September 15th

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 10th 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 had crossed into the Central Time Zone. That evening we had docktails aboard The Happy Giraffe. It is a 63 ft yacht owned by a Looper couple we met along the way. (Their grandkids named the boat). It is a beautiful yacht with large bedrooms, baths and a full-size refrigerator/freezer. I had such fridge envy.

 



With only one more stop before leaving finicky Lake Michigan, we were eager to head to Hammond, Indiana the next day. Hammond was going to be our marina for 3 nights. Whie there, the 6 of us took an Uber for a 30 minute ride to Chicago, Il.

In Chicago we took a 90 minute architectural boat cruise on the Chicago River.  It was a beautiful sunny but cool day. While we were standing in line for the cruise we had a “small world” experience. April and Rio (alias Robert Redford) walked right up behind us to get in line. We hadn’t seen them since we left Ludington.  They cruised across Lake Michigan to finish the Lake on the west side while we continued on the east side.




After the boat tour we walked down Michigan Ave (the Magnificent Mile) and then had an early but very filling dinner of Chicago Pizza at Giordano’s.

 



Last night we had dinner at a Thai Restaurant in the casino that was at our marina. We celebrated Lisa’s birthday. Lisa and Chris “Cool Beans” are spending some extra days in Chicago and hopefully will catch up with us on the rivers.

This morning we said goodbye to Lake Michigan and entered the river system that we will follow for 1300 miles until we get to the Gulf of Mexico. Our trip today consisted of going under 15 bridges and through one lock. Our first stop is at the Marine Services Corp Marina in Dolton, Il. It is nothing more than a slip, but we are officially on our way down the rivers and tomorrow we cruise to Joliet, Il.





As of September 15th we have been to12 states and 2 countries

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