Week 13: August 29-September 4

Weather still has us waiting in St. Joseph.  The wind has been consistently high with waves we didn’t want to tackle in addition to the small craft warnings.  We thought there may be a window later Thursday morning and we hoped we could leave to get to Michigan City.  Our target was to get to Hammond, IN by Saturday to meet up with Bahama Voyager and begin our journey down the rivers.  One of the boats, Breakway II, a fast 50’ Prestige, left the marina since he felt it would be manageable.  He returned within the hour and stated that the wind and waves were too much for him and that it would be nearly impossible for us and Paddy Wagon, our traveling buddies.  We looked again on Friday but same weather.  There was a sailboat race scheduled for the weekend and we were going to need to leave the marina so we both looked for the best window of time to leave on Saturday and decided to skip Michigan City and cut directly across the lake to reach Hammond, IN.  It would shorten our trip a bit but would also mean that we would be traveling further off-shore.  We felt it would be worth it since it’s been a week since we were able to make any progress.

St. Joseph is a nice town but not for a week. The marina is a bit far from town so that makes everything more difficult. I took advantage of the down time to give Kodey a haircut and bath – his first boat bath! The rest of the time was primarily reading, doing laundry, etc.

Paddy Wagon had rented a car since they had a few appointments to keep before our trip down the rivers (they are originally from the Chicago area).  Since they didn’t need to return the car until Friday afternoon, the four of us went to visit a few local wineries.  The first one was Dablon Vineyards and we did a tasting.  The atmosphere was nice and the wine was good.  The next was Lemon Creek and once again we did a tasting.  It was before lunch so we figured that this was the best way to sample their goods.  After these two tastings, we went back to St. Joseph to have lunch at Silver Beach Pizza.  It is a well known establishment in St. Joseph located on the Amtrak line and we were told that it was a “must” to visit.  Once again, we were not steered wrong and had good pizza for lunch.  The pizza was larger than expected so it also became dinner.

We finally left St. Joseph on Saturday morning to cut across the bottom of Lake Michigan to get to Hammond.  The water was not the best but we have traveled in worse.  We finally reached Hammond and reconnected with Bahama Voyager.  This marina is massive with over 800 slips so there was no problem with reservations.  However, we made them earlier in the month since we were concerned about the holiday weekend but there were still plenty of open slips.  A few of the boats we traveled with earlier on the journey were there – Done Diggin and TxAu.  While the boats were there, the couples weren’t.  Done Diggin decided to go home for a visit and wait for the locks to open later In September.  TxAu crossed his wake – the accomplishment of completing the loop – since they started from Chicago in early September 2018.  However, they will now be taking the boat to their new home in Cape Coral, FL and are also waiting for the locks to open later this month.  They wanted a few weeks home to visit friends and family.  We anticipate seeing both of them again later on.  One thing about this journey is that you continually leap frog and travel with some of the same boats from before and sometimes continue to travel with those you also meet along the way.  We have traveled with Bahama Voyager off and on since June and consistently with Paddy Wagon since we met them in Petoskey the middle of August. 

  We continued to enjoy some live music. While not as extensive as the blues festival in Port Sanilac, Hammond sponsored a free Motown concert with Sheryl Youngblood and the Say Yes band. It was great to hear some of the old Motown hits.

The original plan of staying in Hammond changed – we would be leaving on Sunday to head to Chicago and the locks. Originally the Marseilles Lock and Starved Rock Lock were to be closed to pleasure craft (known as PCs) from 6:00am to 6:00pm until September 10^th or 12^th (the date kept changing).  However, they decided to open the window for the Labor Day weekend and we definitely decided to take advantage of the opportunity.  We figured we could get through the Chicago Harbor and Lockport locks on Sunday and stay on the Joliet wall that evening.  That meant we needed to go through two other locks (Brandon Road and Dresden) before reaching the two locks that were to be closed.  Even a long day would be worth it but we weren’t sure whether we would get through because barges are still the priority or where we would be able to stay since there weren’t many possibilities but we felt it was still worth a try.

We were fortunate that we were able to get through Chicago and Lockport on Sunday and space was available on the Joliet wall. Monday was another good day – we got through all four locks on Monday with very little wait time and I found a small yacht club that would be able to accommodate the three of us for the evening. 

We were optimistic so we had already booked slips in another marina in Peoria Heights for Tuesday & Wednesday for down time.  While the marina, Illinois Valley Yacht Club aka The Ivy Club, was a number of miles from town, it had a restaurant on site and also a pool.  There was a local mechanic nearby who also came to the marina to complete some maintenance on all three boats.  Another issue we had was the propane tanks that supply my stove and run the refrigerator when there is no electric. The problem started in St. Joseph but no one there was able to fix it. Here, one member recommended a plumber he knew and while he was able to fix the stove, there are still problems with the refrigerator. You can hear that it is trying to turn on but since it hasn’t been used much in the past number of years, there is probably some blockage in the lines. I’m happy that it works on electric and will depend on the Yeti to keep food cold when not connected. In all, while not a typical Labor Day Weekend, it was good and much was accomplished.  

Next week we will continue down the Illinois River and then enter the Mississippi River.  According to what we have read, the Mississippi River will be the most unpleasant part of our journey.

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