Thursday 08/12/2021
Day Miles: 45
Total Miles: 7057
Travel Days: 138
Total Days: 288
Friday & Saturday 08/13 & 08/14/2021
Day Miles: 62
Total Miles: 7119
Travel Days: 139
Total Days: 290
Thursday:
I am behind in the blog. Today is Wednesday the 18th and we are now on the Mississippi River. I have not had time to post due to some long days on the river. No we were not partying it up. I will attempt to get you caught up quickly.
We arrived in St. Joseph and tied up at the West Basin Marina. Not a bad day on the water.
We did our normal post cruise chores and clean up. Marcia did a load of laundry and I sat with it at the dryer. The marina offered to drive us into town as it was a little over a mile walk. It was again a nice, quaint downtown area.
We ate at Bucks Burgers and Brews, based on the marina recommendation. Beers were cold and the burgers were very good.
After dinner we walked back to the marina and tried to make plans for the next day. Based on the weather, we were going try to use the free slip in New Buffalo that was offered to us and then move on to Hammond, IN on Saturday. Friday did not look like a good travel day, so we ended up deciding to stay in St. Joseph and then move to Hammond on Saturday, skipping New Buffalo. If we could not stay an extra day in St. Joe's, we would move to New Buffalo. Wind, decisions, wind, waves, decision, you get the idea.
Friday:
When we got up on Friday, the forecast had changed completely. Saturday now looked bad and Friday seemed OK. We decided to cast lines and run across Lake Michigan to Hammond, IN. This would allow us 2 days in Hammond to get the boat ready for the low bridges and a bit of rest before entering the Calumet Sanitary Canal, south of Chicago. We cannot go through Chicago due to a 17 foot high fixed bridge. It was a little bouncy on the ride over, but manageable.
Chicago in the distance.
We fueled up and then got tied up in our slip. Think this is going to be the last of the clear water for a while.
We took it easy and just ate dinner on the boat.
Saturday:
Saturday morning, Marcia went up to use the dryer and I lowered the Dome and anchor light so that we could get under the 19.5 foot fixed bridge. This is the lowest fixed bridge on the entire loop. After chores we decided to take a walk around. Our plan was to grab lunch at the casino, but the buffet was closed still due to Covid and the Chinese place did not open until evening. We walked up into "town" to see if anything else was open. Not much to see, and we ended up at an authentic Mexican taco place. Taco's were OK, but much too spicy for Marcia. We walked back past the beach but we did not stop.
Back at the boat we cooked up a pork loin for dinner and then sat out behind the boat with some of the locals. They had a band playing on shore so we walked up and listened to them for a bit.
The band was good but we did not stay long. Our plan was to leave around 6:30 in the morning to start down the Calumet Canal. There is a lot of barge traffic in the canal as well as lift bridges so we are hoping that there will be less traffic on a Sunday.
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