Day 119-120. 2nd year. September 19-20. Lay day in Hammond and trained into Chicago

September 19 was a day were we spent finding the gremlin in our head (toilet) and getting the gear shift fixed. We were successful on both accounts and now those big projects out of the way. Yeah!!! Was a rainy day off and on so we did not do too much exciting.

September 20 was a much more exciting day. We got up early and called an Uber to take us to the South Shore train station. Managed to figure out what ticket to buy and how to buy tickets with fifteen minutes to spare. While waiting for the train we conversed with a very gregarious women from Texas. She and Bill had quite a give and take and Bill was given lots of advice about how he should be good to his wife by the time they were done! I got a smile out of that!

The train arrived and we headed into Chicago’s Millennium Station in the heart of the city. Bill and I wandered around the lock and riverfront

And of course we had to see the Navy Pier with its Ferris Wheel.

Then we headed back into the city to ooh and ahh over the great old buildings, some dating back to the 1890’s. We took lots of pictures.

The juxtaposition of new and old buildings throughout the city was amazing.

Also wandered through Millennium Park and Daly Park with its athletic fields, as well as the streets with many theaters and the symphony building complex.

At 1:00ish we sat down on the steps of the Art Institute with its famous lion statues to await the arrival of three of our friends from college. Maureen and Flo flew in to Chicago to stay with Jan while we were in the city. Was great fun to catch up with friends and enjoy a wonderful lunch.

After lunch, we had to have ice cream! Jan knew a Shake Shack down the street that had the best custard ever. Was a nice splurge that we all enjoyed.

After fortifying ourselves with custard, we headed back to the riverfront to take in the sights. Had some great laughs and danced to the music of the street performer and boat watched.

Unfortunately the dancing video would not load. Sorry! If you really want to see it text me and I will send it to you!

Was so glad that we could reconnect with good friends. Was hard to say good bye, but we had a train to catch so we could get back to Hammond Marina before dark, and Jan, Flo and Maureen had a bus ride to tackle to get home.

On the way to the train station we ran into Pat McLaughlin from MV Sunshine and we chatted with him briefly and then he decided to accompany us the rest of the way to the train station. We had to walk fast, but we made it in plenty of time, actually got on the correct train and got off at the right stop in Hammond. Was proud that we had negotiated the transit system successfully.

After a quick dinner and sifting through way too many pictures of Chicago we went to bed, tired but happy to enjoy our friends and add another adventure in our travels.

Reflections on the Bahamas

Reflections on the Bahamas Over the past 10 weeks, we have traveled through Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma Islands and enjoyed the hospitality of the Bahamian people. We have learned all about the islands, its unique geography - limestone, caves, blue holes and chalk cliffs; and colorful history-pirates and rum running, salt ponds and cotton plantations, boat building and wrecking/salvage. Traveling over 1300 miles through narrow cuts and wide bays to vast depths of ocean, we negotiated the islands and found safe harbors, calm coves for anchoring, bays filled with moorings and marinas large and small. This trip required us to pay close attention to the weather, the tides and currents as we traveled between and through the islands. The Bahamian people are warm and friendly, willing to give us rides, advice and directions, as well as some secret recipes!! We enjoyed hiking trails, walking the beaches, snorkeling the coral rocks and reefs, discovering ruins and ol...

June 4-5. Day 63-64. On to Cape May New Jersey. 53.4nm. Total 1534 miles.

Left Delaware City at 5:35am to be able to take advantage of the strong currents going with us while traversing Delaware River and Delaware Bay. The Delaware River goes south about 15 miles and flows into the Delaware Bay. As we travel south, New Jersey is to the east and Delaware is to our west. We are traveling just outside the shipping channel and are really moving at 10.9 knots. That is three knots faster than we normally travel, as the outgoing tides are pushing us along. Nice to have Mother Nature helps us save on fuel. The Delaware River is about 8 miles wide so there is plenty of room for the freighters and the pleasure boats. So far, we have not encountered any commercial traffic, but there is a large freighter behind us that will eventually pass us as they travel at 14 knots. The Delaware Bay proper varies from 23-29 miles wide and 26 miles long. There are five lighthouses on the Delaware marking the shipping channel. We went by Ship J...

Day 98. 2nd year. August 27. On to Manistee. Miles 25 Total miles. 3910.

We weighed anchor on a sunny 50 degree morning. So we put on our sweatshirts and drove from below as we left Frankfort. Going through Frankfort’s channel and breakwater we encountered a few intrepid fisherman and further along as we cleared the breakwater there must have been over a hundred fishing boats. Almost like playing bumper cars, but with boats. Had to negotiate a path between them as the fishing boats were all trolling fishing lines behind them. We were still seeing fishermen 4 miles south of Frankfort. These guys sure take their fishing tournaments seriously! The shoreline that we pass heading south are still sand dunes bluffs some as tall as 200 feet. As we travel, we pass the small town of Arcadia and Portage Lake, each situated on an inland lake which is connected to Lake Michigan by a dredged channel. Interesting to note that the dredged channels were originally small rivers connecting the inland lakes to Lake Michigan. As we passe...

Crustacean Travels

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