Luddington, MI to Seneca, IL

Bob with visitors Mike and Louie Shaefer

Chicago's Marina City Condos


Chicago's Sculpture "The Bean"

Grand Island Light House

Coal Fired Car Ferry the "SS Badger"

Special Leland drink the "Chubby Mary"

After four days in Ludington, we finally got a good day for traveling on Lake Michigan. Despite the attractions of Ludington (going to the House of Flavors in the evening for ice cream, watching the SS Badger come into the harbor every night, and seeing all the successful fishermen with their catches), we were glad to be underway again. On Aug. 19, we spent the night in Grand Haven, MI, a nice harbor town which had an enjoyable sound and light show in the evening. Aug. 20 we were in St. Joseph, MI. All of the marinas on the east coast of Lake Michigan where we stayed (and a number of additional ones) have been municipal ones, funded in part by the state of Michigan and were inexpensive and well-run.
On Aug. 21 we crossed Lake Michigan to Chicago, 54 miles of battling the waves. It was such a relief to come into Burnham Park Marina, one of several city-owned marinas along the lakeshore. Behind us was Soldier Field, where the Chicago Bears play. There was a game in the evening, and people, cars, and busses were everywhere. Glory Be II, another Looper boat, pulled in about 7:30 PM. They had a worse time than we did crossing the lake and were beat.
Chicago has a free trolley in summertime to accommodate visitors and on Friday, Aug. 22, we took advantage of it, going from Soldier Field toward downtown Chicago in the morning. We visited the tourist information center and shopped for groceries. The marina was not convenient to stores and attractions. In the evening, when we, along with Barb and Marty from Glory Be II, went in search of Chicago deep dish pizza, we traveled by city bus (free trolleys don’t run after 6 PM) to Pizanos, a restaurant well-known for pizza. We enjoyed our meal, but weren’t really impressed by their pizza.
Barb, Marty, Bob and I went on a guided cruise of the lakeshore and Chicago River through downtown on Saturday. We wanted to see the sights and, in addition, figure out the route to leave Chicago in the morning via the Chicago River. We ate lunch at Giordano’s, ordering sandwiches or spaghetti. The deep dish pizza there looked genuinely deep dish, as we watched it being served at other tables. Oh, well........ Later, Bob and I walked through the parks lining the lakeshore and looked at the sculptures, fountains, and flowers.
Sunday morning at 7 AM, we hit the waterways again, along with Glory Be II. First we went through downtown Chicago’s canyons of tall buildings, and under two or three dozen bridges. Then came big scrap yards, concrete plants, petroleum and chemical tanks. In many places, big barges were tied along the waterway, sometimes occupying almost half the channel. Thankfully few of the barges were moving, since it was Sunday.
When we arrived in Joliet, IL, we tied up at the city dock, joining Lil’ David and Gilraker, who were spending their second night there. Someone suggested walking to Harrah’s Casino, across the bridge on the opposite shore, for the buffet dinner, which worked out well.
Four Looper boats started out from Joliet on Monday, Aug. 25, passing under a few bridges and through two locks. At the first lock, we had to wait a short time for them to re-fill the lock with water, as they had just locked another vessel through going downstream. In the Illinois Waterway, southbound, all of our locking will be downward. At the second lock, a tow (multiple barges pushed by one tug) was locking through, half of the tow at a time, since it was ten barges and therefore, too large for the lock. We waited for about an hour for this to be completed and we’ve been told to expect long waits at all locks from now on. Commercial traffic always has priority over pleasure boats. Locks are 110 ft. wide by 600 ft. long, much larger than those we encountered in Canada. As we traveled, the countryside became more rural than it was the previous day, although there were still industrial sites. In mid-afternoon, all four of us stopped at Spring Brook Marina near Seneca, IL. Lois (on Lil’ David) and Judy (on Gilraker) decided to cook for everyone - grilled salmon, ham and green beans, mac and cheese, salads, and for dessert, the best blueberry cobbler ever. We had a great evening.
The other three boats continued their trip the next morning. We remained here and will rent a car and drive home for a few days, leaving Going There in this marina till we come back in mid-September. We won’t add to our blog until then.

Upper Eastern Half of Lake Michaigan 8/12 to 8/17

8/12 We left Mackinac Island and headed south under the Mackinac Bridge. We have seen it on the skyline for the last 20 miles and when you are under it you can understand why. We traveled 56 miles to Charlevoix, MI where we stayed the night. The town dock were brand new and the park around it was beautiful. We even had a live concert in the park amphitheater from several local groups.
8/13 Our next stop was in Leland, Mi. The marina was adjacent to Fish Town, a restored fishing village. Tourist filled the available parking spaces for at least a block in all directions around the many attractions and shops and resturants. Mike and Louie Shaefer, came to visit us. Mike was Bob's boss in Schaefferstown for several years and now lives in Michigan.
8/14 Frankfort, Mi. was our next stop. The marina is off the lake on a small lake as are many of the places we stopped. We have been staying in Municipal Marinas and most are very nice with great facilities and the price is less than a dollar per foot per day with electric and water included. Grant money makes it posible for the towns to do this and the towns get the boats to stop and this means revenue for them. Most are very close to the shopping areas and the town merchants reap the revenue too.
8/15-8/17 When we arrived on Friday we got the last available slip in the marina. Many of the slips were occupied by fishing boats, as the salmon fishing in Lake Michigan has taken off in the last two weeks. Mornings & evenings are cool now and that's when the catching is the best. Because the winds were in the 15 knot range and from the west and the waves were high, we stayed 3 days. There are 4 other looper boats here waiting for the winds to subside or change to the east. We will check the weather in the morning, as of 10:00 pm it looks like we may stay one more day.

Drummond Island to Mackinac Island, MI

Ferries coming into the harbor

Plenty of traffic without cars

We got an early start and it was a beautiful day on the water. Light wind and sunny, but cool. Made good time and got to the island about 12:15 so we had all afternoon to explore. We walked to Fort Macinac and then we toured the town and shops. We went back to the boat for supper and just rested for a while. Then back out for an other tour of the town with less people around after most took the ferries back to the main land. The streets are very busy even though there are no cars allowed on the island. Horse drawn vehicles of all kinds and bikes of all sizes zipping around. You have to really watch out when you change directions.

08/05/08 to 08/10/08 We are back in the USA

The Admiral at the Helm

Three float planes being checked in by Customs Officers in Gore Bay, ON

8/05/08 Little Current, ON We spent a second day in Little Current, the largest town (approx. 1600 people) on Manatoulin Island in the North Channel of the Georgian Bay. It is the largest freshwater island in the world, 100 miles long and 2 to 40 miles wide. Within its boundaries are several lakes.
8/06/08 Gore Bay, ON You’ve all noticed that we live by the weather. All cruising boaters talk about it, listen to the weather reports, and consult each other constantly. It would be foolish, occasionally fatal, to disregard weather information. Today looked good, but breezy. By 11 AM it became outright windy and we battled beam seas as we entered Gore Bay. One of our cruising friends called it "lumpy water". The marina at Gore Bay was our reward at the end of our trip: new docks, plenty of room, clear water. The marine store had plenty of boat stuff (Bob’s standards are pretty tough here). As we walked to town, we saw a doe and two fawns calmly eating drop apples in someone’s yard, not disturbed at all by people walking by. Once in town, we walked through the business district (all one and a half blocks) and made a few purchases. Back at the marina, three new seaplanes coming from the U.S. landed and were checked out by Canadian customs officials, as required, before delivery to customers. Gore Bay is also on Manatoulin Island, just 25 miles north of the U.S. border.
8/07/08 and 8/08/08 Meldrum Bay, ON For many boaters, this is a stop on the way back to the U.S. Although not a fancy marina, it is sheltered from the wind and waves. There were half a dozen cruisers here, most of whom stayed an extra day because winds were 15-20 knots on Friday, much too strong for boats whose top speed is 7-10 knots. Friday we organized a potluck dinner, and everyone enjoyed the change.
8/09/08 Drummond Island, MI Everyone who had been holed up in Meldrum Bay got an early start westward this morning. The water stayed calm until we turned south to go to Drummond Island, Michigan, then once again the winds picked up and made it tough going. As we approached the U.S. customs dock at Drummond Island, it began to rain. Going through customs was a breeze: we filled out some paperwork, paid $27.50 for a re-entry sticker, and that was it.
8/10/08 Drummond Island, MI Spent a second day here because it was too nasty to go further.

updates from 7/17 to 8/4/08

Strawberry Island Lighthouse
Lois and a big Red Granite Rock

Herberts fishing boat

Herbert's Fisheries Fish & Chips

Someone's "Cottage"

Pointe Au Baril Lighthouse

Henry's Fish Restaurant

Henry's is built on the rocks

Henry's customers come by air and water

Bottom of Big Chute

Top of Big Chute

Crossing the road at Big Chute

Entering the Big Chute Railway

The Big Chute

Kirkfield Lift Lock

Going down at Kirkfield

Burleigh Falls

Burleigh Falls

Peterborough Lift Lock

Top of Peterborough Lift Lock

Looking in under the lock pan

Moon River, Grace Full and Going There waiting to lock through

Park in Peterborough

Park in Peterborough

Park in Peterborough

8/04/08 Little Current, ON Again we are provisioning for several days cruising, since Little Current has two grocery stores, a hardware store, and a department store (much like Good’s in Schaefferstown, for those of you who are familiar with it).
8/02/08 Killarney, ON Got an early start again today. It was cloudy with a light wind and we crossed at least 20 miles of open water first thing. We had a great day of cruising. The land has changed again and we are starting to see mountains in the distance. We are told that the white on them is silica, and it is being mined near the next town. Killarney is a small town which caters to boaters with several small marinas, and a number of eating places. The best-known place is Herbert’s Fisheries, which serves fresh-caught walleye (called pickerel here) and chips out of an old school bus painted red and white and parked near their wharf and market. The town is located on a channel which connects two bays. Boats and float planes pass through constantly, with the planes taking off at the end of the channel. The marina manager told us that their business only started around 2 - 3 weeks ago, since summer in Canada has been cooler and rainier than usual. He plans to keep the inn affiliated with the marina open all year this year for fishermen, hunters, and snowmobilers.
8/01/08 An early start and a favorable wind were great ways to start the day. We continued our course through the rocks. Frequently today we heard other boaters on the VHF radio broadcasting warnings (securite’s to you boaters) when they were about to enter narrow channels, particularly when they were large trawlers traveling in groups of 4 or 5. We spent the night anchored in a cove in the Bustard Islands.
7/31/08 We zigzaged our way through another 43 miles of rock islands in the Georgian Bay today, seeing cottages at almost every turn, knowing that the owners usually come in by boat, since there is frequently no access by road. Because the sun was shining and the day was going well, we continued to travel late in the afternoon. Big mistake. About 4 PM, we came out into open water and suddenly the wind increased and waves began to hit us on the side, the worst way to get hit when boating. Bob managed to keep us on course and get back into a sheltered cove, where we anchored for the night.
7/30/08 This morning we traveled only a short distance (but it took us 3 hours at 7 MPH) to Henry’s Fish Restaurant, a unique dining place/marina/airport. We were assigned one of the 30 spaces in the marina reserved for people staying overnight. By early afternoon all were filled. There were empty spaces, but those were for dinner patrons, who boat in from their cottages. For the people who come from more distant places, there are charter float plane services. The restaurant is on a big rock island, not accessible by car. All food and supplies are brought in by boat for the 5 months of the year that Henry’s is open.
7/29/08 The Big Chute marine railway was awesome. Imagine a giant travel lift that can pick up 2 trawlers in the 40 foot range at the same time mounted on a cable driven railroad car. You drive into the unit and two slings come up to hold the boat. The one at the bow stabilizes the boat without lifting it. The other holds the stern off the deck so that the running gear is not damaged. If they have smaller boats they can load them 2 wide. Pontoon boats just sit on the deck with their engines lifted up. The boats ride almost level because there are 2 sets of tracks at different levels. There is one other such railway for boats in South America. What a thrill to experience this ride. After a short trip to Port Severn, where we topped off our fuel tanks ($1.89 per liter this time), we exited the final lock of the Trent-Severn Waterway. Our grand total of locks to date is 116. No more locks for a few weeks. We’re now in the waters of the Georgian Bay, regarded by Americans as part of Lake Huron. Many Canadians, however, see it as a separate entity and there was an effort at one time to have it designated as Great Lake #6. As we started navigating the small craft channel through some of the 30,000 islands on the eastern side of the bay, we wound through narrow passages strewn liberally with giant boulders, many of them actually named islands. We had to be very cautious and follow the channel shown on our nautical charts. We docked for the night in Frying Pan Bay on Beausoleil Island, part of the Georgian Bay Island National Park. About 20 boats were at anchor or tied up at the two docks available. One Canadian jokingly told us ‘too many of you people (Americans) know about this place; otherwise there’d be more room for us (Canadians)’. We get some good-natured teasing from Canadians every so often, but we all see that flurry of traffic in winter from Canada to Florida, don’t we?
7/28/08 On our trip from Orillia to Big Chute marine railway, the landscape changed from what we had become accustomed to. Big granite boulders are taking over, although it hasn’t stopped the clusters of cottages on the shores-they’re simply built atop the boulders! Cottages abound in this area, many of them bigger and more elaborate than we’ve seen before. Narrow canals alternate with small lakes. When we, along with Grace Full, arrived at the dock at the marine railway, we found Moon River already there. All of us stayed overnight, planning to descend on the railway in the morning.
7/26/08 We caught up on the laundry and explored the town of Orillia. They had a Street Fair and Farmers Market on the weekend and we enjoyed walking around touring the town. We are looking at the charts and studying the books for the next part of our journey.
7/25/08 Bob repaired the water pump and found all the pieces from the broken fin on the impeller. Yes He got down aside of the engine and he got back out without help. Becky knows how tight the spot is, she was in there the last time it was rebuilt. We crossed the corner of Lake Simcoe and stayed in a marina in Orillia, On. The engine is fine now. We will take a day or two off. It’s a city of 30,000, very attractive, very friendly to boaters.
7/24/08 We stopped at Sunset Marina near Bolsover, ON. We have been having some engine overheating problems so will try to rebuild the raw water pump in the morning when it is cool in the engine room. We came through an other hydraulic lift lock today, but this time we were going down. Lois was just a few feet from the front of the lock and was taking pictures as we came down. What a thrill.
7/23/08 Bobcaygeon, ON In Bobcaygeon, it appears that the main spectator sport is watching boaters transit the lock! There were plenty of people beside the lock to observe as we came in and tied up, which we did without a problem. The houseboat which came in behind us was a different story: there were several people on it, but no one had a plan for tying to the lock wall and the boat went sideways. The lockmaster instructed them what to do and they finally straightened themselves out.
7/22/08 Young’s Point, ON This morning we had a very different lock experience at the Peterborough Lift Lock, one of a handful of this type in the world. Boaters drive their boats into a giant pan filled with water (Warning: this is not a scientific explanation!). The pan is lifted 65 ft. to the next level in just a couple minutes. As one pan is lifted, a second pan containing one foot more of water comes downward. Hydraulic cylinders filled with water under each pan are connected by piping and valves control the speed of travel. The ride was very smooth and the lockmaster assured us that it has been in operation 103 years and is tested daily.
7/21/08 Peterborough, ON We crossed Rice Lake today and saw dozens of vacation cottages along the shore, most with a small boat dock. This is the height of vacation season, so there are lots of boats zipping around. When we see someone fishing, we try to slow down, so that our wake doesn’t rock them too much. Pontoon boats and houseboats seem to be quite popular and we’ve noticed that quite a number of houseboats are rental units. Those bear watching, as you don’t know if there’s an experienced operator at the helm, or someone who just completed his 10 minutes of instruction at the rental agency.
7/20/08 Hastings, ON It rained all day, a steady drizzle, with an occasional downpour. By the time we went through 6 locks, we were looking for any reason to stop for the day, as were other Loopers we found. Any time there are 2 or more Looper boats, there’s an impromptu get-together, and the one tonight included the crews of Grace Full, Moon River, Etcetera, and us. Grace Full, a new acquaintance, hosted. They also started from Baltimore a couple weeks after we did.
7/19/08 Campbellford, ON Campbellford has a municipal park where boaters can tie up overnight for a fee (includes electric). It was a pleasant stop and residents who were out walking stopped and talked to us. Bob found a Tim Horton’s (Canadian chain of coffee shops), which he is becoming a fan of. Other Loopers had passed the word that this would be the place to buy diesel fuel cheap! The price was $1.39 a liter, and we got 340 liters (about 76 gal.). We like to top off our fuel tanks every 2-3 weeks. Our 2 tanks hold a total of 220 gallons.
7/18/08 Frankford, ON Tonight there are 4 Looper boats tied up at the wall after the Frankford lock. We have no hookups to electricity or water, but there is no fee, since we have season passes for locking and docking.
7/17/08 Trenton, ON Getting to Trenton was a short trip-just 2 hours. It is the starting point for the 240 mile Trent Severn Waterway, so we got groceries and some boat parts and think we are prepared for the next leg of this trip.