8/28-9/1/2012

Tuesday - Fueled before we headed out.  Over 280 gallons this stop.  The credit card takes a huge hit.

We traveled about 50 miles today to Racine, WI.  Reefpoint Marina is one of the biggest in the area.  There wasn't anyone around to help when we arrived at about 2:00 so we pulled up to the fuel dock just past the pumps.  I eased the boat to the dock and Jerry managed to lasso the cleats to get us situated.  We certainly have a good system most of the time.

Jerry and I took a walk around downtown Racine.  It seemed mostly deserted and there were a few businesses moving out.  Really disappointed, as I thought the downtown would be booming with all the condos around the marina.  Sad to see.

 

 

Wednesday - Decided to hit it early today to be on the water before it got rough.  Left the dock about 6:30.  Fairly calm seas.  Crossed into Illinois about 8:30.   Thought about anchoring at the inner harbor near Chicago.  It actually looked like a good place but we wouldn't have been able to get to shore so decided to go on to the Hammond Marina in Hammond, IN.  Big difference in costs of marinas from Hammond to Chicago.  Hammond $25/night and Chicago $127/night. 

 

 Chicago skyline

 

 

Navy Pier

We pulled into Hammond Marina about 4pm after making reservations earlier in the day.  No help from marina staff.  Fortunately, the winds were reasonable and the boat next to us came out to help with lines.  We got situated then walked up to the office to register.  The office was closed so we headed back.  The gate has a card key entry and we didn't have a key.  Another couple was coming up at the same time and we said we hoped they had a key.  They said the same thing.  He had been here before, obviously, so he slinked around the side of the gate to hit the exit button and the gate was open. Security was questionable. 

Fixed dinner then just chilled until about 8 or so.  A knock on the boat and a few other loopers were having a fun time on the dock X, we were on dock U.  We grabbed our wine and beer and headed over to join in.   Three very expensive, big boats, The Last Resort (met them in Charlevoix), Loopy Kiwi, and Jet Stream.  They were finishing up dinner and then Phil, Loopy Kiwi, got his guitar out.  He played and sang for well over an hour. 

Carolyn, KC, and Don.

 

What great fun we had, singing along, dancing and just having fun with new friends.

Jerry really liked his music, really he did!

Freya still trying to figure out her camera.

 

Friday - I spent the day cleaning.  The other loopers were going to the buffet at the Horseshoe Casino.  Later that evening we stopped by to visit again.  They were much more reserved, probably too full from the buffet. 

 

 

Saturday - We are now off Lake Michigan. Because Wind Song has a vertical clearance of 18'6" we have to forego the trip through downtown Chicago. There is one fixed bridge that is 17' so we will take the Calumet River and Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. It's a slightly longer route but will give us 19'1" clearance. This section was loaded with bridges. Ten bridges in less than an hour. Then the first lock, the Thomas O'Brien. We waited about 20 minutes and it was only a 2' drop. 

 

 

We cleared this one by only 6".  Jerry climbed up on the top of the sundeck to take this picture.

We saw a very industrial area.  This is a metal works company.

 

We locked through with a sailboat that was next to us at the marina in Hammond.  Back to the big locks.  Quite a difference from the small Canadian locks.

And this is why the locks are so big.  One of the first barges we see on the Illinois Waterway.

Barges and tows in many shapes and sizes

 

At this junction we turn to port (left) downbound.  A starboard turn will take you into Chicago.

 

This is a towboat and barge parking area.  It is narrow and depending on traffic can be difficult to transit. 

Leaving Lockport Lock a 40' drop. 

Coming into Joliet we had to have 4 bridges opened for us to pass through. We just made it as one of the bridges won't open between 4:15pm and 5:15pm. Joliet has a free dock with 30 amp power. Unfortunately, Jerry had converted our 30 amp power cord back to 50 amp so we did without. Actually, we could use our generator

As Jerry was tying lines at the dock, he noticed this snake swimming along between the boat and the wall. Anyone recognize what it is?
.

 

This is the lift bridge at night.  The bright lights to the left are Harrahs Casino.  We were sitting on the sundeck and had a visit from the Joliet Harbor Hosts.  Brenda and Dale did the loop in 2005 and now offer to take loopers to the grocery store or just about anywhere.  It was so nice to meet them.

 



By the end of the day, we had passed under 50 bridges.

 

 

 

Saturday - We had been advised to call Brandon Lock before we leave the wall to see what the lock traffic is.  It's much easier to wait on the wall rather than at the lock.  There are 2 boats traveling with us through this area.  The lockmaster says "come on" so off we go at 7:15.  We are through the lock by 8:00.  Light rain.  We arrived at the next lock, Dresden.  A tow with many barges was waiting to lock down.  The three boats dropped anchors and sat back to wait.  Five hours later, we were allowed to enter the lock.  It's now almost 3:00.  We travel to the next lock.  The other two boats have stopped elsewhere.  Looking back, that would have been a good idea.

 

We get to Marseilles Lock at about 6:00pm.  Jerry sees an inlet just off channel.  We slowly feel our way in thinking we may just anchor here for the night.  He is looking out the window as I slowly move in calling out the depths.  We're at 11.5 ft and stop short.  I throw it into neutral.  Jerry guns the engine and we back off whatever we got stuck on.  So much for this as an anchorage.  He calls the lockmaster to see if we can tie up to one of the big bollards.  He said we should come on down and tie to a U.S. Corps of Engineer work barge.  We inch in and Jerry lassos the cleat. 

 

 

 

 

Another tow arrived.  We thought we'd have to wait for that one also but the lockmaster said he was going to lock through the pleasure craft.  Jerry asked if we could just stay here for the  night.  Absolutely not was the response. Almost 2 hours later, we are pulling out of the lock.  It's dark now.  We haven't traveled at night before so it's kind of scary for me.  Jerry is ok with it since he's fixed the spot light. 

 

Our plan is to get to the free dock at Ottawa, IL.  We arrived about 8:40.  The dock is big enough for two boats and that's what is there.  As we creep in, Queen Kathleen, Mike and Kathy, come out.  I ask if we can raft to them explaining that we've been waiting for locks for almost 8 hours today.  Neither of us have ever rafted so Jerry comes out and I go up to the bridge.  He and Mike make it work.  We met them at Frankfort, MI.  We were so thankful to them for allowing us to raft.  What a relief to be secure for the night.

 

 

 

 

 



 

8/22-8/27/2012

Wednesday - looks like a pretty good day so we take off for Port Washington, WI.  Have read that this is the cheapest place on Lake Michigan to get fuel and we need some.  It's about 50 miles.  Have an out at Sheboygan if we need it. 

We are traveling south and waves coming from the south to southeast so not a bad deal.  And they are relatively mild, until about 2 hours from our destination.  The wind/waves are getting stronger. 

  I was not feeling comfortable getting us into the slip with the winds so Jerry did a great job.  The deck hands weren't so helpful but we made it in spite of them.

By the time we make it into the harbor at Port Washington, the pantry has spilled out, the lamp is on the floor, even though I had moved it to the floor, the table on the sundeck has turned over, the camera flew off from behind the captain's chair onto the floor, and other things were turned over. It was quite a ride. I thought I had prepared for this by securing items as necessary.





I took a night off from cooking and we ate at Beanies (Mexican) for dinner.  Made us miss La Mesa back home.  Back to the boat to clean up our mess. 


Thursday - Went into town for coffee and a roll and ended up at Harry's Restaurant for full breakfast.  Good diner food. 

Jerry wanted to find a Home Depot or Lowes to get parts to help keep the stuff in the pantry.  He found a Home Depot about 7 miles away at Grafton.  Got the bikes off and stopped at the Visitor's Center for a map.  There is a great bike trail that runs between here and Grafton, probably goes further, but works for us.  

What a great ride.  All paved paths, took us to the main road in Grafton.  The lady at the Visitor's Center showed us where Home Depot is so no problem finding it.  Got what we needed, grabbed a quick bite at Quiznos then headed back.  Round trip, 18.8 miles.  Feels so good getting some exercise. 

It's 4:30 when we get back.  Have the  AC on.  It's 86F.  Feels really good in the boat.  Chill for a bit, then have to pay for another night at the marina. 

Friday - had left the bikes on the dock next to the boat the night before.  We reserved a car from Enterprise for the weekend.  Jerry had talked about biking to the car place but they said they would come pick us up even though it was about 20 miles away.   I saw the bikes on the dock that morning then Jerry went out later in the morning and his wasn't there.  I noticed a water bottle floating in the slip next to us so figured his bike was in the drink.  Sure enough, it was.

 He tried to use our boat hook but it wasn't long enough. The marina let him use this boat hook.

Fortunately, the bike survived with no damage.

Jerry lubricated the heck out of the bike and rode it around.  He tied the bike to the boat from then on.

 

About noon we got the car.  Had lunch at Panera, I know, what a surprise.  We haven't been in a car since the end of June.  The car is one of the new Fiats.  Cute little car but lots of road noise. 

 

The big purchase of the day is new phones for both of us.  We went to Costco and got Droid Razrs.  The next few days were spent figuring out how to use them.  One selling point is that we  can use them as hotspots for up to 10 devices.  This way we can get rid of the MiFi.  That should save us a few bucks.

 

We stayed in Port Washington for 6 days.   Got some shopping done and just relaxed.  One major thing Jerry did for me was to put brackets in the pantry to hold a piece of wood as a stop for the baskets so they don't slide against the doors pushing them open.  Really should make a difference.

 

 

 

 



7/17-7/21/2012

Tuesday - Jerry was up about 4:30.  I heard him on the sun deck about 5:30.  I got up grumpy.

We took off about 7:15.  Clear Lake is wide open then narrows into this incredible area similar to Thousand Islands.  Cottages here and there.  The area is just beautiful.

Winds picked up making locking a challenge. First lock not too bad but lock 30 is only a 4 ft lift so we are out in the open and have a cross wind. Got some help from the lock tenders.

Have to stay in the channel, even though there's water everywhere, rocks are just below the surface in a large part of this section.

See the darker place just outside the marker.  Those are huge boulders just below the surface.  Actually almost in the channel.  Last year at the Looper Rendezvous, some guy said he went through 5 props in Canada.  Hard to say how he did that other than not paying attention.

 

This time of year is busy at the lock walls so hope we can find a place to tie up. 

Remember the message in a bottle?  When I realized we weren't going to lock 33, I emailed Duncan, the guy that asked us to deliver it. He said not to worry about it.  Well, at lock 32, we asked the lock master if there was someway to get it to lock 33.  He said he usually works lock 33 so will get it there for us.  We got it close. 

Coming into Fenelon Falls we passed a boat docked at someones home, Beta Omega.

 Hard to see, the Beta Omega is on the right by shore.  Anyway, he radioed us to raft to his boat if we can't find a place on the wall. 










There was a fairly long "go fast" boat on the wall with space in front of it.  Jerry calls to this guy on the wall and asked how much room is in front of that boat, he says about 55 ft.  So with this guys help, I drive the boat into place. 

We probably had a little bit more room than that but not much.  I'm getting pretty good at pulling the boat into tight spots.  I had a good teacher!

There was a houseboat and some motorboats already tied up.  This is the lower lock wall.  Jerry walked up top and found several looper boats tied up with power.  Such a deal.  Unfortunately, no space.  Later in the afternoon, another houseboat came in with a bunch of young guys.  They were drinking and playing loud music.  Not the most enjoyable situation but we stuck it out.



It was an annoying evening having to listen to the loud voices and obnoxious music. F.. this and  F.. that.  Kids on 3 boats right around them.  Not a good deal.  One of the boys asked us if they should move to the lake while they still had one sober girl who could drive.  I said yes they should go.  But they didn't.  We turned the gen and AC on to drown out the noise.  By the time we went to bed and turned off everything, they had sort of quieted down.  Only time we had to deal with anything like this so far on the trip.  So I guess we are really lucky.


 Wednesday - Decided to be first in the lock this morning.

.  You have to look close to see the Great Blue Heron on the rocks as we're moving into the lock.  He really blends into the rocks.

The Trent Severn Waterway is a popular place for rental houseboats.  They can be difficult to handle in the locks so we waited until these two were settled before we came in.

 

Once up we found an opening along the wall with power so grabbed it.  Plugged in and got water.

 Across the channel from us is a park.  It looks like they are doing TaiChi

Needed a day to clean.  Jerry washed down the outside, I started on the inside.

The Red Hats were in town.  They were prominent on this tour boat that passed us going into the lock.

Midday, we found wifi at the Dockside restaurant.  Just picked up email, they weren't advertising wifi so just had a Pepsi and left.  Looking everywhere we go for a wifi extender, would really be helpful in Canada.  When we're back in the states shouldn't need it with our own mifi but sure could use it now.

Back to the boat I moved on to cleaning the isinglass on the sundeck.  It was gross.  Jerry helped wiping down after I washed.  Did the corners on the bridge but didn't unroll the glass, it really needs to be done though.  Jerry was done helping by now.

Did dinner in then walked over to visit Rickshaw, loopers.  Another looper on True Texas looping in sections, in a small boat, walked over with us.  He is quite a talker so monopolized most of the conversation.  We hope to meet up with Rickshaw again soon.  Nice folks.

Sunset on the lock wall in Fenelon Falls

Got back to boat and baked cookies.  Talked to Elizabeth and Jeremy, then off to bed.


Thursday - Up about 6:15.  Jerry is anxious to go.  Fill the water tank have a little breakfast then start to get ready to go.  The guy from True Texas came by to chat.

 

Fenelon Falls was sprucing up everything around the waterfront.  They had been given funds to hold one of the many Queen's Jubilee celebrations around Ontario Canada.  It was funny, some guy was sweeping off the big rocks along side the dock.

 

 

 Looking at Fenelon Falls lock from the top towards the lower wall.

An early morning shot of the lock with no activity.  Looks like a giant swimming pool.

 

We pushed off about 7. Only 3.5 miles to the next lock. Jerry realized we would get to the lock about an hour before it opens. Dumb ass, his words.  Oh well, it's quiet and peaceful.  We heard loons as we are coming to the blue line on the wall by the lock. 

 

Another float plane

 

We experienced several of these very narrow channels.  The sign advises boaters to announce on the radio that they are entering this section to make boaters on the other end aware. 

 

Don't know if you can see this, but look for Trent Canal in the middle of the chart.  There is blue on the far right and blue on the far left.  The narrow canal is what you see in the pictures above and below.  It's only about 6-7 ft deep and very narrow.

The Kirkfield lock is a lift lock similar to the Peterborough lock.  We didn't realize there were 2 on the Trent.  This one is never mentioned. 

Kind of spooky driving into this one.  It felt like we were going to drive right off the edge. 

Jerry on the bow of the boat.

Met up with Rickshaw at one of the 7 locks today.  We traveled together to an anchorage at Chiefs Island on Lake Simcoe.  After some guy with huge speakers on his boat left it was a quiet, peaceful evening.  And what a fabulous sunset!  

 Monday - Off today about 8am.  A railroad bridge that is usually open was closed.  Rickshaw, Wind Song and another boat had to wait.  A train went by but the bridge didn't open.  About 15 minutes later, a guy came out and yelled to the first boat that there was another train coming.  We ended up waiting about an hour. 

 

Waiting for the bridge

 

Through another narrow section with docks and cottages on both sides. This opened up to Sparrow Lake. Wind was blowing and it is cool. Feels good. Much better than heat.

 

The water was as blue as it looks here and so clear.

Check out the rocks.  Don't have to worry much about mowing any grass.

We were all packed in this lock.  I think there were 2-3 40-45ft boats plus a couple of smaller boats.  It was tight.

 

We are almost finished with the Trent Severn Waterway.  Two more locks.  The Big Chute is next.  Vessels are floated into the cradle, which is about 80 ft by 26 ft.  Four 200 horsepower electric motors provide traction by cable.  It can transport up to a combined total of 91 tons.  The front wheels are on a different track than the back wheels, with the front of the carriage on the upper tracks.  The carriage remains level throughout the ride.  Boats rest on the bottom of the carriage, and webbing slings are provided to support boats safely.  The original railway opened in 1917. 

  

Looking at updating the railway with a lock in 1960, a survey was completed.  Before construction began the sea lamprey (a parasitic, eel-like fish), which had been devastating the fishing industry in the Great Lakes, was found in Gloucester Pool—at the bottom of the railway—and plans were put on hold. Several impractical ideas were suggested, but no practical solution could be found. By the end of the 1960s the old marine railway could not keep up with the amount of boating traffic in the area. Long lines formed at either end of the railway, with waits often being overnight. Research was done to find a way to prevent the migration of the sea lamprey into Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe, while still effectively increasing the flow of traffic. A biologist sat at the bottom of the railway for days, checking the bottom of boats that locked through, and finally saw a lamprey attached to the bottom of a boat. The lamprey fell off after less than 6 meters, so the railway was determined to be effective at preventing the sea lamprey's migration. In 1976 it was finally decided that a new, enlarged railway would be built. The current carriage was opened to the public in 1978, and can carry a boat up to 100 feet (30 m) long and 24 feet (7.3 m) beam.^[1] It cost $3 million to build

 

We hooked up with Rickshaw and when we arrived at Big Chute decided to dock before transiting.  Wanted to see what we were in for. 

 



The back of that boat is hanging off the back. 

 The railway crosses a street so gates come down as it crosses.

 We moved to the blue line after our short walk around.  Rickshaw was first.  The railway isn't big enough for both of us so they take off.  The lock master got a couple of smaller boats in first.  They take off and are gone in a few minutes down the other side.  Boats on the downside are picked up and brought up.

We read to pull all the fenders in and have lines available.  We're up.  They take a smaller boat and a SeaDoo ahead of us.  Then we follow.  We drive in and they tighten the slings on the front and middle of Wind Song.  Next thing you know we are out of the water. 

 You can sort of see the SeaDoos and a small boat riding along with us.

Jerry and me at the top of the Big Chute

We just crossed the street here.  One of the lock tenders told Jerry he had to sit down while out on the deck.

Slow and steady.  The scene is beautiful from up top.  It's really freaky though, the boat bounces on the rail platform. 

 



 We get to the bottom, probably only takes 10-12 minutes all total.  The platform goes into the water and the smaller boat and Sea Doos float off.  They take off then we are told to start our engines and we are off.  What a ride!

I'm looking back to make sure we clear everything. 

This gorgeous wooden boat was cruising around showing off.  And rightly so.

 

Rickshaw was meeting some friends and staying at a marina tonight.  We plan to stay at lock 45 on the wall for the night if we can find a spot.  We pass through Little Chute another very narrow section that opens up to a lake.

 

Lucky for us we find a spot at the top of the lock.  Say Goodbye and Attitude Adjustment are already there.  We decide to stay a couple of nights.  No hurry to go on and it's kind of a neat place.

 

Lock 45



Saturday - Walked into town.  Not much around. Found a general store, then another, right next to it.  A couple of marinas, a restaurant and we were done.  Ad breakfast at a resort marina, pretty hoity toity.  My pancakes weren't that good.

 

As we're eating we see boats lining up to go through the lock about 30 minutes before it even opens.  All day, nonstop boats waiting for the lock.  The lock master says his day is playing Tetris with boats getting as many into the lock at one time as possible.  He is good. It's amazing how he makes it work.

 

Later in the afternoon, we packed up laundry and walked to the laundromat about a mile away.  It was hot so when we got back we jumped in the water for a quick dip.  Felt really good.

 

Had dinner out at Dam Grill just across from the lock.  We ate pickerel (walleye).  Really good.

 

Invited dock neighbors Sharon and Brian over for a drink.  They had friends coming by so didn't stay long.  They did loan us their extra charts for the first part of Georgian Bay and showed us some great places to anchor.