To Walmart in Michigan windy day pictures

Steve was up very early this morning so he took Dexter out for his morning exercise with out waking me.  It was a great sleep in until 9am.  Just as I woke up Dex and Steve were back on the boat.  Steve turned the coffee on and we were good to start the day.  There is no grocery store in town so we asked the locals where they shop and they said Walmart!!  It is only 3 miles from the Marina so we broke out the bikes and put on our nap sacks.  Fully replenished for at least a couple of weeks.  Had to pass on the great wine prices to make room for more important calories in the nap sack :(...

Nap sacks full....ready for our ride back.  It's an easy ride...sidewalks most of the way with a bicycle path on one road. 

The day is a very windy day with waves on Lake Michigan at 11 feet!  Once we got back to the boat and put all of our groceries away we thought we would take a walk to the end of the pier.  There is usually a 4 - 5 foot clearance from the water to the top of the pier but today the waves were coming right over top the pier wall.  Soaked me up to my waste.  It was hilarious.

Here it comes!

 

                                                                             Soaked!!

We walked back to the boat via the beach.  There weren't many people on the beach given the high winds and the beach warnings due to high waves and currents.  You could feel the sand blasting your legs along the walk.  Crazy winds today.  Not a boat in sight when we looked out to the Lake.

The beaches aren't patrolled so if you wanted to swim you could.  However there were warnings posted at the beach entrance. 

Tomorrow still calling for high winds so we will break out the bikes again.  There is a bike trail that goes for 34 miles that we will explore.  Looks like we may be able to move on Wednesday but for now we'll just take it "One Bay at a Time"

South Haven Marina and arriving in Chicago

Checking the weather and winds we have decided to stay put another 2 days.  Winds and waves should be calm on Thursday August 27th so we will get up early and travel 74 miles across the lake to Chicago. 

Tuesday we thought we would check out the bike trails in South Haven.  We found a trail that connects South Haven and Kalamazoo, 39 miles.  We cycled to mile 5and then turned around so it was a great ride through forests, past the river and through farmers fields.

Wednesday we spent cleaning and doing laundry.  It rained most of the day so it was a good day to do chores. 

Thursday morning I heard Steve get up.  I checked the time and it was 4:30am.  I figured he would be right back to bed and then........the sound of the electric tooth brush...really??  By the time we got hydro and water unhooked and took Dexter for a walk it was 5:30 and we were ready to go.  We exited the entrance to South Haven, which had been literally impassible for the past 4 days due to high winds and waves.  Out to the lake and set our course and was it ever dark.  We were both quiet and then Steve said "what time does it get light out?"  I just laughed and reminded him that I was fast asleep an hour ago.

It was a beautiful ride across.  There wasn't a ripple in the water and we first spotted Chicago when we were 37 miles away.  The smooth ride even allowed Steve to do some last minute deck scrubbing.

Nice and clean for Chicago.

The ride across was 9 hours but Chicago is an hour behind so we arrived at

1:30pm.  Still lots of time in the day. 

We pulled in to the Marina and were met by 4 other Looper boats.  There is one right beside us. "Sea to See" - Ron and Vicki Montgomery.  While we were checking in at the Marina Harbour we heard someone ask, "Can you please tell us where One Bay at a Time is located?  We told them that was us and they are also Loopers staying in the same Marina, "Sea Moss" - Clark and Evelyn Woodworth.  Then 2 other couples came over to our boats and we talked until 8pm (7pm Chicago time).  "Knot Home" -Al and Kaye Sterling, "Namaste" - Jim and Joann McFail.  Ron, Vicki, Al and Kaye decided to go for dinner and asked us to join them but we had had a long day and were looking forward to a hot shower and a pillow. 

The next day we thought we would take a walk and see the sights of Chicago.  We walked out to the Navy Pier and decided take an architectural boat tour.  It was a 75 minute tour of the Chicago River with all the history of the buildings and interesting architecture.

  After the boat tour we took Dexter for a long walk and then decided we would go on a hunt for Chicago deep dish pizza.  We found the address but walked and walked but never could find it.  Turns out we were walking under the street not on the street.  By the time we realized what we had done we had walked a long way so we came back to the boat and made burgers for dinner. 

The view from our boat at the Marina after dark.   

The next day was rainy and damp so we thought we would check out the Aquarium.  When we arrived there was a very long line to the entrance of the Aquarium.  We waited for an hour before we even entered the Aquarium and we were both just a little disappointed.  It was crowded and the shows were not until 4pm which would have been too long to leave Dexter on the boat so we just walked around and looked at marine life. 

When we left the Aquarium we thought we'd give our hunt for deep dish pizza another try....GREAT SUCCESS!!   Now that's what I call a pizza pie.  We ate at 3pm and that was lunch and dinner.  We also had left overs coming back to the boat. 

 We are both exhausted from all of the walking but we needed to burn some calories today after the pizza lunch.  Got back to the boat just in time to avoid the rain.  Heading south tomorrow on the river....not sure what that has in store for us but what ever....we will take it "One Bay at a Time."

Last night in Michigan travelling down the river to Heritage Marine

Saturday night we turned in early as we were going to get an early start on our journey south in the morning.  We were awakened by the sound of fireworks and were treated to a great show off the stern of our boat.  Great send off!

Left Chicago on Sunday August 30th by 8am.  There are 2 routes you can take Southbound out of Chicago.  One you must have a clearance of less than 17 feet as there are many bridges that you must pass under that don't lift.  The other is a route taken by boats with a higher clearance not able to pass under the bridges.  Steve and I spent a good hour on Saturday before our departure measuring the height of our boat....then we measured it again....then we checked our math...and then we checked our math again.  Wouldn't it suck if we measured right but calculated wrong?!  Final count came in at 15 feet 10 inches.  We were being very liberal with our measurements leaving a couple of inches in our favour.  The route with the bridges is much more scenic and takes you right through the City of Chicago.  We were going for the scenic  route.  The bridges did seem very low and I'm pretty sure I ducked as we went under the lower passes.

The river runs right through down town Chicago and the buildings and architecture are amazing.

 The building with the antennae, to the left is the Sears Tower.  The antennae are in the fog so not very visible.  Once the tallest building in the world. Not so much any longer.

Our final destination on Sunday was Joliet.  As we made our way down the river we came to a small passage.  You are strictly forbidden to stop your boat during this pass as there is a strong electrical current in the water.  The current is to stop invasive fish species from migrating to Lake Michigan.  We did see some Carp in the water further down the river and were told by some locals that if you were to take a small motor boat in the river they may jump right in your boat.  They seemed to be very plentiful where we were and as we go south they say they will be even more plentiful.

Joliet is a small town about 50 miles from Chicago.  There is a free wall there with power.  When we turned the corner to Joliet were surprised to see 6 other Loopers tied to the wall.  We also met our first Canadian Loopers out of Bayport Midland, Father and Son John and Lee Dunnink.  Kaye and Al from Knot Home, that we met in Chicago were also there.  We met Valerie and Tim O'Neil from Chester B, George and Pat Hospodar from Reflection, and Werner and Kathie Steuernagel from It's About Time.   We met for "Docktails" and chatted for a while and then turned in early as we decided we would get an early start because we had 3 locks to pass through the next day.  It was a7am start Monday Aug 31st.  If we didn't get through the lift bridge by 7:30 we would have been held up until 8:30 as it closes for rush hour traffic.

Although we only had 3 locks to pass through these locks are nothing like the locks at home on the Trent Severn Waterway.  They are open 24 hours a day 365 days a week.  They are FREE!  However, there is quite a bit of commercial traffic and the commercial traffic takes priority.  So, if there is a lot of commercial traffic you can be held up at these locks for hours waiting for barge after barge.  The barges are huge and are pushed by tows.  If you see a tow approaching you must radio and ask what the captain of the tow would like you to do...pass?.....wait?.....pull off to safe zone? Most times they tell you to pass one whistle or two.  If they say pass two whistles, you pass them on their starboard.  If they say pass one whistle, you pass them on their port. 

This picture shows the difference between an empty barge and a full barge.  Notice the difference in the water line on the barge that is empty compared to the one that is full and how much lower the fuller one is sitting in the water.  The bottom picture is the empty barge.  It looks like it is full of sand but the sand is actually piled behind the barge on land. 

We made it through all 3 locks with out having to wait any unreasonable length of time.  We did hear of another boat that was held up for 7 hours at one lock waiting for barge traffic.  Although the locks look huge there is only room in the lock for one barge at a time. 

We arrived at our destination for the day and what a great stop. Heritage Marina. The Marina offers discounts to Loopers and was absolutely beautiful.

 There was a very clean pool, where we spent the afternoon, beautiful docks, restaurant, showers and very clean grounds and facilities. Dockage was very reasonable at $1 per foot.  We had drinks by the pool and enjoyed a very refreshing swim after a very hot day on the water.  Our American friends, Kay and Al from Baton Rouge, thought the water was freezing but being Canadian, we thought it was beautiful.  We laughed when Kay said "Y'all would think it's beautiful you have no choice but to swim in freezing cold water all the time!"  Kay also showed me some new navigational tools pool side which will be a huge asset when looking for places to stay along the way!!  Thank you Kay!!....She tried to teach me to whistle too but that was hopeless.  After drinks and swimming we went back to our boat and then met for dinner at the restaurant.  The food was excellent as was the service.  Conversation never lacking.

  Great day with a great group.  Some are shopping tomorrow, some have some laundry to do, some have some cleaning to do....Steve and I are going to head South in the morning.  Hoping we will meet this group again along the way as we travel "One Bay at a Time."

Heritage Marina to Alton

We left our friends at Heritage Marina and continued south.  We planned on staying at anchor where rumour had it that the locals came in and stirred up the Asian Carp.  We had just finished dinner when a local boat showed up.  They were armed with bow and arrows with fishing line to reel in the carp.  I wanted to drop the dingy in the water but Steve said that we could likely get a black eye or lose a tooth.  He commented "don't you see the nets on the front of the boat?"

We left our anchorage the next day to our next destination....Tall Timbers Marina.  This Marina is a very small Marina but a must stop if you are looping.  We met up again with our friends from Knot Home, Reflections and our Canadian friends from Midland, Loukethia.  The Marina is a hobby for the owner Bob as he has a full time job.  He was not there when we arrived but showed up later and came down to the docks to introduce himself and make sure we had everything we needed.  There was a pool and a bar on site bit since the American school year starts a week before labour day all his staff were back to school so the pool was closed and the bar was only opened on the weekend. The washrooms were a porta potty on the dock but very clean and didn't seem like a porta potty at all.   We only stayed one night here because he had a carp tournament the following day and he was full.  He had many boats coming in....the deal with the carp tournament is you have to stir the carp up with your boat and you can only use a net to catch them.  The person that catches the most pounds in Asian Carp wins a truck....mmmmm....should we stay and enter our dingy...NO we might get a black eye or chip a tooth.  Loved this Marina!

The next stop is Alton, Illinois which is very close to St Louis.  Alton is about 137 miles from Tall Timbers.  Our plan was to do about 2 - 65 mile days but the anchorage we were planning on staying the first night, Big Blue, we had heard that another boater had run aground there because water levels were too low.  You can see from the shore line that the water is very low. 

We decided we would put in a long day, about 90 miles to a good anchorage with lots of water and then the next day to Alton would be a short day.  Even though the water levels are very low right now....in July they were so high that the Illinois River was closed to recreational traffic.  Some homes were not built quite high enough from the river.

The locals are starting to assemble their duck blinds for duck hunting season.  They take their duck hunting very seriously here and the duck blinds are more like cottages.  The first picture is a duck blind in the making.  All assembled, just not camouflaged yet.  The ramp going to the water would be where they send their dogs to fetch their kill.

We passed many barges on our way and radioed the captains asking for our 1 or 2 whistle pass.  All of the barge Captains were very friendly and some asked if we were doing the great circle or we could hear them radio other barges saying that they had "one of them Looper boats approaching."  Always gave a wave and even sometimes took a picture of Captain Jack.

Dexter is becoming quite at home on the boat.  He has many names.  We call him our rear view mirror.  We never have to look behind us because when we have approaching traffic.  Dexter always hears and sees before we do and his expression lets us know.

Our Looper friends call him Captain Jack because he always has top spot on the boat.  The people that we met in Alton call him Eddie. 

                                                We are now on the Mississippi River. 

When we arrived at Alton Harbour they told us if we needed groceries the local grocery store would pick us up in their car and drive us back to the boat when we were done.  Steve and I thought we would walk to the grocery store and then accept the ride back as we are always up for exercise.....NOT!  We stuck our heads outside and decided it was way too hot to walk the 10 blocks to the grocery store.  What a great service.  Adam, a grade 12 student came and picked us up and drove us back.  From here we are about 200 miles from provisions and it has been a week or more since we have been to a grocery store so we needed lots

 

 The people here are so friendly.  We have had so many boaters come to our boat and ask if we need a ride any where and if so they would be happy to drive us.  The boat across from us went out on the lake today but before they left they told us to help ourselves to anything we needed in his dock box.....cleaning supplies etc.  Steve was cleaning the dinghy so before they left they hooked up their huge fan in his direction as it was very hot....so thoughtful.

 The Marina has a pool but it is very shallow.  2ft in the shallow end and 4ft in the deep end.  Great for families here to keep the kids occupied and cool.  Given the water level changes in the Mississippi, the whole Marina floats, even the pool.  The docks and the pool will float up the pillars as the water level rises. 

Our last night in Alton and then we head down the river.  200 more miles on the Mississippi then on to the Ohio River for a short time.  There are no services for the next 200 miles.  We met up with our Looper friends Knot Home, Reflection and Loukethia for cocktails and then met two other Looper couples for dinner.  When we arrived at the vessel Reflection, we had our drinks and I made a tray of appetizers.  We had never been on their boat before and I didn't notice the step just inside the entrance.  I fell down two stairs...then there is a small landing and two more stairs...well I couldn't stop at two stairs...rolled over the landing and then down two more stairs. The appetizers looked something like this......

Love the Canadian napkins eh!!!  Oh I bumped my head, cut my hand, bruised my butt and spilled my drink but I'm OK.  Pat and George, the owners of the boat were more concerned than I was in fact Pat screamed louder than I did.  George quickly refilled my drink and all was good. 

We went out for dinner to a place called Fast Eddies.  Apparently Fast Eddies put Alton Ill. on the map.  It was packed!!  We spent less than $25, Steve had 2 beers, I had a marguerita, I ordered 20 large shrimp for our table to share, Steve had a burger and fries and I had a pork kabob and fries.

When the State made smoking illegal in restaurants and only legal to smoke on the streets, Fast Eddie bought the street and put walls up so people could smoke in that part of his restaurant.  You can still see the double line on the street in the restaurant.

Back to the boat and took Dexter for his night time walk.  This Marina is very active at night.  It's a large Marina and they love to party here.  The docks are all decorated with lights and you can hear music every where.

Great place to stop.  So friendly and accommodating for just $24 a night as there is currently a 2 for 1 special but even at $48 a night, this is a deal.  Fridge full, check....liquor cabinet full, check.....laundry done, check......boat cleaned, check......bellies full, check.....well rested, check.....on to our next stop which is a barge on the Mississippi River called Hoppies.  I thought we were in Missouri today but we are still in Illinois.  Tomorrow we will be in Missouri living life "One Bay at a Time!"  Night y'all.