And that's the truth... We had a 15 MPH North wind that just about blew us out of Lake Michigan into the calm waters of the Calumet Canal but we made it. Our love hate affair with Lake Michigan is now over, with very mixed emotions. The scenery was some of the best on the trip, the towns also were wonderful. Lots of action in these west Michigan beach towns, very few closed shops, unlike other places we've been....just thriving tourist communities. But....as you've heard from me (many times), the Lake is not always on her best behavior. Enough said....
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| Sunrise on Lake Macatawa...Holland, Michigan Holland's waterfront mansions  |
BIG RED....Holland Lighthouse
Holland State Park Beach
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Our plan when we left Holland was to get as far south as we could that day. As luck would have it the winds picked up about three hours into the trip and the rollers building from the N.W. and the 15 mph winds from the N.E. took us on another joy ride and after travelling ten hours in increasingly unsettled conditions we finally found a marina with an available slip in Michigan City, Indiana. No anchorages for a boat our size south of Holland
We stayed two nights in Michigan City, waiting for the wind to die down. VERY nice marina right next to the beach, with an outlet mall nearby, a great Saturday Farmers Market, but no grocery store.
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Michigan City Marina |
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| Unusual (to me) variegated Rose Bushes .. |
We toured the Barker Mansion built in the 1800's by John Barker whose fortune was estimated at fifty to sixty million in 1910, from....building rail cars. Very ornate place. I managed to get two pictures of the main receiving room before the docent said "sorry no pictures"!
We left Michigan City Saturday for Hammond, Ind., six miles from downtown Chicago. It is a 918 slip marina on Lake Michigan with a huge casino on a barge in the harbor, The Horseshoe.
When in Rome one must visit the casino so we choked our way through all of the smoke in the place and took note of the unsmiling people in front of slot machines and dealers, and I thought not my idea of a way to spend a day by any means but... different strokes. I lost a dollar on a slot machine and we decided to head back to the boat before getting tempted to lose another one.
Sunday morning we entered the Calumet Sag. The Cal Sag is the industrial waterway through Chicago, with lots of barge activity. It is totally industrial with yards for loading scrap metal, mulch, coal, salt, stone, oil, chemicals, you name it. Trains whiz by on the shorelines and barges are not a single being towed but from 6 to so far 15 rafted together and being 'pushed' up and down the waterway from the Gulf to Chicago. We were told that Chicago is the rail hub of the U.S.
We passed through the electric fence the Corp of Engineers has installed to keep the Asian Carp out of the Great Lakes. We turned off all electronics 'just in case'. It was about a five minute trek with a big industrial plant at the south end of it.
We stayed at the wall at the LockPort Lock Sunday night with Bob & Judy on Sanderling and traveled with them all day yesterday. We were the lead boat since we were faster and when we got to the second lock it was my job as mate to call and let the lock know we were arriving and would need a lockage. Ok, NO PROBLEMO....ha, ha... I called the lock on the cell and they're 'okey dokey', we'll have 'er ready when you get here. Well we got there, idled around for 45 minutes, only to finally find out I had called the wrong lock! OY VEY...these are some very scary moments! Sanderling took it graciously...but Gary has definitely got me on probation.
Calumet Canal slideshow we're back to clicking the i to see the captions...
Last night, after a long hot day, we arrived at the free wall with electricity (music to our ears) in Ottawa, Ill. We've traveled about 110 miles on this waterway. Barges are everywhere. We've passed a 2x3, a 3x4 and the biggest a 3x5. In layman's terms this describes the number of barges tied together with one push boat. The 3x5 was something .....15 barges loaded coming at you in a big lump is nothing to fool with.
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| Just a small portion of this very large marina with the Horseshoe casino in the background |
When in Rome one must visit the casino so we choked our way through all of the smoke in the place and took note of the unsmiling people in front of slot machines and dealers, and I thought not my idea of a way to spend a day by any means but... different strokes. I lost a dollar on a slot machine and we decided to head back to the boat before getting tempted to lose another one.
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| The Casino Barge resting on steel mooring pilings and pictures from inside |
Sunday morning we entered the Calumet Sag. The Cal Sag is the industrial waterway through Chicago, with lots of barge activity. It is totally industrial with yards for loading scrap metal, mulch, coal, salt, stone, oil, chemicals, you name it. Trains whiz by on the shorelines and barges are not a single being towed but from 6 to so far 15 rafted together and being 'pushed' up and down the waterway from the Gulf to Chicago. We were told that Chicago is the rail hub of the U.S.
We passed through the electric fence the Corp of Engineers has installed to keep the Asian Carp out of the Great Lakes. We turned off all electronics 'just in case'. It was about a five minute trek with a big industrial plant at the south end of it.
We stayed at the wall at the LockPort Lock Sunday night with Bob & Judy on Sanderling and traveled with them all day yesterday. We were the lead boat since we were faster and when we got to the second lock it was my job as mate to call and let the lock know we were arriving and would need a lockage. Ok, NO PROBLEMO....ha, ha... I called the lock on the cell and they're 'okey dokey', we'll have 'er ready when you get here. Well we got there, idled around for 45 minutes, only to finally find out I had called the wrong lock! OY VEY...these are some very scary moments! Sanderling took it graciously...but Gary has definitely got me on probation.
Calumet Canal slideshow we're back to clicking the i to see the captions...
Last night, after a long hot day, we arrived at the free wall with electricity (music to our ears) in Ottawa, Ill. We've traveled about 110 miles on this waterway. Barges are everywhere. We've passed a 2x3, a 3x4 and the biggest a 3x5. In layman's terms this describes the number of barges tied together with one push boat. The 3x5 was something .....15 barges loaded coming at you in a big lump is nothing to fool with.
But our guide books say communication is the key.
When you see a barge coming you hail the captain and ask which side he'd like you to pass on. Then he'll say "on the one" (Port to Port) or "on the two" (starboard to starboard). Those phrases go back to the old days before VHF radios when they would blow one whistle for a Port pass and two whistles for a Starboard pass.
We decided we'd follow Bob and Judy and stay hooked up to power on the free dock today. The temperature did reach 97 degrees! Tomorrow we are down-bound again. There don't appear to be any good anchorages along the Illinois so we will probably be marina rats for the next week.
On a final note...the Asian Carp problem is real. Last night we saw them jumping out of the water under the bridge near our boat when another boat went through. Chuck from 'Luv n Life' who is quite a bit further south had a carp land on his deck....splat like a bug on a windshield!
On a final note...the Asian Carp problem is real. Last night we saw them jumping out of the water under the bridge near our boat when another boat went through. Chuck from 'Luv n Life' who is quite a bit further south had a carp land on his deck....splat like a bug on a windshield!
And so it goes......
Hey I just wanted to let you guys know, seeing as how you're in the right place, that those Asian carp are good to eat, not like the ones we're used to. If one gets on your boat just slice off a couple of steaks.
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