Southern Lake Michigan & Chicago

After a weekend in Frankfort we were ready to get moving again. By Monday the lake had calmed down enough to travel but not cross so we headed further down the Michigan side to Ludington. Ludington is another nice small town worth a day or two's visit. Unfortunately the weather and lake would keep us here 2 days. We did get a car for a day and get supplies and groceries. One interesting factoid is that Ludington is home to the last coal fired steam ship in the US. It crosses the lake twice a day as a car ferry.

The forecast was for good weather and calming seas so we decided this was our best chance to get across the lake. We left in lumpy seas but things really calmed down to less than a foot by mid lake and we were in Sheboygan, WI. by early afternoon. We only stayed 1 night here before moving down to Racine for the weekend. Reef Point marina was a huge 900 slip marina with a pool and hot tubs and a very nice stop. Reef Point is also home port to our sister ship Mist and friends Bobbi & Bill who completed their loop the week prior. Note the Gold burgee over Bill's shoulder in the pic bellow. It denotes someone who has completed the loop and we'll be getting ours in just a few weeks!

Monday was forecast to be a calm day with no clouds for our run down to Chicago...they were half right.

See Chicago?

How about now??

Finally!!

We were planning to spend 3 nights in Chicago and really enjoy the town but Mother Nature had other plans again. Winds began picking up last night and if we didn't get out this morning it was going to be Saturday before the lake would be calm enough for us to make the short run to the Chicago River. Yesterday we spent the morning taking down everything on top of the boat so we could clear a 17' bridge and go through downtown. If we couldn't get short enough we were going to have to take a different route that bypasses downtown...not nearly as cool a ride. After getting that done we had a Ferris Bueller day with our friends Moni & Rick from Moni Jean. We covered a bunch of town in a very short time and had a blast! All too soon it was time to get back with an early departure planned for the next morning.

We were out of the marina and heading toward the Chicago Harbor Lock before 0800 and it was a good thing. The winds had picked up sooner than forecast (do I sound like a broken record?) and waves were already crashing over the breakwater that protects Navy Pier and the harbor. Once through the lock we were back in the river systems and will be for the next few months.

It was really cool being able to pass right through town and definitely worth the work to lay everything down. After a few miles we left the skyscrapers for a more industrial setting but it is still interesting. Not too much further brought us to the 17' bridge and I was praying we had measured correctly.

And yes, I ducked....

One other bit of excitement was in a canal section that is very busy with barge traffic. We had to mill about very smartly while waiting for an opening to get through.

Oh...and there was the place where they electrify the river to keep the "invasive species" out of Lake Michigan....pssssssst...it's too late!

After that it was a pretty easy ride down to Joliet where we're enjoying a free wall to help recover from the cost of Chicago marinas!

Well. it's all down hill (river) from here and we should be back at Green Turtle Bay in just a couple of weeks. Hard to believe it's been almost a year since we've started this adventure!! We plan to be back in Cincinnati for Oktoberfest weekend before starting off again for points south and warmer winter climes.