Tues Sept 19: Leaving Blue Horizon in Michigan City - Hiatus

Once again the morning brought dark clouds and rain!  I spent some time preparing the boat to be left for a couple of weeks.   I closed all the through-hulls (valves that allow raw water to flow into the boat for different reasons), battened down the hatches, closed windows, emptied the trash, etc.    

I had figured out how to take the South Shore Line train in to Chicago and at 1:30 I ordered an Uber to take me to the stop for pick up for the 2:20 train. Turns out that they are doing construction and the train isn’t stopping in Michigan City.  The alternative is to take a bus that takes one to a stop further up the line.  It was like they sent a bus just for me. I was the only one on a big bus!   I chatted with the driver and he dropped me off at the Gary, IN transfer stop (wait, Gary, Indiana….don’t start singing!)

Then I got on the train and again, it was like it was just for me!

No one else on the train!

The train ride lasted about an hour, combined with the bus ride it was a total of about 2 hours.  Then I got on the L from Millennium station to get to Claire’s neighborhood.   Another 45 minutes and I was in the Lincoln Park area.   Claire met me just outside the station. What fun!

My flight to Atlanta is tomorrow (Wednesday) so I had a wonderful visit with Claire!  She is killing it in Chicago and her new apartment is wonderful.   We had great Mexican food for dinner and spent the evening talking and enjoying her space.  It was a fun visit. 

Since we are now off the boat the blog is going on hiatus.  I will fly to Atlanta tomorrow and here is a preview of my meet up with William tomorrow.  What a treat to be with both of my kids in less than 24 hours.  I am just a proud dad…what else can I say.  They are wonderful adults. 

To our faithful readers we ask patience during this hiatus.  We will be back on the boat on Oct 5 (God willing, weather permitting - or should I say as long as the government shut down doesn’t prevent us from flying back to Chicago).   Please stay tuned and check back here after Oct 5 for further updates.  The trip down the river system looks to be interesting so I’m sure you’ll want to stay tuned!

Mon Sept 18: Michigan City Day 2

Wait, what, rain again?  We awoke to the sound of rain pattering on the boat, so what did we do? We had banana bread and pea meal bacon for breakfast.  That’s what I call taking control of the situation.

Once the rain stopped we decided to take a walk.  Yesterday we walked into the “Arts District” of Michigan City.  Today we walked north and were surprised when we came upon the zoo!  We paid our $10 to enter and found a very nice, small zoo.  It was in need of some repair but the enclosures were well designed and it appeared that the animals were well cared for. 

We went by the tiger enclosure first but no luck - it appeared that the tiger was on vacation in Florida.  The Lions were on duty!

Here is a Peacock waiting to use the restroom

There was a tower built in the 1930’s on the top of a hill above the deer enclosure.  We walked up the 5 flights of stairs and had a wonderful view of the surrounding area. 

A view of the power plant - the marina is right down to the right of the smokestack.

You can see Chicago in the distance

Capuchin Monkeys- I thought it was a mirror!

A very bored Grizzly Bear

Some more street art

My crew, Bob, left me at about 1 pm.  He was taking an Amtrak from New Buffalo to Ann Arbor.  For some reason Amtrak no longer stops in Michigan City so Bob had to take an Uber over to the next town to catch the train.  We had such a nice trip it was sad to see him go. 

The clouds disappeared in the afternoon. It was clear, sunny and warm.  I took a short walk and got this good shot of the power plant cooling tower as well as this memorial to WWI. 

In the late afternoon I sat up on the back of the boat and watched the sun go down.  It was a beautiful afternoon with many jet contrails visible overhead.  As I took in the beautiful view I remembered my father-in-law, Bill, who enjoyed looking up at the contrails.   I felt close to him watching those wisps of white overhead….

Just a notice that I will be leaving Blue Horizon on Sept 19 for a trip to Atlanta and then to Boulder to attend the memorial service for Melanie’s dad.  We will now be on hiatus until Oct 6 or so.  Please send your comments and questions and we will be happy to answer. 

Oh, by the way, I did a calculation based on our fuel use so far.  I calculate that we use 2.8 gallons per hour of travel.  If we take 551.2 miles (as posted on our Sept 16th post) and divide by 190 gallons (the amount we needed to fill up the tanks) you get 2.92 miles to the gallon.  Perhaps not great when compared to a car, but excellent when compared to the guy who told us he gets 1 mile per gallon….

Sun Sept 17: Michigan City

We awoke to rain, low clouds and a bit of wind so we were glad to be in port.  Today was a day for boat maintenance and it was good to have Bob on board to help.   First we check the pencil zincs in the engine.  These are sacrificial zincs that are screwed directly into the engine to help prevent corrosion.  As we’ve not been in salt water, which is much more corrosive, the zincs were fine and we didn’t need to change.  Next we did an oil change, an easy but messy job.   There is a small pump that pumps all the old, dirty, used oil out of the engine and then, by reversing the pump, pumps all the new oil right back in to the engine.  The messy part is changing the oil filter. The design of the filter - horizontal to the top of the engine makes it impossible to remove without spilling a bunch of oil all over. That spilled oil then runs down the side of the engine and drips all over the bilge…it take a lot of shop towels to clean it all up.   Finally we cleaned the engine strainers. I guess I should have taken some pictures of the process but my hands were covered with oil…

After we cleaned up we decided it was time for a walk.  The rain had mostly stopped so off we went to to do a bit of exploring.

The library - photo for Melanie!

The city is doing its best to stay vibrant.  They have a public art exhibit….

There are lots of interesting old buildings and tons of restaurants. 

This one looks like Modern Gothic revisionist style….

This is a St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Church….very prominent in a town with lots of churches

Some beautiful old homes in town

Obligatory beautiful sunset!

After our walk we returned to the boat to watch some NFL football and then a movie on Prime.  Dinner was Dominos Pizza delivered to the boat and broccoli.  We’ve done a great job using up perishables so not much left. 

Sat Sept 16: St. Joseph to Michigan City

By my calculations, from our first stop in Michigan, Sault St. Marie, to Michigan City, we have traveled about 551.2 miles over 22 days.  No wonder I’m tired…and I miss my co-captain.  It has been a help to have Bob along, but I want my partner!   Today we moved the last leg from St. Joseph to Michigan City where we will leave the boat until Oct 5 while we take care of family business.  We return on Oct 5 for the next phase of our trip, moving through Chicago, down the river system to our stopping spot at Demopolis, Alabama. 

The wind and waves were forecast to calm down a bit later in the morning so first thing we took a walk down to the beach close to the marina. 

The St. Joseph’s lighthouse from shore

The sun coming up over St. Joseph

I thought this was a nice view of the St. Joseph lighthouse

We finished up our walk and after a bagel with cream cheese and the rest of our smoked salmon (remember we are using up our perishables??) we made ready, let loose the lines and got underway. It was bittersweet as the marina, West Basin, was just beautiful, peaceful..it would have been nice to spend a few days there.  

The cruise was fine once again starting off a bit rough and then calming down after about an hour.  We were at the very bottom of Lake Michigan and spent much of the trip looking west to see if Chicago was visible.  It is still about 40 miles to the west and it was hazy so no luck seeing the big city.  We did however get a view of Michigan City and the big power plant that sits directly next to the marina.  

Michigan City - power plant.  You can just make out masts in the marina in front of the plant.

Michigan City lighthouse. Yes it does look much like other lighthouses.

The breakwater outside the channel - looks like
it needs a bit of work

Upon arrival we went to the fuel dock for a pump out and fuel up.  We last got fuel in Sault Ste. Marie and I had let the fuel gauge drop down to 1/4 of a tank…something we’ve never done.  Was I a bit nervous, sure, but I estimated at least 75 gallons left, I so I knew it would be fine.  My estimate for the fill up was 200 gallons - we took 190, so I was pretty right on.  Pumped out and fueled we made our way to slip 233.  We talked one of the fuel dock attendants to come help us tie up (the lady on the boat in the next slip said “how did you get the guy to come help you? I mentioned to him that he had a tip coming and that I would give it to him at the slip!). Once tied up we hooked up power, water and found the marina information in the dock box next to the slip (the marina office closed at 1 pm on Saturday)

On our way in to the marina a lady yelled at us off the back of her boat that if we needed a car we could borrow hers, so we took her up on her offer.  We went to AutoZone to buy 5 gallons of Rotella T-4 motor oil. Tomorrow is boat maintenance day - oil change, fuel filter change, pencil zinc change, etc….it was so nice that she offered us the car.  There was no way I was going to get all that oil on my bike. 

As we grilled salmon we spied the skyline of Chicago in the distance.  It was a beautiful sunset with just a bit of chill in the air. 

Look closely and you can see Chicago

Another beautiful sunset.

Fri Sept 15: Saugatuck to South Haven, no wait, St. Joesph

We started off the day with a quick walk to the post office and then a visit to the local farmer’s/artisan market.  We had seen a sign about the market the day before and as our trip was to be short today we started out with a quick visit.   It was a nice little market with fresh vegetables, cheeses, fresh roasted coffee, and many other goodies.  We walked through admiring the bounty, but again, as we are drawing down, we didn’t buy anything. 

Today the cruise was initially to South Haven. We started the boat, dropped the lines and cruised slowly out the Kalamazoo river back to the lake.  Once back to the lake we were surprised by how rough it was.  The NOAA wave predictor had said that it would be, if not smooth, at least not uncomfortable.  For the first hour the cruise was a bit rough but eventually it smoothed out and we made good progress towards South Haven. 

Nuclear Power Plant

As we got closer to South Haven I looked at the wind/weather for the next couple of days and it didn’t look too good for Sunday the day we plan to cruise to Michigan City, our stopping point for this leg of the trip.  As the water had calmed down nicely, I made an executive decision and we cruised past South Haven and continued on to St. Joseph’s, about another 3 hours of cruising. 

The entrance to St. Joseph’s Harbor

St. Joseph’s is just outside Benton Harbor, MI which is somewhat better know.  We are now just north of Indiana and tomorrow’s cruise will end there in Michigan City.   We had a quick walk around St. Joseph’s but honestly I am a bit tired and really just felt like relaxing on the boat.  It is Friday after all so my favorite TV chef is on the Food Network. 

We didn’t see much of the town but needed to investigate this statue that we had seen along the waterway as we came into the harbor.  So here is the explanation.

 

Later we did our best to continue to eat as much as we can of our perishable foods.   Grilled shrimp, corn on the cob and couscous.  Very nice.  

 

Thurs Sept 14: Grand Haven to Saugatuck

Fresh horses have arrived in the form of Bob Murphy.  For the last few days I’ve been single handing as you know and Bob, who lives on the other side of Michigan near Detroit, offered to come join me for a few days of cruising. It is always good to have an extra set of eyes and hands on the boat.

Bob came prepared complete with pirate gear. 

We had a nice breakfast at Anna’s with Bob’s friend Dave.  Dave gave Bob a ride over from his home and was off to visit his daughter who lives in the area.  Once done with breakfast we said good-bye to Dave, prepared the boat and shoved off for Saugatuck, about a 3 hour cruise. 

Leaving Grand Haven!

On the cruise we passed the town of Holland.  We didn’t go into the channel, but did get a good picture of the lighthouse.

The entrance to Saugatuck isn’t very remarkable!

Saugatuck is another picturesque town tucked up along the coast of Lake Michigan.  In this case the town is up the Kalamazoo River almost 30 minutes off the lake.  The town is arrayed around Lake Kalamazoo with many boats.  Once tied up we walked through the town.  We encountered a vibrant tourist town with lots of art galleries and shops selling hand blown glass, baskets, wood work (bowls, cutting boards, etc).  Today the town is very quiet as it is past Labor Day on Thursday so there are not many tourists in town.  We continued walking and ended up around the lake. Here is a not very good view of the lake.  Take it from me, the picture shows many boats and nieces houses around the lake. 

A book store for Melanie!

After our long walk we came back to the boat to read a bit until time for dinner.   We are now working to draw down all the perishables on the boat (as Melanie joked in a previous post we have enough food for 4 people) and we had a nice dinner of bulgogi chicken thighs, cilantro rice and a caprese salad make with freshly picked cherry tomatoes.  A great meal and then off to bed.  

Tues, Wed Sept 12-13: Grand Haven Stop Over

So I woke up to this behemoth behind the boat on Tuesday:

It turns out that Grand Haven exports more than 100 million tons of sand and gravel yearly.  Big Lakers come up the Grand River all the time and then, get this, they back up down the river back to the lake.  There is no place to turn around.  I’ll never complain about backing up again! 

Once I had my coffee, you guessed it, it was an Uber ride to the Walmart to pick-up the new microwave!  Fortunately “the” Uber was available and showed up in about 4 minutes.  He waited for me while I went in to pick up the microwave and whisked me right back to the marina.  The mounting hardware from the previous microwave worked and the install was quite easy. 

After installing the microwave I needed something to do so I rode my bike back to Home Depot…I just felt right.  I got some Velcro strips, a vacuum cleaner filter and just walk around smelling the smells.  Leaving HD I rode back through the downtown shopping district.  I didn’t find the library but did find a book store: 

A book store in Grand Haven….for Melanie

I then continued on to the water front and the rode out to the lake. The wind was howling and the waves were big.  I felt better that I was tied up in the marina although the direction of the wind created a swell in the marina that tossed the boat around quite vigorously. 

Not sure you can tell, but these are big waves..

More big waves…. 

 

The rest of Tuesday afternoon rushed by and then, as I prepared to eat dinner the famous Grand Haven musical fountains started up.   Hard to explain, but GH (Grand Haven) decided to build a big Las Vegas style musical fountain.  There are large speakers that blast out music - think Queen, Jimmy Buffett and many other catchy tunes all synchronized to lights and fountains located across the river from the marina.  It’s like they are doing a show for the boats! 

  

Wednesday brought the farmers markets,  another trip to HD (to return the fuses that I didn’t use) and a bike ride to a supermarket to get a few staples.  Bob Murphy will join me tomorrow for the rest of the trip so I need to make sure there is food on the boat.  We don’t want to starve….

Farmers Market

Grand Haven calls itself the “Coast Guard City”.  They have a big tribute to the Coast Guard every year.  The park along the waterfront memorializes the Escanaba - a Coast Guard Cutter stationed here and then lost in WWII.  

Wednesday afternoon was spent cleaning the boat, defrosting the refrigerator, vacuuming, washing windows, etc…

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The salmon are running now and the charter fishing boats are busy. As I rode my bike past (yes to the HD  - 3 times in 3 days) I ran across these beautiful fish recently caught!