Month: September 2017

From our previous post you may remember that we arrived in Grafton late Wednesday afternoon,  after a long ride from Bar Island complicated with the “reported” barge blocking the river. A lot has happened in Grafton and it has been an excellent/fun port !

Wed – Sept 20
After we arrived in Grafton about 5pm Wednesday, we hooked up all the power & water cables and hoses. We turned on the 2 AC systems to cool down the boat from the 95F heat, took a shower, and then went to dinner about 7pm. We ate dinner at the Grafton Harbor Oyster Bar connected to the marina. When we were almost done with dinner, all of the lights in marina went out including the lights in the restaurant. I said to Jonell “Oh-boy, I feel sorry for the joker that caused that”. After about 5 minutes the power came back on and all was good. We paid our bill and returned back to the boat about 8:30pm. When we returned back to the boat there were about 6-7 people gathered around the shore power station of the SS Gettin’ Looped. Evidently while we were cooling down the boat with both AC units on (40 amps) the shore side connector in the Y-splitter was making poor contact and building up heat, ultimately leading to arcing/sparking/and power shutdown . Earlier in the afternoon when we checked in, I had met the Owner/Operator of Grafton Harbor Joe DeSherlia. Joe helped us relocate to a new slip (the shore power connector was toast) & helped with a replacement loaner splitter to reconnect the two 50A shore power cables. When I reviewed the Grafton Harbor splitter vs my splitter with Joe and the marine mechanic Brad, we noticed two things; the diameter of the outer grounding ring on my splitter was a little wider than the loaner splitter & the teeth on my splitter were chamfered, not flat like the loaner splitter. On the chamfered connector teeth you could actually see the arcing marks. The bottom line = old connectors on both the splitter and shore power stations allowed enough gap to allow small arcing which built up heat over time. The remaining question that Joe is trying to get answered is “why did the main marina breaker pop before the local shore power station breaker”.
Recommendation to all my boater friends = after connecting your power cables at every new harbor, run your normal high loads & after an hour or so do a hand check of the connectors at the shore power station and the boat. If something is wrong (gapped connections/corroded connectors) you will feel the heat in the connector. A similar event recently happened to my boating pal Joe Grace in Michigan.

Thu – Sept 21 (Ashley Murphree’s Birthday !)
I started the next day ordering a new splitter from Defender Marine. About $550, but they did have the splitter in stock and 2 day shipping, which would allow us to stay on schedule for the next move on Monday to the Hoppies Barge.

We spent a few hours washing the boat, doing laundry, and Gettin ready for a visit from my nephew Jake Baldwin & 1st mate Mollie.

Jake & Mollie arrived about 6:00pm.
Jake is going to Chiropractic school in St Louis, he is in his sophomore year at Logan University. Jake already received his bachelors degree at Ashland University in Ohio a few years ago (in biology I think ?) . While he was at Ashland, he also was a very good baseball pitcher who won the GLIAC Player of the Year in his sophomore season & almost got drafted by the Oakland A’s before he injured his arm and had to have Tommy John surgery.
Jake’s 1st mate Mollie is a doll, she accompanied Jake to St Louis and works from their apartment for a medical billing service that she originally worked for in Ohio, where Jake & Mollie met.

We had a few drinks on Gettin’ Looped with Jake & Mollie, they had not yet seen the boat because they live in St Louis.
We then went to dinner at the Aeries Winery Terrace, a restaurant on top of the hills of Grafton. The views were spectacular. From one direction you could see the convergence of the Illinois & Mississippi Rivers, and from the other direction you could see down the Mississippi all the way to St Louis. At night we could see the lights from the Gateway Arch.

Fri-Sept 22
On Friday we were planning on heading in to St Louis to see the Gateway Arch.

Prior to leaving, I went on-line to check the shipment status of the new splitter before we left and found out that the two-day shipment that I paid $50 for was shipping the new splitter to our home in Royal Oak Michigan, not Grafton Harbor Illinois (Crap ! ).
I initially attempted to have my son Dan go to our house and collect the splitter from the folks renting the house. But Doctor Sauber’s wife had already taken the UPS box to the post office. So the new splitter was now on its way to our mail forwarding service in Florida.
After an hour of phone calls, I called Defender Marine and ordered a 2nd new splitter to be delivered to GRAFTON, and obtained a Return Authorization for the original splitter. Now we just hope the USPS indeed delivers the 1st new splitter to my mail service folks.

Finally we were on our way to St Louis, thanks to a lift from Captain Kenny. Kenny is a boat captain on the local river tour boat, but gave us a lift into St Louis because there is no taxi or Uber service from Grafton to St Louis.

While in St Louis, we visited;  The Gateway Arch, Busch Stadium, Ballpark Village, and The Loop.

The Gateway Arch is a 630-foot monument in St. Louis clad in stainless steel and is the world’s tallest arch, and the tallest man-made monument in the Western Hemisphere.
Construction began in 1961 and completed in 1967.
There was a movie about the construction before you went up in the tram/pod which carries visitors to the Top of the Arch.
The construction was quite the engineering feat.
Construction consisted of the fabrication & assembly of a series of 12 ft tall triangular sections. These stainless steel triangles, which narrowed as they spiraled to the top, were raised into place by a group of cranes and derricks attached to the legs of arch itself. The arch was assembled with 142 / 12-foot-long prefabricated stainless steel sections. Once in place, each section had its double-walled skin filled with concrete, & pre-stressed with 252 tension bars. The north & south legs were built separately, then attached together with the final triangular section in 1967. In order to keep the partially completed north & south legs steady, a scissors truss was placed between them at 530 feet, and later removed as the derricks were taken down and the last section attached the two legs.
The movie was very educational.
It is called the Gateway Arch, because at the time of its original conception in the 1930s, St Louis was the western most city, so it became the gateway to the west.

Our next stop was Busch Stadium.
Busch Stadium was pretty cool with a lot of memorabilia of the Cardinal stars of past (Stan Musial,Bob Gibson, Curt Flood – see the statues in front). Recall that the Tigers beat the Cardinals in 1968 to win the World Series after falling down 3 games to 1 (Denny McLain the 31 game winner in 1968 was not the hero. Mickey Lolich won 3 of the 4 games the Tigers won in that series, he typically pitched 300 innings per year).

We had lunch at the Fox Sports Live Entertainment Plaza (part of the larger Ballpark Village Complex). It looked like a really sweet place to watch the game on screens if you could not get in to the game. The Ballpark Village Complex was attached to the stadium near the center field area.

Next stop was “The Loop”
The Loop was billed as a place with a bunch of restaurants/bars and sidewalk placards with famous people born in St Louis.
To get to the Loop we heard from some folks that we could take the Metrolink railcar from the ballpark in downtown St Louis to The Loop in northern St Louis. It was about a 20 min ride and dropped us in a not so great area. We had to walk about 8 blocks to get from the metrolink station to one end of The Loop. Not sure which way to go when we got off the metrolink car, we were escorted by Krishna to the start of The Loop.
The Loop was “OK” and we did see several placards of famous folks, but we were worn out after a hot 95f day of walking in St Louis, and called the Uber car for a ride back to Grafton after having some ice cream on The Loop.

After a siesta back at the Gettin’ Looped, we went out for a dinner which included a Rum/Coke & the Best Bread Pudding I have ever had in my life

Sat – Sept 23
We spent most of Saturday doing Trip Planning – Next Ports, Course Plotting, Locks/Bridge Reviews, Reservations @ Green Turtle Bay.

We also helped review Dan & Megan’s wedding invitation list draft.

We ordered more boat cards, running low already only 2 months into the trip.

Jonell washed the front windows which had become heavily water stained.

We spent a few hours by the Pool with Lab Partners & Firestorm.

We ended the day with dinner at the Grafton Harbor Winery & listened to 2 bands at different bars. The 2nd band played Metallic Hard Rock, and were pretty darn good, even though we are not big hard rock fans.

Sunday – Sept 24
We had several Loopers & Grafton Harbor residents over for drinks on the aft deck of Getting Looped. The Loopers included previous friends; Lab Partners (Rip/Beth) & Firestorm (Mike/Laurie), and new Looper friends One Eyed Dog (Larry/April) & Gypsies Palace (Debbie Russell, still need to meet Steve). The Grafton Harbor residents included John/Cindy Roeslien & next door boat neighbor Bill.

Later that night we also went to dinner with Grafton residents John & Cindy (Elvis photo-bombing).

Summary
In spite of the initial power cord issues, the stay at Grafton has been very nice. The assortment of restaurants & bars is very large for such a small town. The owners Joe & Jan are the nicest I have ever encountered. They will do anything you need. Jan has loaned me her ATT phone 4-5 times, Joe was willing to let me take his splitter to keep on schedule and replace it later, Jan hooked us up with Boat Captain & part time shuttle driver Ken for a ride in to St Louis. Everyone at this marina bends over backward to help. And all the locals near our slip treat us like family (Jim, John, and Bill).

Next Week will include a very aggressive schedule with our first real experience on The Old Mississippi !

Tuesday (late departure waiting for splitter which should arrive on Monday)
Grafton Harbor to Kimmswick , and the Looper Famous Hoppies Barge
Last fuel for 200 miles on the Mississippi
Mississippi River = 56 miles / 2 locks (Melvin Price & #27-Chain of Rocks)

Wednesday
Hoppies Barge to Anchorage @ Little Diversion River
Mississippi River = 108 miles/ 0 Locks

Thursday
Little Diversion to Anchor @ Cairo Angelo Towhead
Mississippi River & Ohio River = 50 miles/0 Locks

Friday
Green Turtle Bay Resort on the Kentucky Lake
Ohio River, Tennessee River, Kentucky Lake =72 miles / 3 Locks (#53, #52, Kentucky Lock)
Green Turtle is supposed to be an awesome place, we will spend 5-6 days there.

Parting thoughts from St Louis = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwFGJxRBRUs

 

Hey Gettin’ Looped Followers,
Sorry for the delay between postings, but we have been w/o internet & phone for a few days.

Monday Sept 18th was our 34th Wedding Anniversary !
We celebrated with a very long 9 hour/1 Lock day going from IVY Yacht Club in Peoria Illinois to an anchorage near the small town of Beardstown Illinois called Bar Island.

Our original plan was to go about 40 miles to a marina called Tall Timbers, frequented by many Loopers. We had spoken to the harbor master  Bob at Tall Timbers 3 times prior to travel day about low water at the entrance, and thought that we could make it in. But the day before departure we found out from Bob, that our Looper pal ” Desperado” could not get over the shoal at the entrance, and they had the same 3’9″ draft as us.
So we decided to do the long day from the IVY Club at Peoria to Bar Island. Bar Island in Beardstown is about half way between IVY Yacht Club and Grafton Marina.

The day started out with a nice ride down the Illinois River thru downtown Peoria, where we had attended the German festival a few days before. During our stay in Peoria the city was visited by replicas of the Tall Ships. We did not tour the boats, but they looked pretty cool from the water side.

Further down the river south of Peoria, we experienced a 1-1/2 hour wait at the Peoria Lock. We had to wait for multiple commercial traffic to pass thru the lock. The final barge was very large and took up the entire 110ft x 600ft lock. The 1-1/2 hour wait included idling at the lock entrance, due to no mooring cells available.

During the ride down river after the Peoria lock, we had to pass about 5-6 tows, always asking for permission to pass and which side the tow captain preferred (1 or 2 whistle).

The last 2-3 hours were very nice with no locks or tows, and a beautiful scenic ride with nice homes up in the hills.

We left Peoria about 8am & finally set anchor at Bar Island about 5:30pm, just before a nice rain storm.

We had Grilled Cheese for dinner, and toasted with 1 Bud Light & 1 Miller Lite.
There was no internet or TV stations, so we listened to jump drive music from our youth (Huey Lewis, Fleetwood Mac, Journey, and Heart) and watched the DVD – La La Land.

Shortly after anchoring, we learned from other Loopers that the next day was also going to be a challenge. Due to historically low water (which kept us out of Tall Timbers), there was a reported barge stuck at mile marker 76 on the Illinois River, blocking all traffic. We were told that the “LaGrange Lock” at mile marker 80 was not letting anyone thru potentially for 2-3 days.

I woke up about 5:30am Tuesday morning and called the LaGrange Lock. The lockmaster Randy advised that he could let us thru, but the Army Corps & Coast Guard were not letting anyone past marker 76. I asked for a phone number for the local coast guard, spoke to a person who advised that there was a conference call at 9am that would determine if PCs (pleasure craft) would be allowed thru. We had decided to go for it when I saw two Loopers heading for the lock at 6:30am. We hurriedly pulled up anchor and followed the 2 Loopers toward the lock.
When we arrived at the lock, lockmaster Randy advised over the radio that he would lock us thru, but the coast guard had made a decision that only boats of draft 3’/6″ or less would be allowed thru, and all others would have to tie up on the downstream wall. The lock operators asked each of us what our draft was – We all responded 3’/6″ 

As we passed thru mile markers 79,78,77,76,75,74,73,72,71 we soon realized that this Illinois river barge blockage was more over-exaggerated than the year 2000/Y2K computer collapse or the Giraldo Rivera’s Al Capone’s Vault opening. There was a barge off to the side of the river at mile marker 76, but there was 8 feet of water throughout the channel. If nobody had said anything, we would not have suspected any issue at all. We called a few fellow Loopers upstream to give them the update that passage was possible thru LaGrange & marker 76, and we were finally on our way. The only problem was The FOG.
Shortly downstream from LaGrange at the lower water level, still only 8:30-9:00am, we encountered very thick fog. Luckily we were following friend Loopers “Lab Partners” who have Radar & AIS.

After a second long day we finally arrived to the comfort of our covered slip at Grafton Harbor, where we will spend the next 5 days, and visit with my nephew Jake & his first mate Mollie.

After the wonderful anchorage at Henry, we traveled on Saturday to the Illinois Valley Yacht Club in Peoria Illinois. It’s another beautiful marina with a very friendly staff and local boaters. Our plan is to stay 2 nights, Friday & Saturday.

Downtown Peoria is about 2-3 miles away, so we took an Uber into town. We were told by some folks at the marina that there was a big Octoberfest celebration this weekend.
We started our afternoon/night in Peoria with some discovery of the downtown. There was a very large structure which contained a Science Museum & Planetarium.

We ran in to a local on the riverfront and asked about the town & restaurants. The ole fello said “This town is dead, nothing here, it used to be nice but the locals did not support it, they spent their money outside of Peoria”.
The riverfront did show some of the signs of good times gone bye, with a few nice looking places closed (Joe’s Crab Shack on the river). But there was still plenty of nice stuff to see. We ate dinner at a BBQ place called the Blue Duck. The food, service, and friendliness were great. There were also some “Tall Ships” on the riverfront for the weekend.

The highlight of the night was the Octoberfest celebration on the river. It was a blast. Beer, Music, Dancing, German Outfits, German History, Wood Carvings, a Beer Mug Holding Contest, & very tasty nite time deserts for Mike.

The best part of the Octoberfest was the entertainment. Several bands, one was a more generic German band & the  second very lively younger alternative German band who had just returned from a German tour.
The first more generic band was very nice, and initiated some authentic German dancing.
See the attached video = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00UxRPChDwA

The second band was very entertaining.
They play a very high energy alternative form of German music.
The video shows one of their originals, but they did some modern songs like ; AC/DC-Back in Black & Bryan Adams-Summer of ’69.
See the attached video = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3xygKs0x_0

The night ended with the purchase of some fudge, cookies, and Uber ride back to the boat.

Hey Gang,

Friday night was our first adventure anchoring on the trip so far. Hard to believe that we could go 2 months without anchoring. The trips from Chicago to Joliet & Joliet to Ottawa, alerted us that we needed to reduce our miles traveled per day due to the delays at the locks. Otherwise our intended days of 5-6 hours turned into 9-10 hours, and very tired Loopers. You would not think that you could get so tired driving a boat, but you do !
The trip from Ottawa to Henry Illinois was filled with Locks, Fishin’ Boats, Duck Hunting Blinds, Nice Scenery, and a beautiful night time Anchorage.

The trip Friday was our first time docking at the “Mooring Cells” outside of the locks. We had previously been idling outside of the locks waiting for them to open and allow entry. This creates fatigue attempting to keep the boat in one area with the wind & current pushing the boat around. The lockmaster at Starved Rock Lock indicated that they were having trouble with a northbound tow in the lock, and the wait would be over an hour. So we and other Loopers tied to the mooring cells.

As we moved past the lock, the scenery became filled with Fishin’ Boats & home made Duck Blinds.

The scenery was again very cool.
Was Columbus correct, it looks like we are going to fall off the ledge ahead.

We arrived at the Anchorage about 5pm Friday night. It was a place recommended by Active Captain. It was just past the north tip of  “Henry Island”, just off of the primary sailing line of the Illinois River shown in white.

Our fist anchorage was AWESOME.
Not so incredibly beautiful, but very serene.
The setting was very quiet, all you could hear were crickets chirping & fish jumping. Nellie saw a deer on the shoreline, Mike missed it.

Hey Blog Followers,
We left from Chicago to Joliet Illinois on Monday, and to Ottawa Illinois  yesterday.
The 2 days were a whirlwind start to the river system boating.
The travel days were very long (9-10 hours) due to extensive waits at the various locks waiting for passage.

The summary for Chicago to Joliet to Ottawa is as follows;
Downtown Chicago = Awesome, everything we expected
Industrial Chicago & Northern Illinois = Commercial Plants & Graffiti
Undeveloped Northern Illinois (Chicago to Joliet) = Serene, Quiet, Calm
Barges/Tugs = Barges Blocking the River & Yikes, Get out of the way !
The Electronic Fence for Asian Carp = a non-event
The Locks = Fun, Cool, Engineering Marvels

Downtown Chicago
The trip thru downtown Chicago was breath-taking.
Sky Scrapers, Magnificent Skyline, & Low Bridges !
The Michigan Avenue Bridge (the 3rd bridge from Lake Michigan down the Chicago River) is a 17ft clearance bridge, our vessel height is 15ft/2in.

Industrial Chicago & Northern Illinois
The sights quickly changed after we left downtown Chicago.
The surroundings became lots of ;commercial plants, rock quarries, cement plants, cranes, silos, and graffiti.

Undeveloped Northern Illinois (Chicago to Joliet)
After passing thru a significant amount of industrial/commercial land, the surroundings turned very serene, quiet, and pretty. Beautiful vegetation lined sections of river, with some sections becoming a little narrow.

Barges/Tugs
The quiet/serene setting ended as we started to approach Joliet Illinois. The pace picked up significantly with lots of barges blocking the sides of the Illinois River, and lots of tugs wanting to move those barges. Slightly stressful for the captain of Gettin’ Looped, but also really cool to watch up close.

The Electronic Fence for Asian Carp
The electronic fence is an electrical barrier used in the attempt to protect the Great Lakes from Asian carp that are moving up the Mississippi river. The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Dispersal Barrier stretches two rows of electrodes across the canal (approximately 220 feet apart) to create an Asian carp fence. The electrodes pulse direct current into the water; this causes the fish to turn back rather than pass through the electric current. The fence was built in 3 phases between 2002 & 2011. The reported results have been mixed, and the Chicago Sanitary Canal engineers have also resorted to chemical treatments to deter the Asian carp.
For us, the passing was a non-event.
If the signs were not posted, we would not have known that we had entered or exited the zone.
We have not yet seen any Asian Carp jumping, but hear from other Loopers that we may still see that phenomenon near Henry or Peoria Illinois.

Locks
From Chicago to Ottawa, we have went thru 5 Locks so far.
Jonell & I had previous experience going thru locks with other Loopers in 2014, while we were dreaming about becoming Loopers.
But watching someone else take their boat thru a lock with 4 sets of hands vs taking your own boat thru a lock with 2 sets of hands, is a little different.
The nerves were up a little, but all 5 locks have went off without a hitch.
I have become pretty good at the approach to the attachment bollard (a post on the lock wall) & Nellie has become very good at getting the line around the bollard & on the cleats before wind/current have their way with the boat.
We also have experienced rafting to another boat & being rafted off of.
While tied on the Joliet wall, we became friends with Leon & Karen Scott from British Columbia Canada. They were our rafting friends in 2 of the locks.

Next stop will be Henry Illinois, where we will anchor for the night.
Probably no internet, so there may not be a blog update until this weekend at Peoria.
Thx for following.

I almost hate to make a post talking about having fun, while the folks in Florida are at high risk and the folks in Texas are still in recovery mode. We ask all of our followers to pray for them all.

Chicago – Many of our followers have been here and know the city well, not so much for me and Jonell.
Lots to do, lots to see, lots to eat/drink.
It truly is a great city in spite of all the national reports on local area crime.
For a reminder on the previous post, we arrived Thursday afternoon and in the afternoon Thursday & morning on Friday, we saw the Riverfront & the Sears/Willis Tower.

On Friday afternoon, my brother Kenny & girlfriend Carla came for the weekend.

Between 5pm Friday & 10am Sunday, here is what we did;
1. Water Taxi
2. Navy Pier
3. Wrigley Field
4. Tour by amateur photographer / Chicago resident David Tucci
5. Daley Park
6. Millennium Park – with The Jay Pritzker Pavilion & “The Bean”
7. Face Fountains at Millennium Park
8. China Town
9. Deep Dish Pizza at Lou Malnati’s
10. Nite Cap @ The Green Mill Jazz Club.

We took the Water Taxi so Kenny & Carla could see the Riverfront, but make it a quicker process than walking.

We then went to Navy Pier and had dinner at Harry Carey’s Tavern.

On Saturday morning , we went on a ballpark tour at the historic Wrigley Field, 2nd oldest park in the country next to Fenway in Boston.

After the tour at Wrigley, we went to lunch at the local bar “Bernie’s Tap & Grill”, recommended by the Wrigley tour guide Clay.
We then came back to the boat and met amateur photographer and Chicago native David Tucci. David works at a local second tier TV station (channels like Me TV), is married, and has a 2 year old son.
Strange Story – David enjoys taking rustic/rural/industrial photography (like the ole train station in Detroit). He has always wanted to shoot the abandoned industrial sites on the river south of Chicago, but the tour boats do not go down that far. David stumbled upon our blog and contacted me about a potential ride. After significant initial reservations & an initial “feel out” phone call, we agreed to meet each other to see if we were compatible. We agreed that David would give us a tour of his local town, give us some of his finished photos, and we would give him the ride between Chicago & Joliet.
Thus started the David Tucci Tour.

We met at the boat about 2pm, David 1st took us to Daley Park.
Daley Park has a beautiful walkway between the marina & Millennium Park. The walkway was built with a Styrofoam type base material to make the hilly terrain, then covered with dirt and grass. The walkway also includes curved path areas for roller blading in the summer and ice skating in the winter. There are also several rock climbing walls along the path.

The next stop was Millennium Park, and a visit to the iconic Cloud Gate Sculpture (aka-The Bean) created by Indian-born British artist Sir Anish Kapoor. 
The walk thru Millennium Park also included passing by the very large Jay Pritzker Pavilion, where there was a live concert of some very strange music. The structure is pretty stunning in size.

After Millennium Park, we went to the Crown Fountain (Face Fountains). The fountain is composed of a black granite reflecting pool placed between a pair of glass brick towers. The towers are 50 feet tall, and they use light-emitting diodes to display digital videos on their inward faces. The intent of the fountain is to show the diversity of Chicago, with the faces changing ethnicity every few minutes.

The next stop after Millennium Park was China Town, including visits to a few of the trinket shops & a few China town fruit smoothies (they were very yummie !).

After China Town, we returned to the boat, said farewell to David, had a few beverages, and cleaned up for the night. We went to dinner at the Chicago famous “Lou Malnati’s” restaurant for Deep Dish Pizza.

The night ended with some Jazz at the Chicago landmark “Green Mill Cocktail Lounge”. 
The Green Mill has history of an old mob lounge. The story says that during the Prohibition era, Jack McGurn of Al Capone’s Chicago Outfit became a part-owner. Singer and comedian Joe E. Lewis was attacked by McGurn’s men in 1927 after he refused to take his act to the Green Mill. Lewis’ throat was slashed, but he survived. The incident inspired the 1957 film The Joker Is Wild.
Al Capone’s favorite booth is still in the establishment located directly west of the short end of the bar. Capone and his men would sit here because it afforded clear views of both the front and back entrances to the establishment.
Note – Detroit does have Chicago beat in this one area, Baker’s Keyboard Lounge in Detroit is the oldest Jazz Club in the USA, and in my opinion the music is better.

That’s it for the whirlwind Chicago tour.
The Kenny/Carla visit made it a great weekend.
We are tired, time for bed.

Tomorrow is a big day = Entering the Chicago River Lock and traveling thru downtown Chicago by boat to Joliet Illinois (40 miles).

After 6 days, and a 2 day delay due to Wind/Waves, we finally made the journey from Michigan City to Chicago yesterday. Small craft warnings expired at 10am, we left at 10:30am. It was a bumpy ride (photos don’t show it). We are looking forward to some river boating.

Dusable Harbor is a very large marina. When you enter the large harbor, you have to pass by a LOT of sailboats moored on the left, then the full marina. There are about 400 slips in the marina. Dusable Harbor is located just south of the Chicago River Lock, Navy Pier, and the Ferris Wheel. Dusable is located just north of Soldier Field, and just east of Grant & Millennium Parks.
Here is the view from our slip.

Last night on our arrival night, we did part of the river walk and ate dinner at Dick’s Last Resort. The waitress at Dicks was very rude, I guess that is their claim to fame. After a long day on the water, I was ready to chill out not be treated rude. After a short conversation, she altered Dicks normal protocol to be nice.

This morning we went to the Sears Tower, now named The Willis Tower. It was built in 1973, and is still the 2nd tallest building in the USA and 16th tallest in the world (108 stories/1450ft). The building was renamed in 2009 by the Willis Group as part of its lease agreement for a large portion of the building. The Willis Group is a brokerage company based in London.

Tonight we expect my brother Kenny & girlfriend Carla to arrive about 5pm and join us for some weekend fun in the Windy City.

 

Michigan City is for sure our favorite port in Indiana !
Actually, it’s our only port in Indiana.
We came to Michigan City for two reasons ;
1. Stepping stone to the next stop of Chicago
2. Meet my cousin Tony, who lives in Fort Wayne Indiana.

I was somewhat surprised by Michigan City.
I expected a very industrialized/commercial city without a lot of waterfront activity.
But Michigan City / Washington Park was very much another nice waterfront city. They have lots of restaurants, a very nice beach, beautiful river front, and a nice park with several benches all many of different shaped large rock.

We stayed at Washington Park Marina, a very large marina of 600 slips, seems larger than Jefferson Beach in Lake St Clair. Looks like a lot of sailboats, but was about a 50/50 mix of power & sail.

Thursday – Aug 31
We arrived at Michigan City from St Joe about 1pm.
We had an awesome Italian sub from the nearby Dockside/Tin City Grill.
We met Gold Loopers Jim & Moe (Malinda) Jablonski, who live in Michigan City.
Jim & Moe invited us to a Pizza party for all the Loopers staying at Michigan City this weekend.
There were about 20 Loopers/10 couples at the party. Many of the people we had seen at previous stops, but the party allowed us to get to know many of them better.

Friday – Sept 1
During the day Nellie went to a local landmark “Barker Mansion” with a few other Looper girls. Mike did some boat maintenance (check fluids) & cleaning.
At night, we went to the highly recommended Fish House restaurant with fellow Loopers Dennis & Dana from Pharm Team who we had met in Mackinaw City. Jonell had Walleye & Mike had a Double Stuffed Pork Chop. Jonell’s walleye was the best I have ever tasted. The fillets seemed different; they were much thicker/rounder than typical walleye fillets, had seasonings/breading that I have never tasted, and they melted in your mouth.

Saturday – Sept 2
During the day, we received my cousin Tony Chesney (son of the famous aunt Angie), his bride Julie, and grandkids Keegan & Kolton. We spent a few hours on the boat. Since they arrived by car, Tony & I went shopping to restock the boat with water, beer, and snacks.
We all then went to the beach restaurant Fire & Ice, and had burgers, nachos, etc. Then did a little sand castle making with the boys on the beach.

During the late afternoon we invited the Gold Loopers (Jim & Moe), who threw the Pizza Party, over to our boat for drinks and appetizers. Their “57ft Carver” was in the slip next to ours, that is their home slip. We also invited Loopers Tony & Kathy Zarcone from New York.

It rained all night, so Jonell & I went to the local Blue Chip Casino. The casino offers a free valet service from the marina & back. We had a nice dinner at a restaurant called “The Game” set up to look like a sports book, but not an active sports book. Jonell gambled and recovering gambling addict Mike watched sports and the local casino bands. To my shock & surprise, Nellie did not win again (2nd time this trip – $$).

Sunday – Sept 3
On Sunday we installed some new Fuel Vent Whistlers.
Since we purchased the boat, every time we fill the tanks, if we choose to “Top Off” the tanks, we get some fuel spit out of the vent lines before the pump shuts off. I want to “Top Off” to keep a more accurate history of fuel usage. The whistlers provide an audible warning when the tank is about to fill, changing in pitch as you approach full and stopping the whistle just before full. We will see how they work during our fuel fill tomorrow before we leave for Chicago.

At night we went to dinner at a river front restaurant called “100 Washington” which also functions as an Amtrak Railroad Station. The location had it all ; river front & Lake Michigan scenery, boats, draw bridge, and trains !

Next stop = Chicago !
I am so pumped, I can’t wait to go thru those sky scrapers.

Well, it has been 6 weeks already and yesterday we crossed the state line out of Michigan into Indiana. Check out our GPS Tracker Link – expand to see the entire Loop https://share.garmin.com/GettinLooped2017

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We thought it would be a good time to give our friends/family a summary of the first 6 weeks on the Loop. It was really nice to get to know our home state of Michigan much better. We had not spent much time on the west coast of Michigan, and we were both very impressed with the boating towns on the west side of the state.

Here is a recap of the first 6 weeks of the Loop – 17 Ports
1. Algonac – After leaving all the excitement of the Miller Marina Farewell Party, we went a whopping 20 miles north to the Algonac Harbor Club & continued the farewell party with our boater friends Dave Vrabel, Carol Perotta, Rich & Anita Cook, and my last FCA boss Dave Herzog & bride Shelly.
Full Blog Post = https://gettinlooped2017.com/2017/07/16/bon-voyage-party/

2. Lexington – meeting with Luchkovitz’s , Deloneys, nice marina, beach vollyball
3. Harbor Beach – quiet town, nice bike ride, deer, Smallie’s Bar & Grill
4. Caseville – Grobbel’s Cottage, Agar’s Yatch Club, sea plane, violent storm
5. Harrisville – quiet town, nice bike trail, Shot Maker’s Bar/Grill
6. Presque Isle – Crystal clear water, Aunt Angie-Kathy-Dan, Mike’s Family drives from Royal Oak to Alpena, Dan Engagement, car breakdown + John/Mary Alice Krajanta ride, Waterfalls, Light Houses, Dinghy ride to Albany ship wreck
7. Cheboygan – Mulligans restaurant
8. Mackinaw City / Mackinac Island – New Looper friends Tag Team & Pharm Life,  Lunch/Drinks at Grand Hotel with Tag Team, Outdoor Indian Fur Fair, Boating under the Mackinac Bridge
9. Beaver Island – Crystal Clear Water, Beautiful Island w/ lots of morman history, Incredible day long tour by Doug Edgar & Sharolyn, in a police car !
10. Harbor Springs – LARGE Boats, Beautiful flower lined homes, waterfalls in front yards, great downtown, new friends Oat & Rose Whitney.
11. Bay Harbor (+ Charlevoix & Boyne by car) – Road Trip with Shannon & Scott, Agar visit #3, Wrenched Back, disappointed that we did not boat to Charlevoix !
12. Leland – Wonderful Fish Town, Rick’s Café with Chubby Mary, new friends Bill/Deborah from Gross Pointe & Loopers Tim/Alice from Boston.
13. Frankfort (+Manistee by car) – Ashley/Dave visit, the OMNI road trip, Beach Day, Rainbows, Dinghy ride to lunch.
14. Ludington – Most Beautiful Harbor, Park Sculptures, Badger Ferry, Beer Fest, Flower Lined streets, gettin to know Tag Team even better (Tom/Sue Ann from Texas).
15. Grand Haven – Musical Fountain, Waterfront Music Concerts, Best Beach, Trolley Cars, Freightor on Grand river during dinner, Best Bike Trials & Boardwalk, Coast Guard City.
16. South Haven – Harbor Village, Idler Restaurant Boat, Best Waterfront Bar (Captain Lou’s), Best Theatre Value, Best Nightlife Entertainment, new friends Ken/Chris Smyth.
17. St Joseph – Best under rated town, Best Restaurant RyeBelle’s, nice downtown street art.

Mike’s Top 5
1. Grand Haven – The Musical Fountain, Waterfront Concerts, Best Beach, Trolley Cars
2. South Haven
3. Ludington
4. Leland
5. Harbor Springs
(6. Beaver Island)

Jonell’s Top 5
1. Harbor Springs – Walk to Downtown, Best Boats, Beautiful Homes with waterfalls
2. Ludington
3. Mackinaw City / Mackinac Island
4. Leland
5. Beaver Island
(6. Grand Haven)

Fuel/ Distance Stats
* $2700 in fuel so far
– approximately 750 gallons @ $3.60/gal
– approximately 700 miles
– approximately 0.93 mpg / 11 GPH @ 10-11mph

Next Stop Chicago = Sept 5,6,7