay. We decided to leave the generator running but turn off the engine. Wrong. Once again the lock gates started to open so we all fired up our engines. Ours would turn over a little, but wouldn’t start. Then nothing. Flabbergasted I ran downstairs to jump it. This did not work. Now the boat on the outside of us is leaving and it should be our turn next. Lauren is explaining the situation to the boat we’re rafted on, and basically preparing to get pulled out of a lock. Again. Twice in a day. FML. I am still trying everything I can to get juice, including grabbing our winch battery to try using that. One last try before we have to depart- rumble, rumble- It starts! I almost had tears of joy! Lets get out of here now! We undo our lines and we pull out of the lock on our own power. It is about 28 miles to the next and last lock of the day. Here we go.

The last 28 miles were a stream of boats in single file order, the slowest at the rear. We were the rear. There was another boat with twin engines having engine trouble, so he was running on one engine at low RPM’s and was actually a little slower than us. We had informed the leaders of the pack we would not be shutting our engine down in this lock. We of course had to get ‘permission’ from the lock-master, but there was no way I was shutting down before we pulled into a marina. Even if this meant waiting longer and locking through solo. No way. Just after this last lock is a marina called Heritage Harbor Marina. It is known as a “Looper Stop” and has lots of amenities, including courtesy cars for shopping, a pool, restaurant and many other not listed here. We had called ahead and secured a spot for the night or two.

We all got to the last lock, Marseilles Lock and Dam around 7pm. The first group was locking through, and there was a tug with a barge waiting to come up. Then he had to couple to another barge and pull them both out. This meant we would be waiting another hour and half at least for this to happen. Some dropped anchors out of the way. Some tied off to a wall. We just floated in place, engines running, and did large circles when we had to get out of the way or were drifting. We had been given the approval to keep our engines running, but we were to be the last to enter the lock. This was fine with us, we didn’t have to raft and our exhaust would be in the back. As we were waiting to enter a large tow boat showed up and the lock-master inquired if he wanted through? He replied he would wait for us all to go, or come in with us if there was room. We all agreed it would be fine to allow him to lock with us. We entered the lock, and with us being the last, there was nothing for us to tie up to. They dropped a line from the top of the wall to the bow and stern, and Lauren and I hung on for dear life. Due to the turbulence of the water draining, and the tug keeping its engines on too, it was everything we could do to hold a 19 ton boat to the wall. We could not tie the line to the boat because we had to pay out line as we dropped depth. Our hands were hurting holding on so tightly and the boat pulling farther and farther out from the wall. Mercifully this came to an end after about 25 minutes which felt like at least 4 hours!

The boats were pulling out of the lock one by one, and we could hear the lead boats making contact with the marina. We were on the list, and the marina reached out to each boat staying there. They were awesome, and even sent out a guide boat to guide us all in to the harbor. At this point it was pitch black dark, and no one was familiar with the area. We had to enter one by one, while their team met each boat at the dock to assist with docking. We were called to our spot and was met with dock hands on each side, ready to help us tie off. We were advised there will be a meeting in about 30 minutes for the loopers, and they had kept the kitchen and bar open for all the new arrivals. This is hospitality at its finest!

Once were secured and plugged into the shore power, we made our way to the meeting. The harbormaster did a run down of every stop, anchorage and good marinas from Ottawa to St. Louis as well as what to look out for. We took notes and ordered a bite to eat and chatted with some others in the group. I received some advice about the batteries and Rick loaned me his hydrometer to test the battery fluid in the cells.

Once all was done, we retired back to the boat. I took Frank for a last walk and met up with our rafting partner along the wall at Joliet. Rob on Captain Willee invited me over for a nightcap, which I accepted. We were drinking some bourbon with another boater and friend of his, when one guy looks at me and says “Dude, your dog is gone.” I had tied him up to a cleat on the dock, but he is like Houdini sometimes. Off I went to track down a dog in the middle of the night. I was thankful Lauren was sleeping, as she would give me hell for this. Rob gave me his flashlight and I went searching. I circled the yards and was looking on the docks when I heard someone yell out “I found a dog!” I ran over there and found he had wandered into a newly constructed neighborhood next to the marina. Thankful for the return, I took Rob his light back and called it a night.

We knew we would face some challenges, and this was one. The next morning Lauren woke me up asking if Frank ran away? I asked how she knew, and she told me a neighbor boat “heard a commotion” and someone calling for him. I was caught. I had told Frank not to tell, so I knew it wasn’t him, but was leary of the cats ability to keep secrets. We spent 3 nights at the marina, using the courtesy car to go to town to stock up on food supplies and auto parts store. I purchased a new hydrometer and returned the borrowed one to Rick. I also dropped them a bottle of wine and a thank you note in appreciation of their assistance. We cleaned up the boat and relaxed for a day. Now we have to get through one more lock that is scheduled to close, Starved Rock Lock and Dam, then we can slow down and meander down the river at a leisurely pace or else we would probably stay here for another day or two. We have two days to get through it. We will still have a couple of more locks to go through, but we can also separate from the pack and go on our own time. At this point I think we’ve solved our battery issues. I’ve ‘equalized’ them and I checked all fluids and the readings were great. They are brand new batteries, so I was lucky I didn’t ruin them. We also have a better idea about power management, and will run the generator nightly if not plugged in to ensure the batteries are topped off.

I’ll keep posting, and it’s great to hear from people reading. Please leave comments for us, as it is good motivation to keep blogging!

This is where the real interesting part of our journey so far begins… Traveling along the lakes had been interesting for sure. Each day and night we would look at weather forecasts and decide our next stop. That doesn’t change at this point, but the weather isn’t as critical on the river as it is on the open lake. We still do not feel the need to travel in poor weather, but we don’t have to worry about big seas or wave direction. It will also be different scenery- instead of open waters, we will be going through wildlife sanctuaries and rural areas of America, as well as some big cities. There will be areas there is no cell service (rare on the lakes, unless out in the middle) and some stretches of no marinas, fuel or anywhere to tie up for up to 200 miles or so, thus requiring anchoring for the night.

Today we woke up with a plan: the mast has to be taken down for us to fit under the bridges of Chicago. We had toyed with doing this at Hammond, but decided to wait until we were actually ready to go down river. Our boat is fitted with a remote controlled winch on the flybridge, which makes the job easy enough to do. I also had another small issue pop up- our generator was not getting any water through the cooling system. This is not good. It needs water to cool, and without it, it blows black smoke out the exhaust and if not fixed, it could potentially damage the unit and the components, which is not a good option for us. After taking Frank for his dinghy ride into shore, we returned and got straight to work. We secured the mast horizontally using lines and propping it on a wooden crutch to support its weight. It stayed attached at the base but pivots down. Once this was secure, I decided to dive into the water and try to clear any debris that may be stuck and blocking the water intake for the generator. After many attempts to locate the intake and clear, I couldn’t find anything obvious that was blocking it. That being said, when we fired it up again to see if this helped, we still got black smoke. Not sure what else to do, we decided we would carry on with our plan to go down river to Joliet today and deal with this at a later date. The electronics are all still working, and running the engine should charge the batteries. Off we go!

We departed the mooring around 11:30am, after requesting help from the harbor staff to undo our lines from the mooring ball. Our first stop is a lock just outside the Chicago river. As we approached, the gates were open and there were a bunch of pleasure boats tied along the wall. I was approaching cautiously, not sure if we could just go in, or if I needed to call the lock master, when he came over the loudspeaker and said “If you’re coming in, hurry up! there’s people waiting!”. A little startled, I gave it some throttle to get in there quickly; in doing so I came in faster than I wanted to, bumping off the wall and throwing it into reverse trying to stop while Lauren’s yelling “pineapple!, pineapple!” (pineapple is our word for ‘stop!’- we don’t want to be ‘those people’ yelling at each other so we thought we’d have some fun). There was an attendant giving Lauren a line to hold on to. Once she was secured, the lock closed and we started our descent down. The lock only took about 10 minutes and we were let out into the river.

The trip down the middle of Chicago on the water was as breathtaking as it sounds. Tall buildings on either side towering over us, tourist and locals walking, riding or sitting along the water on benches or restaurants, and lots of boat traffic. There are tour boats of every type, as well as paddle-boards, jet ski’s, kayaks and small boats people rent. This was for me a bit nerve wracking as I had to be on constant alert and ready to maneuver around those that don’t know or care what they’re doing, as well as anticipating the large tour boats and water taxi’s. Lauren got some great photos of the city, and we eventually made it past the mayhem of the downtown. Some bridges were low, and we did not take our antennas down, which actually scraped the bottom of one bridge listed at 17.5 feet. Our height to the canvas was 15.5 feet, so there was plenty of breath holding by me going under these bridges.

Our trip today was around 33 miles, which took us about 6 hours. We actually had to go through two locks today- The one at the entrance of Chicago River, and another farther down called the Lockport Lock and Dam. Technically speaking, the river from Chicago to Joliet is called the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. The Illinois River starts at Joliet, just past the Lockport Lock and Dam. The Lockport Lock is the first of three locks that we have to traverse before September 20 due to scheduled closings. All 3 will be closing for three weeks, and then supposedly re-opening for two weeks, before being shut down for a year of maintenance. This means there will be no ‘Great Loop’ in 2020, as there will be no way to get through the locks-it will be a ‘Great U-Turn’!

We arrived to the Lockport Lock around 3:30pm. Upon arrival, we were greeted with about 10 pleasure boats all waiting for the lock to allow passage. The way this work is this: You call the lock-master on the VHF, and he/she will advise you on when they will let you through. Sometimes you can get right in, but commercial traffic has the right of way. So if a barge shows up, you have to wait for them to go through first, which can take up to an hour and a half or more, depending on how far up/down the lock is. Since we are going down, we then have to wait for it to fill again so we can enter. Or they wait for an ‘up-bound’ ship and then the wait is longer. Sometimes you can lock through with a commercial ship if all agree (ship captain, lock-master, you) but if there is hazardous material on board the barge, they can only go solo. This can make for some very long waits. As I said above, when we arrived, the other boats that had been waiting were almost 3 hours already. We had left much later than everyone else that morning, but will end up at the same place at the same time. We circled the area the other boats were in, and some were rafted off each other as there were no available spots to tie up. We saw a round piling and tried to secure to that; being round it did not make for an easy tie off, and there are no cleats or anything for that matter to attach a line. So we ended up rolling around this piling and maneuvered away as safely as possible. Another boat was waving us over to another round piling, but this one had a couple of posts sticking up- we could use these to tie off. One guy jumped onto the piling (not sure how else to describe it- round with cement center, about 20 feet wide, separated by about 75 feet- there were several in a row) and caught a line from Lauren. We secured a bow and stern line, and waited. We had some small chit chat with the boat who helped us, and waited some more. Then there was a commotion, we heard a boat fire up its engines, and we looked up to see a large barge heading right for us. The way we were tied off to the piling, we were sticking out into the channel where the barges enter/exit the lock. The barge passed us by about 20 feet. There was no indication on the radio anything was coming out, and we were taken by surprise. At this point, I run up and start the engine. We are getting untied, when a large tow boat comes between us and the barge, causing a large wake, and berating us for being in the channel. I am not sure what to say, so I say nothing. I just get us out of the way and we all head into the lock, boats tying off on both sides per the order of the lock-master. Once we are in and secured, the lock starts the process of lowering us down to the next level.

Now it is getting to be dusk, and there is talk on the radio of stopping at Joliet. That is where our destination was, and unbeknownst to us, everyone else has the same idea. We hear there are already 14 or so boats tied off there, and we all need to be prepared to possibly raft, and the boats already there are making some room for us too. We are at the back of the pack coming out of the lock, so we are the last to arrive at the dock. The dock at Joliet is just a wall along a small park, with cleats, and some spaces have free power pedestals. We had to pass through a few drawbridges as well from the lock to the dock, and the lead boat is taking charge, requesting the lifts and advising of the large flotilla following. The bridges were pretty good about opening and getting us all through, with one waiting until we were all piled up in front of it before opening. Just passed the last draw bridge was the free wall. All of the sudden boats were turning in and rafting, tying up, whatever they could do to get settled. The others already there were assisting everyone with lines and spaces. Since we were at the back, we decided to pass on by and scope it out first. We eyed a spot at the very end, a little tight due to trees overhanging, but looked like just enough room to fit. We positioned ourselves and came in for a landing. There was a couple there ready to grab a line and helped us get in. We fit! perfect! We did not have power, but we weren’t rafted (we were leary of this due to 1. never done it before, and 2. we are big, heavy and steel- if we mess it up, we could do some damage). Once secure, I walked the dock, handing out boat cards and meeting other loopers. Turns out there were about 22 boats here today, all doing the loop. Boats of every kind, some very large- 45-50 ft, to some small- 24 ft. and everything in between. Once we were done visting, we walked over to a small festival that was coming to a close. We listened to some bad singing, and ended the night shortly there after.

The next morning we awoke to some rain and radio chatter. We had all agreed to get on the radio at 6am, as one person was going to coordinate with the next couple of locks we all have to traverse, which is a couple of miles down river. When we woke up, the weather was horrible and the forecast didn’t look good until later in the afternoon. This was something we did not want to travel in. Turns out the lock-master told him (us) that today was not good for locking through due to the amount of commercial traffic today. This means we would be staying put here on the wall another day. This was fine for almost everyone because of the rain anyway, so we went back to sleep for a bit.

The rain subsided and we took Frank for a walk. I noticed the boats behind us (we were at the very end, so everyone was behind us) were all working feverishly to remove debris from behind their boats, The rain had caused the river current to run faster, bring river grass, branches, log and large trees down the river toward us. Almost everyone (including us) had docked with their bows facing down river, which left the stern and the propellers open to the down stream onslaught of debris. Looking up the wall, I noticed there was a bend in the river wall, and we were at the far end and in front of everyone, so we were lucky in that sense. I also have the dinghy turned sideways on our stern when we dock, so this was also protecting out stern. We noticed if we let our boats out a bit, the current would push everything between the wall and the boats, instead of getting jammed up there and more and more piling up on top of it. I went in to take a nap, and around 1pm someone was asking Lauren if they could use our dinghy to help pull some large logs/trees out from the end boats. Everyone was afraid to start an engine, due to the amount of logs, as this would ruin a propeller and someones boat/trip quickly! Lauren woke me up and I was happy to assist any way we could.

I brought the dinghy to the first boat up stream and parked it sideways in front of his stern. There was a lot to clear out, and it was quite a sight to see almost everyone out helping the boats try to remove as much as we could. We were able to clear most logs and got the larger trees out of the way. Then we proceeded to one by one turn about eight boats to face upstream by hand. Some of the others more downstream and not afraid, moved their boats out of the way, and we had one raft off of us for the night. We would secure lines on both sides, shove off the stern and let the current pull it around. Then we would muscle the bow up, with up to four people pulling the long line around and others would grab the rear and pull it in. Truly a team effort all around. We actually saved and used some of the larger trees to form a diversion by wedging it between the wall and the bow of the farthest upstream boat. Repeat this over and over. It was a long day with lots of hard work put in by everyone.

By evening, Lauren and I decided to take the bikes into town. It was a Sunday, and almost everything was closed. We rode around town and stopped at a Burger King to try the new meatless burger. This was a scary area, and we got our Whoppers and high tailed it back to the boat. We enjoyed our sandwiches and hung out around the park the rest of the evening. It was agreed upon by all to have a radio meeting at the same time tomorrow morning- 6am. The weather looks good, so as long as we get the green light from the lock-master, we will all be heading out toward the next couple of locks and making our way down the river.

How exciting! Today we head to Chicago! This is definitely a high point and a biggie, as this is almost 20% of our trip completed, and it’s Chicago!

We made reservations for Monroe Harbor, which is right downtown. We used an app: Dockwa which allows you to make marina reservations online. There is an app for everything! There are no docks here, only mooring balls which you attach your boat to. We have not experienced this yet, so it will be a new to us. There are docks at neighboring yacht clubs, but these cost a premium.

We awoke and were greeted with lots of fog. Hmmm…this could change our plans. We topped off our water tanks and decided to head out anyway. We agreed if it was too bad, we would turn around and come back in. Once we cleared the harbor, the waves were around two feet, and the fog was thick. We were both a little nervous, as there is plenty of commercial traffic around and we would be going through a freighter channel. Just as we were about to turn around, the fog started to clear a little, letting us see a bit further, relieving that fear. The waves weren’t subsiding however, and they were coming from the north east. As long as we were heading north, it was okay. Since we only had to go about 15 miles, we decided we would stick it out and continue on our way.

What a sight to see! We approached Chicago with fog covering the top 1/3 of the city. We couldn’t actually see the city until we were fairly close. We used the GPS to guide us. Once we were close enough, I called the harbor on the VHF. They directed us to our mooring ball, but we had to do a loop through the harbor, around all of the other boats to find our spot. We noticed again there were a lot of other loopers here. Our research on mooring balls told us there is usually a line attached to the ball hanging in the water- we should use the boat hook to snag this and bring it up to the bow, where we would either attach our own line or attach it directly to the boat. I’ve read it could be slimy due to it being in the water all of the time, so I told Lauren she should wear some gloves. As we approached after doing our loop through, the owners of another boat next to us were sitting outside. “there are no lines here” they called out, “you can call them for assistance”. Umm…ok? what does that mean? As Lauren and I were looking at each other processing this, a small ‘harbor boat’ pulled up and asked if we needed a hand? “Yes, Please!” Lauren had a line at the ready and tossed it to the harbor boat. He then threaded it through the mooring ball and handed it back to Lauren, who then secured it at the bow cleat. Nice! At this point we shut down the engine and the harbor boat continued explaining how this work to us: We call them on the radio when we want to go into shore. They will pick us up in their boat, which is equipped to carry many people and bikes, dogs, etc. and bring us back, operating from 8am until midnight. There is a spot to pull a dinghy for 15 minutes dog walks, but no leaving it there while going into the city. He then offered to take Lauren and Frank into shore if needed? Lauren gathered Frank and off they went for a potty break. I double checked the mooring and checked the engine room per the norm while they were gone. Since we made the reservations online, there was no need to go to the office to check in. It’s pretty cool how all of the boats swing on the moorings in the same direction, whichever way the wind blows.

Lauren and Frank returned, and since our arrival was around 11:30am, we had the rest of the day to play. We secured Frank and got the bikes ready for going to shore. I called them on the radio and they zipped out to us, stopping to drop off and pick up some others on the way. We were ready when they arrived and Lauren hopped on, and I handed the bikes over to her. This was easy!

Now we are on land and biking around. I’ve talked about how Michigan has great bike paths in every town, Illinois has made Chicago a great biking town. There are bike lanes all around, clearly marked and some protected, which makes it super easy to get around. Lauren had researched (like she does!) and found a restaurant in the west loop we needed to get to for lunch. A little about the West Loop area: A former industrial zone, the hip West Loop is now a dining and nightlife hotspot. Inventive New American and global eateries line Restaurant Row, and the French Market food hall hosts local vendors. Pubs, bars, and live music venues dot the area, as do upscale boutiques, while Randolph Street Market sells vintage wares one weekend a month. The grand Union Station, built in 1925, is an iconic beaux arts rail hub. We ate at Little Goat. We had a great lunch and went across the street to BomboBar for some fresh made donuts. We continued on a bit more and came across Ballast Point Brewery, so we had to stop and hydrate. At this point we wanted to get back to the boat, but we stopped to see “The Bean” which is actually called ‘Cloud Gate’ in Millennium Park. Before heading back we decided we should grab some beer, and there is a grocery store close by. We got lost looking for this grocery store. The roads and bridges put us on different levels, so we could see the store, but couldn’t figure out how to get there with the bikes. Yes, there were stairs, but carrying our bikes down flights of stairs wasn’t really an option for us. How hard could it be to go around? We couldn’t figure it out, and i was getting frustrated, especially with Google Maps telling me to go left or right only to find ourselves not any closer. We did find a corner grocer which I went into and procured some beer. Now that that is taken care of, off to the boat! We found our way back to the harbor and took they dropped us off. At this point it was dusk, and We took Frank in the dinghy for a quick stroll along the waterfront. We may have stretched out the 15 minute parking, but we were close enough in case someone wanted to enforce it. They didn’t seem to really care. The lights of the city were coming on, and we made our way back to the boat. The rest of the night we sat on Klondike watching the lights come on and the view was spectacular! This moment was fabulous, knowing we’ve done this on our own, with our own boat, and couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend the night!

Day 2 in Chicago starts with us taking Frank for his morning walk. This was a dinghy ride into shore and stretching the 15 minute rule. Once he was returned and secured, we took the bikes back into shore. Our first stop was Crown Fountain, which is a pair of 50-foot-tall video boards showing ordinary Chicagoans spouting water at each other. The water is real and comes out soaking anyone underneath or around it. Then we went to The Goddess and the Baker for lunch. Yum! Continuing on after lunch, we stopped at Garrett Popcorn shop to pick up a snack. Somewhere along the way we took a wrong turn, and ended back in the west loop area; on our first trek through, we had passed a chocolate factory, and the smell in the air was mouthwatering. On this pass by, we had to stop and peruse the store. We ended up buying some chocolate to enjoy later. Here is a blurb from Wikipedia about them: “Blommer Chocolate Company is a small integrated chocolate manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois, and is considered to be the largest and oldest independent cocoa bean processor in North America and largest chocolate ingredient supplier. More than 45% of cocoa beans processed in the United States are processed (into cocoa butter, cocoa solids and chocolate liquor) by Blommer; about 70% of their business is supplying chocolate to various branded companies for use in those companies’ own products. Blommer was founded in 1939 by the Blommer brothers, Henry, Al, and Bernard, and has been family-owned ever since. The family and company name is pronounced “Blummer.” The factory in the West Loop area of Chicago is known for sending a chocolate aroma into the air. In 2006, a nearby condo owner complained to the EPA about the smell, complaining that it violated the Clean Air Act. Blommer was not fined, having explained that it was upgrading its filtration system. The chocolate smell remains.” We can tell you that the smell does in fact still remain!

Since we were back in the area again, we decided to check out another bar that had caught our eye the day before: City Hall. This was a cool building, and we locked the bikes up and wandered in the back patio bar area. We were greeted by a manager and we told him we wanted a drink; he informed us they don’t open up for another 20 minutes or so, but if we just wanted a beer or something easy, we could stay. Okay- we’ll stay! So after a couple of drinks here and trying the local liquor Malort (it’s gross, but follow this link, you won’t be disappointed and will still want to try it) , we then wandered over to the French Market, which miraculously we didn’t purchase anything. We then headed back to the boat to relieve Frank and get ready for dinner. Our plan was to Uber to Eataly, which Lauren has been wanting to try. Tonight was not the night, as they were closed for a private event. We didn’t know this until we got there and saw the line to get in. We actually stood in line for a few minutes, thinking this was just a popular place, then we realized we need a ticket. We tried to get one quickly online, but no luck- sold out! We were hungry, so we looked up Italian restaurants near by; we came up with Labriola, which was a short walk away. After being seated, the service was horrible! Oh well, we stuck it out and had a nice meal (the food was good, not great) and enjoyed each others company. After dinner we walked to Firecakes Donut shop and enjoyed an evening walking around Chicago. Eventually we picked up another ride back to the harbor. One last ‘Frank walk’ and we retired for the evening, knowing we have an early start and plenty to do before we leave.

So the forecast was dead on. We started the day heading south, and was going to follow the coast, but due to the direction of the waves, we headed more southwest, into the waves, which was a smoother ride. This trip was a little over 52 miles and took us about 7.5 hours.

This was also our first stop outside Michigan in 40-some days! Hammond is actually part of the Chicago metropolitan area. First settled in the mid-19th century, it is one of the oldest cities of northern Lake County. As of the 2010 United States census, it is also the largest in population: the 2010 population was 80,830, replacing Gary as the most populous city in Lake County, Indiana.

We made reservations as we were crossing the lake. They had instructed us to pull to the gas dock and they would check us in from there. This was good, as we wanted to top off our tanks before getting to Chicago. Diesel price in Hammond was $2.99, compared to $3.99 or more in Chicago; considering we hold almost 500 gallons, this was a significant savings. We only had to put in a little over 200 gallons, but still it saved us money.

The marina we were in was quite large, with lots of Loopers there. In hind sight, it was silly to go here, except for the diesel price, but we did get to add another state to our list of visits <Ohio (1 day), Canada (2 days), Michigan (40 days!) and now Indiana (1 day)>. I say this because Chicago was almost the same distance, but it did make for a more comfortable ride across Lake Michigan heading a little south. The marina was in casino complex, and was not listed as being pet friendly- this was because the walk to get to any grass was quite long. We did take Frank for a long walk though, so he could frolic in the grass and along a beach, although they did have fake grass mats by the restrooms for dogs.

Since we had stocked up in St. Joseph, there was no need to leave the marina. There also was nothing remotely close to the marina, so this was fine with us. We had dinner and watched some Cleveland Indians, and got online to make our reservation in Chicago Harbor. Not much else to talk about, as this was just an overnight stay before heading to Chicago.

The weather tomorrow looks a little iffy, but we only have to travel about 15 miles to the north. The wind is supposed to be out of the west, which means it will be on our beam, which can make for an uncomfortable ride. We will see what we wake up to and decide from there. One of these days soon, we will have to drop the mast so we can go down the Chicago River, but we will wait until we get to Chicago to do this.

Our weather forecast was showing the wind getting lower later in the day. We took this info and decided to wait to leave Saugatuck until 12 noon. We had 40 miles to go to get to St. Joseph, or we could do 20 miles and stop at South Haven. Once we were out on the lake, we decided to go all the way to St. Joseph.

St. Joseph Harbor is right off of Lake Michigan. Once we entered the harbor, we took a sharp left into the marina. Our assigned dock was a tight turn, so we had to go in and turn around to enter our dock. When we called for reservations, the harbor master told us he would leave the information for us in an envelope taped to the office door, as we would be arriving after they were done for the day. Once secured to the dock, we decided to do some laundry, as they had free machines here. This is the first time we’ve run across free laundry machines and we wanted to take advantage of it! Unfortunately the machines took a long time, so it took us most of the evening to catch up on it all.

The next morning, we took our bikes for a ride. Lauren wanted to go to the beach, and I wanted to explore a little, so we decided to meet back at the boat around 3pm. I figured out how to get to the town of St. Joseph, and also stopped at a resort bar to quench my thirst. Since it was close to meeting time, I trekked back and met Lauren at the boat. Before we had left, I was talking with the harbor master about stores in the area; he informed me there was nothing close, but they would be happy to drive us to a store and then pick us up when we were finished. Relaying this to Lauren, we decided we would go later in the day.

Now that we were both back in the marina, we took them up on the offer to drive us. The store was about 10 miles away, and we loaded up on groceries and supplies. I also had borrowed a battery charger for out winch battery, which we will be using in a day or so to lower our mast, so we could get through the Chicago River. This is getting exciting- leaving Lake Michigan and starting our journey down south!

Shopping done, we took the bikes for a ride into the city. We wanted to see the sights along the lake, at the mouth of the St. Joseph River, sandy Silver Beach features a restored 1910 carousel and a pavilion. Near Tiscornia Park and its dune-backed beach, the 2 North Pier lighthouses date from the early 1900s. We rode through the old amusement park and along the shore. Again, the bike paths here are wonderful. We went through the downtown area and stopped for some ice cream and watched the sunset from up on the bluff. Since it was getting dark, we decided to head back to the boat.

Now that were back on Klondike, we had dinner and had to determine our next stop. We could continue down the coast and go into Indiana, or we could cross to Chicago, or we could cross, and if weather was not cooperating, we could go to Hammond. Hammond and Chicago are basically the same distance from St. Joseph, but Hammond is a bit south of Chicago. It will all depend on which way the waves and wind are coming from. Forecast says SW wind, and it looks to be a good morning, but winds increasing as the day progresses. We will have to see how the day shakes out…

Today is the Cleveland Browns opening day! We decided to make a short trip today, for two reasons: 1. we can move farther south and be closer to our jump off spot to Illinois, and 2. Saugatuck is a spectacular destination. From their website: “Sand. And water, as far as the eye can see. With 10 spectacular miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, one of Condé Nast Traveler’s “Top 25 Beaches in the World,” the Saugatuck/Douglas region shines all year long, but especially as one of the premier summertime destinations in the country. Long known as “the art coast of Michigan,” this community traces its creative roots back 100 years to the day when The Art Institute of Chicago established its Ox-Bow School here. Today, dozens of working painters, sculptors, ceramicists, and other artists call it home, enriching our community with an open-minded outlook and an appreciation of art that spills over into the galleries around town.”

So yeah, we wanted to stop here and it did not disappoint. To get here, we again had to travel quite a bit inland from the lake. It was an hour trip to get to the city dock, where the slips are first come, first serve basis. When we approached, there was only one other boat docked. The catch for us was our size. The docks are about 25 feet long, and we measure around 42 feet from the tip of the bow to the back of the dinghy on our stern. Luckily the end ‘T’ dock was unoccupied, so we had an easy landing spot and plenty of room. The end docks are twice as long, plus add a few feet for the walkway, so we had at least 55 feet of room.

We had left around 9am, and arrived at the dock around 11:30am. This was important because we wanted to go watch the game on a big screen TV. We have been able to stream almost every Indians game, and we’ve watched Ohio State on our computer. But this is Opening Day! Lauren had called a bar in the area to ensure they would have it on. Armed with this information, we docked, got tied up and secure, walked Frank and took off on a bike ride. The bar was a few miles away out of town, but it was the closest ‘sports bar’ we could locate. Michigan has amazing bike paths that connect almost everything and that was the same here. We got to the bar about 5 minutes before kick off!

Since we all know how that ends, I won’t rehash it. The owner of the restaurant was cordial and came over to chat with us a while, then console us. We ate some lunch and watched the game. Disappointed, we left and headed back into town. WTF Brownies?!

Back at town, we went back to the boat to secure the bikes, check on Frank, and head out for a walk around town. We wandered around, stopping into a coffee shop, checking out art galleries and other shops, and just admiring the town. We stopped at a retro bar that had small boats for rent, all retro. They also had cool round boats, that sat a group in a big circle, but a driver could steer the boat from their seat. We had a drink there, then moved back to the boat. Upon arrival, I noticed another boat was docked near us. As we were getting on board, he came out and asked if we were doing the Great Loop? He saw our burgee and was curious about it. He purchased the boat he was in, and it was set up for the trip, which he wants to do. We chatted a bit about the trip and boat stuff, and he assured us we would be fine at the dock overnight. We weren’t sure if it was allowed, but figured we would try our luck anyway.

Tomorrow’s weather looks good, so our thought was to go to South Haven, but if it’s really really good, we may just go to St. Joseph as that is the last stop in Michigan for us. We’ve traveled 42 days at this point, and less than 5 have not been in Michigan, so its getting exciting to actually be planning on stopping in another state.