Kim’s Korner:
We had a 20-mile journey between Grafton and Alton. A series of beautiful limestone bluffs curve along the river with interesting caves and overhangs. I caught a glimpse of the Piasa Bird, a huge pictograph on one of the cliff faces which represents the legendary “bird that devours men”. On the other side of the Mississippi was “Our Lady of the Rivers”, a huge statue of the Virgin Mary. She gets her name from the fact that three rivers - the Illinois, Missouri, and Mississippi all meet within a few miles of each other.
We got settled in the very nice Alton Marina. Rae and I took off to check out a few stores in town and found some interesting history along the way. Alton is home to the last of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in their famous race for the Illinois Senate in 1858.
We ate at several restaurants while there, two of which are worth mentioning. Fast Eddie’s Bon-Air had a great, fun, bar atmosphere with live music. They offered a limited menu but what they had was very inexpensive and good – and I’m talking $2 hamburgers and $1 fries. The building itself was built by Anheuser-Busch in 1921 to serve as a watering hole on the Mississippi and was called Bon-Air. However, it was sold ten years later as a result of changes in the law that prohibited breweries from owning bars. Fifty years later, Eddie Sholar purchased and expanded the Bon-Air, which was renamed to Fast Eddie’s Bon-Air. Today, the bar is the number one volume bar for Anheuser-Busch in the Midwest.
The second restaurant worth mentioning was Gentelin’s On Broadway which was an upscale-casual eatery and was delicious! We were joined by Sandy and John, Seascape, whom we had not seen in quite a while – it was really nice to catch up with them.
Overtime has a new shine to her! David waxed and shined her and she is looking good!
We visited the National Great Rivers Museum located at the Melvin Price Lock and Dam. It was a great little find! Lots of interesting facts about the bluffs, birds, dams, tows, and barges. We took a tour of the lock and got to see a tow lock through. David also drove a tow with barges through St. Louis on a simulator they had! He didn’t hit any bridges – yay!
Since there is no docking available in St. Louis, several loopers had hoped to go into St. Louis from Alton. Unfortunately, the verdict on the acquittal of former St Louis police officer Jason Stockley came down and rioting broke out in St. Louis. We were advised not to go into St. Louis. A few did anyway since they had U2 concert tickets only to find out the concert had been canceled and the St. Louis arch was closed.
Over the next few days, more loopers arrived. The night before we departed, we had a huge dock party with more loopers together than we’d seen since the Joe Wheeler rendezvous last October.
Did I mention it’s HOT? I mean hotter than it’s been during the last year! Who would have guessed that in mid-September we would be experiencing 90+ degree weather - the hottest days of the entire last year in Illinois? Crazy!
Kim’s Korner:
The day after Labor Day (Sept 5th), we started our 333 miles, 5 locks, 7-day journey down the Illinois River via the Calumet and Chicago Rivers. We are back into the river system which means barges and tows! We saw more in this one week than we’ve previously seen the entire trip. We were held up several times while the tows would move a barge from one spot to another. In one instance, we had just passed one barge, was passing another, had another really big one headed our way and the one in front of us took a sharp 90 degree turn into what looked like the river bank. We thought he was just getting out of the way for the others when we finally realized he was actually pushing the barge into a small industrial channel. Did I mention he wouldn’t answer us on the radio? It was a bit stressful. Another day, we saw a tow that was pushing 15 barges run aground in front of us. After watching him try to bulldoze his way through, he had us go around him. We heard over the radio that he finally got through only to run aground again. I guess that’s one way to dredge the river.
Our first stop was the town wall in Joliet where 16 Looper boats tied up for the night. We enjoyed docktails with everyone, caught up with old friends and met new friends. The following morning, five boats traveled from there to Heritage Harbor Marina in Ottawa where we had the best dinner at their onsite restaurant. Six Looper boats left bright and early the next day. Four of us planned on staying at an anchorage. We were a little concerned as the water level looked really down from normal but after calling a lock master, he assured us the water was within 1/10” of normal. The first boat began his approach to the anchorage and ran aground. And he was stuck – no getting out of it. Another boat tried to pull him out and didn’t have enough power. So the most powerful boat (Islandia) of the six tried and was eventually able to pull him out. See the video – I’ve seen lots of boats that have gone aground but this was the first time I’d ever seen one pulled out – kind of scary. Needless to say, we ditched that anchorage and headed to the nearest marina which ended up being the Illinois Valley Yacht Club in Peoria. We stayed there a couple nights and enjoyed some very good food and company at their onsite restaurant.
The LaGrange Lock has been closed to traffic for several months now except for nights and Sundays. We were trying to reach this lock for a Sunday passage. We stayed overnight tied to a barge in Beardstown which was about eight miles from the lock. Yes – we had to actually pay to tie to this barge – no power or water, just a tie. Which at this point, we were glad for as we were a little too nervous about anchoring since we didn’t trust any of the depths after our friend ran aground. The first thing the following morning, eight Looper boats left the barge and headed for the LaGrange lock where we had to wait less than 30 minutes before we were able to lock through – Yahoo!
We had 80 miles left on the Illinois River. At this point, we saw much fewer barges and the river was really beautiful! We enjoyed viewing many birds - bald eagles, white pelicans, snow geese, white egrets, blue heron and lots of seagulls. The Illinois River is known for its Asian Carp. These fish jump out of the water like crazy as you go by. I saw a small fishing boat go by close to shore and hundreds of these fish were jumping all over the place in his wake - really weird to see.
We stayed overnight at the Illinois Riverdock Restaurant in Hardin with three other Looper boats. We enjoyed a really nice dinner at the restaurant with everyone and turned in early – we were exhausted! The next day, we slowly made our way to Grafton Harbor Marina enjoying the beautiful fall weather. We saw no barges – it was nice to be able to just relax and enjoy the ride! Grafton is the meeting point of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. When we leave Grafton, we will officially be on the Mississippi River.
Kim’s Korner:
Michigan has “Safe Harbors” every 20 miles or so down the coast of Lake Michigan where boaters can take cover if needed. Many of these are small tourist towns that include beaches, restaurants and gift shops that are a magnet for vacationers. We made an overnight stop in Pentwater, then moved on to Muskegon where we met up with Barefoot Shoes again. While there we visited the USS Silversides. From watching many WWII movies, it was interesting to actually see the inside of a WWII submarine. It has very small quarters!
We headed to Grand Haven for an overnighter to see the music, fountain and light show they put on every night during the summer. We met up with Charlie and Robin from The Lower Place there, whom we hadn’t seen in a while. We had front row seats from our boat for the show and it was not a disappointment!
It’s funny on this loop how you meet fellow loopers and then you won’t see them for a while and then run into them again down the way. We have run into friends we’ve not seen in many months. We even ran into two of the five couples we crossed the Gulf with back in December. When you travel with another boat, it is sad when you part ways for one reason or another. It’s always a nice surprise when you run into them again. It’s fun to think back on good times and memories that were shared with friends but sad because you haven’t seen them in a while and don’t really know if you ever will see them again. Anyway – I didn’t mean to get all mushy but it is an interesting aspect of this Great Loop.
We next stopped overnight in South Haven. We met up with Barefoot Shoes and managed to get the sisters in slips side by side for a photo shoot. It’s funny to see people’s reactions as they walk by and see two Manatees together. The Lower Place, Tranquility III, Tango Papa and PharmLife were also there.
At this point, let me say that I have really enjoyed Michigan, the towns we’ve visited and the people. The water in Lake Michigan is just beautiful and the beaches in each town are really nice! And as an added benefit – there is no salt! But… the weather here changes so fast and the lake can really make for a bumpy ride – I get a great core workout! Because of this weather and the impending Labor Day weekend, which tends to be very busy on the water, we decided to forego a few Michigan stops we had wanted to make and head to Michigan City which is actually in Indiana.
We stayed in Michigan City three nights due to wind and waves. I enjoyed shopping at the outlet mall - I haven’t seen one of those in a while! We enjoyed quite a large number of loopers at a pizza party thrown by boat Gemini as she had just crossed her wake. Some of us girls went to visit the Barker Mansion, a historic home of a family that was quite influential in developing the area. It was a good stop!
Even though we had planned to stay in Michigan City for the long weekend, a weather window opened up so a group of us headed to Hammond Marina in Whiting, Indiana which is 15 miles east of Chicago. We could see Chicago the entire way although it was quite small when we left. It was a nice surprise to see Tim and Anne from Ivanhoe – we haven’t seen them in almost a month! The big draw here is the Horseshoe Casino where we enjoyed a delicious (and free) buffet and did a little gambling afterward just for fun. Since we visited Chicago two years ago, David and I aren’t sure we’ll go into Chicago – we both feel we did it justice then. But since we’ll be here a few days, we may change our minds – we’ll let you know!
Pictures:
Pentwater, MI
Muskegon, MI
Grand Haven, MI
South Haven, MI
Michigan City, IN
Whiting, IN
Kim’s Korner:
The last day in Charlevoix, we rode bikes with Steve and Rae from Barefoot Shoes, a Kadey Krogen Manatee. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed good Mexican food afterward.
After 10 days in Charlevoix waiting on the water heater and weather, we made our way to Leland for the night. We had delicious, fresh whitefish at The Cove and fun exploring the town and gift shops. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset from our pilothouse!
The next day we headed to Frankfort. It was the day of the eclipse and the day was hazy – don’t think it was due to the eclipse but the pictures I took just didn’t do the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes justice due to the haze. Frankfort is on Betsie Lake and after settling in and watching the eclipse on TV, we decided to bike the Betsie Valley Trail. This trail may be the best one we’ve been on yet – it took us over to the far eastern end of Betsie Lake where it turns more into a swamp, by a creek, thru forests and eventually to Crystal Lake which was crystal clear and gorgeous! The story of Crystal Lake goes that an attempt to create a navigable channel between Crystal Lake and Lake Michigan by way of Betsie Lake caused the water level of Crystal Lake to be lowered by 20 feet (which was 25% of the lake water) in just a few weeks. This drawdown was unsuccessful from a navigational standpoint but created 21 miles of beach around Crystal Lake where 1100 cottages are now located.
The following few days were WINDY – sleep last night was constantly interrupted by sounds of the lines and fenders as well as the rocking of the boat. I included one picture of a boat that had lines everywhere – we totally understand that! We enjoyed going to the beach and watching the waves and the windsurfers – one windsurfer was able to get quite high! We also enjoyed biking over to Betsie Point Lighthouse which took us by the western end of Crystal Lake.
It looks like the weather is calming down enough for us to leave tomorrow (Thursday) – we’ll see. The wind here changes quickly so stay tuned…
Pictures! Leland - Frankfort
Kim’s Korner:
We continued our way from Mackinaw City to Charlevoix. If you remember, the sunrise was stunning and I already posted pictures of the Mackinac Bridge. I’ve included the rest of the pictures in this blog of the beautiful clouds and rainbow during the sunrise. The water was very calm which is almost unheard of in Lake Michigan. This lake is known for getting really nasty very quickly. We arrived at the channel leading us into Round Lake and then Lake Charlevoix and had to wait for the bridge to open. The water was a beautiful color and the town was busy with people which made it very inviting. Gail and Bob from The Good Life found us and we rounded up the six looper boats in the marina and had docktails. Unfortunately, they were cut short as a thunderstorm sent us all running for our boats.
As planned, we picked up a rental car. Gail and Bob joined us and we headed to Castle Farms. Castle Farms was built in 1918 by Albert Loeb, the President of Sears & Roebuck Co as a model dairy farm. The farm was shut down 9 years later and fell into disrepair. In 1962, it was purchased and opened as an art gallery. In 1969, the property was purchased and eventually became a summer concert area – see my photo of who rocked the Castle – very impressive list! In 2001, the castle was bought once again and an extensive restoration project began. Many people tour the castle as we did to see the castle, model railroad, gardens and various collections. It has also become a very popular wedding venue and can accommodate several weddings at the same time using different buildings and gardens. Since we still had some time left, we headed to Petoskey which is supposed to be a neat town that many loopers stop at. We were not disappointed. The town, riverfront, and beaches were all very nice and we visited Petoskey State Park in the hopes of finding a Petoskey stone which is a rock that is composed of fossilized coral formed by glaciers during the ice age. The beaches here contain rocks just like southern beaches contain shells. There were so many pretty rocks that I found myself looking for ones that caught my eye as well as Petoskey stones. Gail and I both found several of the Petoskey stones although they weren’t the really obvious ones that the stores sell for a small fortune. We ate at an excellent barbeque restaurant called Pigs Eatin’ Ribs before heading back to the boat.
Charlevoix had an art festival the following day which was really very nice. I made a few purchases and then we took a tour of the Mushroom Houses with Bob and Gail. The Mushroom Houses, also known as Gnome Homes or Hobbit Houses, are an architectural endeavor of self-taught Earl Young. Over two dozen homes and four commercial properties were built from 1919 to 1970 using a variety of rock and stone found in Northern Michigan. Earl Young is known for his wide, wavy eaves, cedar-shake roofs, “icing” at the top of his chimneys, and diamond shaped window panes. As an added benefit, the hotel he designed which we visited had Petoskey stones for sale so guess who got one? The four of us headed back to the boat and shared dinner before calling it a day.
Today the four of us headed to Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore which was 1 ½ hour drive away. We would be passing this by boat as we head south on Lake Michigan but I wanted to experience it more than simply passing by. Plus we had the time and a car which worked out perfectly! The park covers a 35-mile-long stretch of Lake Michigan's eastern coastline, as well as North and South Manitou islands. Chippewa legend has it that an enormous forest fire drove a mother bear and her two cubs into the lake for safety, determined to reach the opposite shore. When the mother bear reached the shore, she waited for her two cubs on the top of a high bluff. The exhausted cubs drowned in the lake, but the mother bear stayed and waited in hopes that her cubs would appear. The Great Spirit created two islands (North and South Manitou islands) to commemorate the cubs, and the winds buried the sleeping bear under the sands of the dunes where she waits to this day. The park is breathtaking! The sand dunes are huge! I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life! From a distance, we could see this huge sand dune – it looked like a snow ski slope only it was sand. As we got closer, we started seeing specs which turned out to be people climbing the huge dune. Of course, David and I had to climb it! Gail joined us and off we went. Most of you know how hard it is to walk in sand – well try climbing in sand – it isn’t easy! Once we reached what we thought was the top, we realized it was not the top at all. So after a short break, David and I started up the next incline. On the way up, a boy maybe 10 or so, was really huffing and puffing and he asked his mother how were these old people doing this? What? Old people? David and me? Can’t be! And yes – we made it to that top only to find out there was another one waiting for us if we chose. But we did not choose. It was much more fun going down the dune than climbing up! And much quicker too! After that, we decided to visit the Maritime Museum in the park and attend a re-enactment of the breeches buoy rescue drill using a Lyle Gun to save Raggedy Ann and Andy from their shipwreck. The park ranger presenting the re-enactment used volunteers and did an excellent job of explaining how it all worked. We then decided to swing by Leland (also called Fishtown) on the way back to check it out. Leland was a neat place and we may well stop there as we travel south on Lake Michigan. We checked out the town, its history and of course, we had to check out the local whitefish for dinner – we couldn’t visit Fishtown without eating the local fish! The fish was delicious, we were exhausted and we still had an hour drive home. It was another good day!
The rental car went back on Monday and a day of chores kept us busy. We were disappointed to learn the water heater would not be delivered until Tuesday afternoon – ugh! Thursday and Friday forecast bad weather days so if we don’t get to leave Wednesday, we’ll be here until Saturday. Tuesday morning we rode bikes over to Fisherman’s Island State Park and walked on the beach – very nice! We also stumbled onto the World’s Largest Cherry Pie – too bad we couldn’t have a piece!
So the water heater did arrive Tuesday afternoon and the technician began work on it. He continues to work this morning and depending on what time he is finished and how the weather looks, we may leave today. We had some fellow loopers who also have a Kady Krogen Manatee contact us yesterday and they are arriving in Charlevoix today so if we stay, we plan to meet with them. So stay tuned…
Kim’s Korner:
We made our way on Lake Huron, passing Mackinac Island and arriving at the city marina in Mackinaw City, MI. Mackinaw and Mackinac are pronounced the same – ending sound like naw. We took our bikes on a ferry over to Mackinac Island the following day. This was definitely the tourist stop – people, restaurants and gift shops everywhere! It was almost a culture shock as the last few weeks in Canada were spent in the exact opposite. Only bikes, horses and horse drawn carriages are allowed on the island as forms of transportation. I’ve never seen so many bikes! The Grand Hotel which is known for having the longest covered porch resides on the island – it was impressive. Flowers were planted everywhere – even the private homes took part in planting gorgeous flower gardens. The best part was riding our bikes on the 8-mile path around the island. We climbed 207 steps to see Arch Rock where the views were spectacular! The water was beautiful - colors ranging from green to turquoise to blue and at times, I could see gold flecks in it. It was really interesting to see and experience this island for the day but a day was plenty for me – too many people! The following day, we enjoyed riding our bikes on the Northwestern State Trail to Lake Paradise. Another beautiful lake! And let me just say that we have really enjoyed all these biking/walking trails we have encountered – really nice! They are used by snow mobiles in the winter. We also took in Mackinaw City – gift shops, historical landmarks, restaurants, ICE CREAM! And I have to say – it was sooooo nice to go into a grocery store and be able to find the things I wanted. The grocery stores in Canada were nice but they did carry different products than we do which was surprising to me. We love Wheat Thins and even they had a different shape and slightly different flavor to them – who would have thought?
So… cruising is fun but we all know that there are always things that need fixing on a boat. We now had encountered one of those issues that had to be fixed. Our hot water tank was leaking and of course, the tank is in one of those hard to reach places hidden behind the engine that David can’t really see. We were back in the mode where we would turn the water off at the breaker panel when we weren’t using it which is a real pain but a necessity at this point. We located a marina in Charlevoix which is well respected for their service department and made that our next stop. After having the technician look at it, the hot water heater needs replacing as we had expected. Because of its location, to replace it would require a good part of the engine would have to be removed. David was not in favor of this so the plan is to “retire in place” this water heater (sounds like a nuclear plant) and add a new one which will then have to have pipes and electricity run to it. David is having a few other minor things done as well since it looks like we will be here for 5-7 days while parts are ordered and installed. We expected this and I now have a rental car reserved. Charlevoix has a lot of places within driving distance that I would like to see so we’ll take this opportunity to do just that.
I almost forgot to mention – we left at 6:00 AM from Mackinaw City and the sunrise was stunning! It lasted for quite a while due to the cloud cover and I couldn’t stop taking pictures of the Mackinac Bridge!
Kim’s Korner:
Baie Fine (or Finn) is an 8-mile fjord leading to the “Pool” at the far end. We anchored in the Pool which is known for the number of weeds you will find on your anchor when you pull it up. We were not disappointed. While there, we hiked to Artist Lake and Topaz Lake which are located within the Killarney Provincial Park. David climbed down to the edge and jumped in Topaz Lake – it is known as a great swimming hole as well as for its stunning topaz color and white granite cliffs surrounding it. When we went to leave, we were informed that a 15-year-old girl and her dog were missing. Those of us who were there broke up into pairs and went on different trails in the search. A while later, we were notified that she had finally been able to find a spot with cell coverage and had made contact with her family. She was okay and had just gotten turned around on the trails – she was heading back although it would be almost 3 hours before she was back to the boat.
We stopped overnight in Little Current to provision. We had tried to in Killarney but the store was very limited and expensive on what they had. Little Current was the last town that had good provisioning capability before getting back into the US.
We went to Kagawong which is a very small town known for Bridal Veil Falls, a natural waterfall where everyone in town gathers to cool off. We enjoyed ice cream, a refreshing swim in the lake and barbeque for dinner.
We also had to make some decisions since bad weather was approaching. The last place on my list that I really wanted to visit was the Benjamin Islands but due to the bad weather, we decided to skip these islands and begin heading to Drummond Island where we would re-enter the US and clear customs. We wanted to be sure we left enough time to spend on Lake Michigan. We spent one day traveling to Meldrum Bay – the water was like glass and we could see storms on our starboard side but we stayed dry except for a few sprinkles. We spent one bumpy day traveling to Drummond Island. It was bittersweet knowing we were leaving Canada – we had enjoyed our 43 days there very much. It was also a really good feeling to be back in the United States.
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