Jack and Pat's Adventures

  September 28 th On 9/16 we left Lake Michigan on the Calumet River and cruised to Joliet. In Joliet we tied up to the city wall for the night. Our Flotilla group walked to an Irish Pub for dinner and we headed off the next day. This section of the river is very industrial. We encountered many barges and passed large factories along the river. We have learned on these commercial rivers there are trains that run 24 hours a day alongside of the river. We have become very familiar with the “Choo Choo” sound. As we continue down the river we are still met with many locks that have to be navigated along with some bridges that have to be opened for us to pass through. We soon entered the Illinois River and headed south.   Carp have become an invasive species in this area of the river system and, if they reached Lake Michigan, could cause devastation to the fishing industry. In order to address this problem, they have created an electrical field in the river. There are signs w...

  September 15 th We cruised to Grand Haven on 9/2.   Our plan was for a break from cruising and to wait for Suzy and Don (Tranquility) to fly home to Satellite City to see their daughters. Grand Haven is a nice little town. We spent the time getting a delivery from Walmart, walking and exploring. Evan and I walked almost 2 miles to a salon to get our hair done and I had a mani-pedi.   Ahh, so nice. We also spent a rainy afternoon watching a movie on a 70 in TV in the beautiful boaters lounge. The Paisley Pig, Mama’s Thai and Kirby’s   restaurants gave us a break from cooking on the boat. September 10 th we cruised to South Haven for one night which would be our last night in Michigan. South Haven was a nice stop. We walked to a Mexican Restaurant and got back to the boat as the sun was setting over Lake Michigan.   The next morning we set out as the sun was rising for Michigan City, Indiana. Yup, Michigan City is in Indiana. We were surprised that we h...

  September 3 So, our original plan was to spend Labor Day weekend in Ludington (8/31– 9/1) then cruise 16 miles to Pentwater for a night and then cruise 40 miles to Muskegon for one night.   Our next cruise was to be 19 miles to Grand Haven on Thursday. Well, the weather changed our plan. The forecast for those days was erratic so we decided to take advantage of a good forecast and make a 56-mile run from Ludington to Muskegon, skipping Pentwater. Today we made a 19 -mile run from Muskegon to Grand Haven. We will be here through the weekend while we wait for Suzy and Don (Tranquility) to go home to Titusville, Fla for a visit with their daughters. On our first night in Ludington, we had a Sangria Party on a park bench. The second night we went to a brewery for dinner and stopped by a great ice cream parlor for dessert! Have to support the local economy. On 9/2 we spent the night in Muskegon. There was a fire pit, picnic table and gas grill at our boat slip so we had doc...