Peoria to Havana

We got away from the dock around eight or a little later. We had to get to the lock fairly soon. The lock master said get here ASAP and we will see what we can do for you. We could see that a barge was being locked down and we were told we were next so we thought it would be a good idea if we tied up to a barge that was parked close by. First it was Selah, then us, then some strangers and then some more strangers. Then along came one of the shuttle barges and told us to untie. They said since 9\11 they had strict laws against tying up to these barges. The man took me aside and apologized. He said he knew that no sailboaters would ever cause any problems but that trawlers...well you just can never tell.

Jim didn't tie his boat to the ropes this time and the whole day was pretty uneventfull. We sailed down to Havanna where Steve and Linda served a meal fit for a king. Linda Murray didn't fall at all today. Cheryl spent a lot of time fighting with Verizon since they cut her phone off. They may cut off the Phone stick also so there may be no more Blogs for a while til we get this straightened out. Thanks to the Lorties for the notes on the charts! We were able to anchor in a spot they had indicated just North of Havanna since the Marina there was down to about three and a half feet at the entrance. Another friend called and reported to us that the Mississippi was up thirteen feet running at six knots with tons of garbage and trees floating down. We are hoping that this will subside in a couple of days since we will be there in about a week and we don't want to have to wait too long till it is safer. The clock is ticking and I keep humming "Water turns cold and gets to freezin, before you even know it the old girls easin away from her birth, around the point and out of our view. That and "When it's Springtime in Alaska its forty below. Buenos Nochas!

The computer says we have no belts for you!

The little dock at Henry Island was definitely at the right place at the right time. We needed a little time out of the rain and a nice place to eat after a little stress of towing Surona down the river. The Bar/Restaurant had a unique collection of Bras hanging in the rafters. It must have been a hot day when all the women decided to take them off and throw them up there! As we left Linda became enthralled by the sight of a barge coming down the River in the dark with his bright searchlight on. She was so taken with the sight she stepped into the air on part of the sidewalk, did a slow spin, bouncing off the handrail and fell on the rocks below us. She says she wasn't hurt. I gave her a 6.5 for artistic creativity but only a 6 for execution. I feel she could have done the whole thing faster and cleaner!

I took Surona's water pump off. It didn't take long since the belt that drives it was lying in shreds on the bottom of the engine department. There were no parts available in Henry on a Sunday. Cheryl had caught a cold so she just wanted to nap after breakfast. After church Linda (hereafter referred to as Crazylegs Murray) tripped over a piece of sidewalk and went down again. I couldn't see any improvement in her routine. She is OK!

We left Surona tied on to the side of Selah because she rode well there. Jim says she was about as hard to pull as his dingy. We were on our way down this muddy, fish infested river (they are still jumping like idiots all around us). Our next stop was Cillicouthy. Here we wern't sure how deep the water was at the town dock. We will probably never know since we went to ground fifty feet away. Surona stopped and Selah took a sudden turn to the right. We continued the turn, powered up a bit and drove back out into the channel. The next time Selah grounded out first. We all stopped. Selah went up a bit but she backed off and we drove back out into the channel. We spied an old twisted wharf a little downstream. It looked like something big used to tie up here so we inched our way in and disturbed a couple of fishermen by parking right in front of them. People love to hear our story of heading down stream to Alabama! One of the fishermen offered to take us up to a local Automotive store that was open on Sunday to see if they had a belt for Surona. One man at the counter checked through his computer and several large catalogues only to announce that they didn't have a nineteen inch belt. The other man walked to the back and came back with a nineteen and a twenty inch belt. I bought them both. What a relief! An hour and a half later Surona was gushing water out the back again. I had topped up the oil in the motor and the transmission, cleaned out the water strainer, tightened up the fanbelt, we had pushed off from the old pilings and separated from the command module. We were once more blasting our way southward at 6.5 knots with fish leaping around us.

Almost like stepping back in time we came upon an entrance to what seemed like a graveyard for Paddle Wheelers. It was at the entrance to our next overnight dockage. It seems that for some reason these old veterans were parked here and forgotten, only to slowly fade away along with the millions of stories I'm sure they harbor. The one at the entrance had been an old gambling boat and was still stately. I'm sure she was something to see in her youth.

We pulled out in the morning and rambled on down I think for ten or twelve miles to the town of Preoria, world headquarters for Caterpillar. They tell us that it is well over a hundred miles till we can buy more diesel fuel. I bought a new can and filled up Surona and the cans. Jim bought new batteries for Selah. I could tell Linda was so proud to have new batteries. On the way down the river today I saw the first true signs of intelligent life... a sailboat. The fish keep jumping! The fishermen here have devised a way of setting nets and circling the fish, getting them all excited and I guess they swim into the nets and are captured. Someone told us that they get about 25 cents each for them and they are ground up for cat food and dog food. At least someone has found some use for them! There are millions of them. They are ugly.

Holy jumpin Carp

The sky was blue,without a cloud around 8o'clock in the morning when we called the lockmaster at Starved Rock Lock. He said hold off for an hour before leaving Ottawa and since he was about an hour down stream that meant it would be around ten before we could get locked down. We went for a little walkabout in downtown Ottawa. We grabbed some breakfast and got back down to the ROTARY dock in time to set sail. Nothing of note happened. We went through the lock unscathed except for Jim who temporarily tied the line they heave to you to hold you close to the lock wall to his boat. As the water level went down Jim's boat took on an unhealthy lean. He had to leap forward and unsheath his trusty sailor's knife slicing the unwanted appendage. I think he should send some money to the Army Corps of Engineers to buy a new rope.

After leaving the lock I stepped it up a bit to get around a barge. I must have stepped it up a little too much or something plugged my water intake because the sound of my exhaust took on a much different sound. No water was circulating through the motor! My alarm sounded and I shut her off. There we were,dead in the water in the middle of the Illinois River at three o'clock in the rain. I had to call on my life support team "Selah" who turned back and hooked on to me and started to tow me down the river. After a little jerking around we finally agreed on how to do this without me running into them. We did this for only a few moments and the Ninja carp we had heard about started jumping all around the boat. Quite a spectacle, I never thought that I would see this actually happen. I guess the boat frightens them and they start jumping in all directions as you pass over a school. This went on for a while but we couldn't get them to jump at the same time as Cheryl snapped a picture so you will have to take my word for it.

Yesterday's Dream overheard about our dilemma and called to see how they could help. Everything seemed to be under control. Steve and Linda went ahead to Henry's Harbour Marina to make arrangements for our arrival. They called back to say they had a number of hands on the dock to help.

Thanks for all of the people that make up the Surona support team.

As we got closer to this next marina I tied on beside Jim and he brought me right in to the dock just like he had been doing it all his life. So here we are, Selah tied to the dock with me hitching a ride, rafted, waiting to see if we can get some parts tomorrow. For some reason just a few random remarks pertaining to "trawler trash" some time in my distant past has prompted these people to take multiple pictures of my unfortunate dillema. They seem to be enjoying this and something tells me I will be reminded of this for some time. What turns people mean like that?

Muddy River (seems to be getting cleaner)

Our troop has temporarily grown to seven. It consists of one flashy sailboat, five trawlers and one wild man in a sport fishing boat who really rattled us in the lock yesterday. He came screaming in forcing all the other boats to bounce and almost bang into each other. We all dropped him from our Christmas card list!

A barge got into trouble and had to be disassembled in the lock ahead so we had to wait for a while before starting out. We were a little late getting unhooked when another barge coming downstream got ahead of us and we had to pass him. We had to follow him for a ways. They warn us not to follow too closely because the tugs churn up a lot of trash off of the river floor. It becomes more difficult when you have to stick to him to get under the bridges before they close and try to get around and pass him. I took up the rear guard and we three tardy souls passed him on his port side. Shortly thereafter we came around a corner with another tug pushing a bunch of barges. The other boats passed him on starboard and I thought that was a good idea until he came towards me faster than I had anticipated and the space between him and me and a parked barge began getting narrower and narrower. He called to tell me that I should have taken his starboard side to pass on because there was more room there but now that I had committed to my move I should hold my course. I'll bet he is still sweating just thinking about the damage my 12,000 pound fiberglass sailboat might have done to his mega ton barge! Let that be a lesson to him! Maybe next time he will plan things just a little better.

The wind still seems to find us, even on the river. We forged forward in at least thirty knot winds, mostly right on the nose. for about seven hours and "Yesterdays Dream" who was lead boat in our group (now back down to three) arranged accommodations in a surprisingly modern facility right on the river. I don't think that they have much of a future since they don't have a single sailboat here....unless you count the flashy one tied up at the gas dock with a Whisker pole for a mast. I think the owner was holding back a salute when he caught my lines...sort of like those people on "Cracker Bay" who wanted me to come aboard but were too shy to approach me. But enough about me! We cooked steaks on a picnic table, drank some wine told some stories (sometimes I think Cheryl talks a bit too much) and we tucked in. Man it is getting dark here before eight o'clock and it is still about eighty five degrees. That is supposed to whip back to seventy for tomorrows high. Cheryl is getting her long red underware out. nite nite

Oh by the way we have gone through four locks totaling 3', 40', 35' and 20' give or take. I think my ears just popped!

So long Chicago (It's been five days)

I can't get enough of this town. We went to see Billy Elliot last night. We spent all day and part of the previous one in the Museum of Science and Industry. We think we finally have the street car system figured out. The smells coming out of the restaurants leave you drooling like a fool. The "Bears" are coming to play soon and they say the town goes crazy with tailgate parties. Our marina is a stonesthrow from Soldiers Field. No wonder this is Frank Sinatra's kind of town!

If we don't leave soon we may never pry ourselves away so at eight o'clock this morning we pumped out the boat and headed down the Illinois River, through our first lock and under at least five hundred bridges. Surona took point and guided the trawlers through thru the congestion of the Chicago, Illinois and Des Plaines rivers. Around 3:30, after weaving our way through between hundreds of full and empty barges being pushed up and down through the most stinking water known to man we tied up in Jolliett about forty miles south west of Chicago. Linda from "Selah" fed us her down home version of Shrimp and Grits the way (almost) those folks from Edisto Island in South Carolina make them.

Few people who haven't seen this would believe that such huge amounts of goods get pushed and pulled up and down this river daily. It keeps you on your toes to avoid conflict with them or the bottom or the walls in the locks or some of the idiots on the River.

We see a few fish jumping but we can't tell if they are Ninja Carp or the regular three toed four eyed catfish that evolve in these waters. We have passed through the Electric fences that are supposed to stop the carp from gaining access to the great lakes. So the pressure is off. We have passed the only thing that would have stopped us for any length of time. They are going to close the canal on Oct 1 for some improvements to the fish fences.

We really miss the clean water of the great lakes.

Chicago Fireworks

I forgot to tell you about the fireworks last night. Apparently they do fireworks every Wednesday and Saturday night. We were walking back from dinner aboard Trusty III and watched the most amazing fireworks. They went on and on for about 15 minutes. When we started watching we thought by the amount that it must have been the grand finale. But no - they put on a great fireworks display. A lot of them we had never seen before. And fireworks over water is something to see.

And me without my camera.

"Chicago is Our Kind of Town"

What a City! This will be one of the largest cities we will see and visit on our trip.

The 11 to 12 mile trip from Crowley's on the Calumet River to Chicago was good under a bright sun. The 7 foot waves from the previous afternoon and evening had calmed down to 5 to 6 foot rollers that were well spaced out. Up one side and surf down the other. Rock and roll. Now we know what it will be like on the ocean. We now know what it is like to be a trawler. They are teasing us that we are "trawler wannnabe's" The boat certainly does move differently without the mast and sails.

We have tied up in Burnham Harbor Trusty III is here also. What a harbor this is - it has about 1600 slips. Boats of every shape and size. It is close to the public transit system and you can ride for $14. for 3 days. We have paid to stay here for 3 nights and plan to take in as much of the tourist activities as possible.

Security is great .... each finger dock has its own locked gate with its own security code and another security code for the washrooms. We all are on a different finger dock. That means 4 different codes in all. The security is sooooo good that we are lucky to remember our own 2 codes.

Friday night in Chicago, Claude and Yvette co-ordinated. They took us to the the top of the Hancock Building for drinks. Terrific view of the city from 96 floors high.

Then we were off to dinner at a restaurant called Shaws' that is famous for its seafood. We wanted to celebrate Jim and Linda's 48 Wedding Anniversary (September 15th). This restaurant was outstanding. Everything that comes out of that kitchen is extraordinary. We were glutens and still couldn't finish everything. Linda confessed she was a "food snob" and this was exactly the kind of restaurant that she really enjoyed. We thought the Bistro in White Lake had been the best restaurant we had on the trip but Shaw's beat it hands down.

Saturday in Chicago. After the rain storm came through and while the skies still look threatening; we put on our Tilley hats, don our jackets and umbrella in hand make our way to the transit shelter. Over to Navy Pier to do the Architecture Tour aboard a boat. A guided tour of the buildings along the Chicgao River (main) and portions of the North Chicago and South Chicago. Chicago got a second chance to re-invent itself after the great fire in 1871. I can't remember the names of any of the architects but a few buildings really are memorable. Two buildings they nicknamed the "corn cobs" are tall cylindrical buildings where you can dock your boat below, park your car on one of the next 16 levels of the building and then live in one of the condos that climb into the sky. The buildings are quite self contained with stores and shops of every kind within.

Chicago is a railway town. All railroads have come into Chicago at one time or another. Buildings and railroad co-exist peacefully. If you need more rails and a building is in the way; they take the building down. If the rails are in the way of the building.... they just build overtop of the rails and voila - another skyscraper.

Back to the Navy Pier terminal .... filled with food places and tourist type shops for hats, tshirts. Chicago is well known for its stained glass artists and there is an exhibition of some of the artworks. Very well done. As you proceed along this terminal there is a historical timeline which outlines what happened in Chicago of note in given years. i.e. 1871 - the great fire which destroyed most of Chicago, something like 10,000 people were homeless, within the next 5 years over 70% of the children died, not too long after that another 10,000 people died of diptheria due to the contaminated water; they dredged the Chicago River to give them access to the Great Lakes and in doing this they dug it so deep that they changed the direction so that the Chicago River started to flow to St. Louis and into the Mississippi and finally into the Gulf of Mexico.

Chicago Here We Come

We left St. Joseph about 9:00 am Winds to be 10 - 15 and waves 1-3. Should be a great day.

A bit of a following sea, which made it a sloppy sail, but we were able to get our sail out and made really good time. Sometimes we were doing 7.4 or 7.8 surfing down the waves.

Midpoint of our crossing Peter noticed that 2 screws on the rudder post were up about 1 inch. He screwed them back down. So glad that he noticed. I have thought of a number of things that could go wrong - transmission failure, or motor problems - but never thought about losing the rudder. That would be awful. So glad to avert that disaster.

The skyline of Chicago as it rises out of the mist is something to behold. Took a lot of pictures but not sure they will do the sight any justice.

We had to go under 2 bridges on the approach to Crowley's Yacht Yard. A new experience. You call the street name of the bridge and very respectfully ask "for a lift at your convenience" Within a few minutes up goes the bridge. Then protocol seems to be to "thank the bridge" on passing.

Crowley's is on the east side of Chicago; a very industrial area - not pretty at all. Very close to a major railway track system. Trains every 15 minutes. The night security man suggested that we not go walking in the evening or some local residents would relieve us of our money. There is 24 hour security here.

The traffic on the Calumet River is most interesting to watch. We saw 2 big tugs escorting a huge 1000' Great Lakes freighter "Canadian Enterprise" under the bridges. Quite impressive.

Peter and Jim had all of the sails off the boat and folded while we prepared dinner. We wanted them off before the rain that was expected this evening.

Today is Jim and Linda's 48th wedding anniversary. Yvette and Claude from Trusty III skyped us and suggested that we all have dinner at a seafood restaurant they heard about. They too are in Chicago at Burnham Marina. We were all a little surprised that we had ended up here at the same time.

Tomorrow we will have the mast removed and ready for shipping by truck.

Benton Harbour/St Joseph

We are starting to come under some pressure to get a move on. We are scheduled at "Crowleys Yacht yard" for Thursday. We have one supposedly good day before the weather turns wild again with high winds and hail coming from South Dakota. We have 140 miles to go averaging 6.5 knots per hour with the wind helping sometimes. We are being told that we have to get through some Electrocution fences on the Illonois River before October first and we would like to knock around Chicago as "tourists" for a couple of days.

We hastily get packed up, run the five miles down White lake to the big water and at eight o'clock we pull down the goggles, throw the scarf around our necks, put the hammer down and watch this baby start to roll. Six point eight miles per hour with a slight east wind. Eat your heart out NASCAR fans!

The easy run would be New Haven, around seventy miles but the weather was right and we were not sure how long it would hold so we asked out friends on "Selah" to run ahead ( there are some good things relating to trawlers) and arrange a tie up for the night for us in Benton Harbor. They kicked it up a notch and got in an hour before dark. They arranged a dock for us and had steaks hot as we fumbled our way in in the quickly fading light. We were very fortunate to meet Jim and Linda Murray. They have made this trip a pleasure for us. They still talk funny. Sometimes you just have to adjust EH!

Benton harbor looks really interesting. We should get back here someday.

White Lake - Day 2

The outlook was for 3 to 5 foot waves with winds 15 - 20 knots, building to 30 knots in the afternoon. We could have probably left early in the morning and got in somewhere ahead of the heavy winds but it was marginal conditions. It was a nice day here so we decided to stay.

Spent the morning cleaning the boat and then went to the grocery store to re-provision. I love it that you can buy your wine at the grocery store.

The municipal marine that we are tied up at is closed for the season. You just come in and tie up. Still have access to the hydro, water and power. Virtually all of the slips are empty. There are 3 other boats in the entire marina. The season has come to an end. An empty marina by September 13th is like rolling up the sidewalks. I think they are trying to tell us something.

There are 13 mute swans that leisurely swim around the harbor. What a serene picture.

The fishing boats outnumber the swans tho'. They are catching coho salmon that are trying to swim up the river. When we came in last night, we had to sail a very erratic course to miss all of the fishing boats. One young girl caught a fish as we were passing. Peter thought it was about 5 pounds. A good sized fish. They really take their fishing seriously here. Out on Lake Michigan we would see boats with 2 people in the boat, and they would have up to 10 + fishing rods and down riggers on the boat.

We are about 100 miles from Chicago, where we have made arrangements to have the mast taken off the boat on Thursday weather permitting. The mast will then be trucked to Mobile Alabama. Once this is done we can relax a little. We hope to spend a few days in Chicago. It apparently is quite the city. The canal runs right down the center of the city.

While Lake Michigan has been very pretty and we have enjoyed all of the marinas along the way; it is time to get off this lake.

Arrived White Lake

Got away from Ludington and made our way to White Lake. Winds 15 to 20 just like weatherman said, and the winds came around from the NW to SW and a little more south than the weatherman said. It was a bright sunny day with most waves 3 feet and then the occassional 4 footer at least. All in all a good day of sailing. Arrived White Lake probably about 7:00pm. By the time we got tied up and settled we walked to town for something to eat. Linda said she hadn't got anything out of the freezer. This is our standing joke for "We're going to eat out" We walked left out of the marina and couldn't find anywhere so we came back and went right. By the time we found and got to the place for dinner it was already closed. We settled for pizza, wings and cheese bread. We ate aboard Selah. It all tasted soooo good.

Yesterday when we were in Ludington we went to Walmart and bought a heater for the boat and I bought another outfit of warm clothes and some socks for both Peter and I. Who would have thought it would be getting this cold in September.

Travel days are so tiring. It is getting late, time to tuck in for the night.

Till next time.

Leland to Manistee? - No Ludington

Everyone was up early and by 6:45 am had all the lines untied and it was an orderly exodus from Leland. 6 boats in all left with us. All were anxious to get some miles behind them. The original destination was for Manistee. It was such a great day that we decided to push on to Ludington; about an 82 mile excursion. The temperature is cool. Bright sunny skies, winds around 10 knots and most importantly wave heights about 1 foot. We're smoking. We should arrive Ludington between 6 and 7:00 pm tonight.

Mid day I counted 21 boats in our local vicinity. Boats were moving everywhere.

Our "trawler trash" friends are out of sight now; and have been for awhile. They call back to us from time to time to check and see how we are doing. They have already made reservations for us at the Ludington Municpal Marina for the night. Saturday looks like it could be a rain day with possible tstorms.

I hope Ludington has a nail place. It has been almost a month and I have been roughing it. Time to get some overdue maintenance. Peter would call this high maintenance.... oh contrar it is a necessity....at least from my perspective. I wonder what column this goes under in the budget?

Leland for Another Day

All of these marinas have terrific villages very close. Leland is no different. It was a fishing village and the small buildings along the entrance of the river have been maintained and converted into small shops. Cheese, meats, wines, gift shops, etc. And then you can walk out of the marina and up to the street. As soon as you are out of the parking lot there are more small shops. The grocery store is in the first block, with restaurants across the street. The Post Office is only about 2 blocks away. Everything is so convenient.

And now that we are in the US; you can buy beer, wine, and liquors at the grocery store. We had to break down and finally buy a bottle of wine; the inventory was getting low. Not exhausted, but low.

The winds are coming down quite nicely. Peter wanted me to be sure to say that "the winds have calmed down so that only small animals are flying around now."

At noon the winds were down to about 10 to 15 knots which is good, but the wave heights reported by a sailboater who had gone out earlier in the day said they experienced 4 to 6 footers. Our next stretch is about 44 miles or 6 to 8 hours of travel. Tomorrow looks like a really good day for travelling. Frankfort here we come, and if things are looking good who knows we could get to Manistee.

Just made a big pot of soup and Linda is going to make salad and biscuits. She even asked for us to bring over one of our games. Sequence for tonight.

When Pete went to pay for our slip for tonight; they said it was no charge. What a surprise.

As much as we like Leland - and they have treated us so good - it is time to move along.

Last night they took down the gale force winds flag; the small craft warning flag just came down now. If the forecasts hold we can be on our way tomorrow.

There have been so many boats weathered in here and we all have been getting together between 4 to 6 for cocktails at a social room in the marina building. One boat has been here for 11 days.

Till tomorrow.

Leland in the wind

The wind just never stops! At one point we checked the wind measurement device on the boat. It touched 41.1 knots. Rain was intermittent and the waves just keep pounding the breakwall. We are pleased to be tied up but the time passes slowly. The cold wind makes outside walks uncomfortable. This is more like November weather! The couple we met earlier have tied up their boat and gone back to New Jersey to look after business. They will return soon. The weather is supposed to improve tomorrow. I get a better understanding of people who say "nice place, I spent a week there one day.

Some guy almost became a stastistic when he came in, in a twenty-five foot boat being tossed around like a leaf. His kid was on the deck with no life jacket. He was on the swim platform steering a trolling motor after his out drive packed it in.

Anyway...lets see what tomorrow brings!

Northport to Leland

The call of nature woke me at 4am. The wind was down to nothing. I puttered around for a while until I thought everyone would want to be awake. I might have been a little early. I went around and knocked on windows so I could point out how the wind had gone down. By this time a breeze was coming up. Since it takes me a little longer to travel I decided to head out in the dark. After a little frantic position questioning we got straightened out and moving. The wind had climbed to 12 knots and the waves were up a bit but I couldn't see them so it wasn't bad. We turned north to get out of the bay as the sun was just starting to peak through. The wind had increased and the waves were up to around three to four coming from behind. We put up the sail and we scooted up the bay partly surfing and motor sailing in an attempt to get the trip to Leland in before noon or 1 o'clock when the wind was to pick up to gale force (over 38 knots per hour). Well the wind had come up to around 20 knots and when we made turn to go south to Leland it was coming right on the nose with ten miles to go at around 5 knots per hour sometimes dropping back to 2 knots when we caught a big wave that almost stopped us dead. It seemed scary for a while until we realized that we weren't going to sink, it didn't make sense to go back and we didn't really have anything else to do for the morning. We made the trip unscathed and lunged our way into this port at around noon. We were followed shortly by our friends in Selah. They had had their refrigerator perform an unscheduled clean out all over the floor and all the cargo on their rear deck was sliding in all different directions. It was nice to get in out of that and when the wind went up more in the afternoon and intermittent periods of sunshine, cloud and rain, sometimes driving, occurred it was nice to be tied up and watching from the docks. This place has just been updated to the tune of 3.5 million. Nice place! $41 for dockage. One small point of trivia; There are more pleasure craft in the state of Michigan than in any other state in the US

Sunday in Norhtport

It's twenty to eleven. We just put away the "Sequence" game. The "Trawler Trash" went back to their boats. We are going to go for it early in the morning and try to get to Leland. It is thirty miles down the coast. We have to sail out this bay for ten miles and then back south again for about twenty miles or so. It is in this twenty miles where the weather may get mean again. We will be alright if we can get back in to port before one o'clock but they are calling for gale force winds around then. There are a bunch of people there wanting to get out and get going south so the grand change will take place if the weather holds. We will see what tomorrow brings.

We attended church this morning. Our friend Jim says we should continue to "top up" the spiritual side of things. I'm not throwing away my life jacket just yet. It doesn't hurt to cover a few more bases.

Saturday in Northport

Well, let me see what we did today. We woke up tired. The wind blew so hard through the night I'm sure all the livestock here has blown out to sea. This is a protected port and a great little village but it is too windy here! All night long the boat is being tilted up on its side like we are sailing but no sails are up! It is just the wind blowing against the mast. We have the boat tied up on all four corners away from the docks to stop the fenders from wearing out. We think that things are starting to quiet down a bit like at home. Just then a mean low dark black cloud comes over, it rains like a hurricane and the wind picks up. I don't like to complain but even the fish are tired of the rain. For something to do we walked uptown (600 feet) to catch a bus to a neighbouring bay for a look around. The bus doesn't run today. We do some shopping and come back to the boat. We read some more, played some board games with our good neighbors and tucked in with the wind blowing and the rain coming down. I think we will go to church tomorrow. Maybe the rain will quit.

Northport MI Friday

Northport is a nice little place with a solid dock where we happily stayed tied up for yet another day while the wind howls. We read some, slept some, ate some. Everyone wants to get a move on but when you stop and listen to the wind howling you get over it!

Holiday in Northport Michigan

The weather forecast is the worst we've seen yet. When these weather people start talking in terms of 14 ft waves we go around the boat and tighten up the lines and decide what to do today that doesn't include boating. Warnings are going out for boaters to get off the water. We haven't heard of this previously. 45kt winds in the forecast make us eager for a bus ride into Traverse City for a look around. At this rate we should see Chicago by Christmas. At least we are all safe. So far one of the trawlers (Trusty 111) went on ahead somewhere but the three of us (Selah and Yesterday's Dream) will wait here till things clear up.

Wednesday's trip Charlevoix to Northport

We woke up with a decision to make. They say they want us out of this beautiful dockage before the long Weekend. The weather today isn't wonderful but it gets worse tomorrow! This means we had better get our tails moving. We found a great place where the locals have breakfast so we start with the most important thing...filling our bellies. After a double serving of what JUDIE'S calls "HAM SCRAM" I could feel the Cholesterol building up in my veins. We said "So Long" to Judy and went for a quick walk in the rain to seek out some more of these mysterious "Mushroom houses". We found a couple and headed back to the boat. We had missed the ten o'clock bridge opening so we had to put in time for the next one. We headed out into what we thought would be 15 kt winds and one to two foot sea. It turned out to be a bit wilder than that so we changed out destination from Leland (35 mi) to Northport 25 miles. Not exactly where we wanted to go but another great place that has been here since the dawn of time and it looks like we will be here for a day or two. Gale warnings and thunderstorms for the next couple of days. I think we are better off than those folks in northern Florida!

Wednesday/\