Friday, August 31, 2012

Yesterday we left Hamm's Holiday Harbor Marina at 6:15 A.M.  It felt good to be on our way again.  By 9:00 we were through the Peoria Lock.  We were the only boat in the chamber and the drop was only about 4 feet, so the lockmaster told us to just float in the middle and not tie up.  That was a first.  The boat is running smoothly since the pressure plate repair. 

The Asian Carp jump all over the place.  They hit the sides and bottom of the boat with a "Thunk".  It sounds horrible.  One man said an Asian Carp landed on his boat right next to the cabin door.  Fortunately, it was closed at the time.  We are now cruising with the door closed, no matter how hot it becomes.  Apparently, these fish are a muddy, bloody mess to clean off of your boat.  I took a video of the flying fish, but the Internet service is not very good here and the video will not load.  I'll try to post it at a later date.

So last night we were anchored behind Bar Island.  It was a good, quiet, and isolated anchorage.  There was no Internet service there.  There was no town or anything around.

Today we were up at 5:00.  We pulled up the anchor before it was light.  We reached the LaGrange Lock and had to wait for two hours for a barge that had to be split up in the chamber.  This is the last lock on the Illinois Waterway. 

Along the way we saw cows in the water and then a baby deer swimming across the river.  We watched as the deer climbed out of the water on shore and ran into the woods.  It rained steady from about 9:30 on today.  We got to Grafton Harbor just before 4:00.  The rain actually stopped while we docked, but then picked up again shortly after.  There is even a tornado watch.  We are grateful to be tied to a covered dock.  The people on this dock are all friendly.  In fact, we had dinner with Tim and Valerie, our next door neighbor here. 

I will try to put a couple of pictures on.  If they don't show up here, I'll add them at a later date.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

The boat is back in working order.  We filled up the fuel tank and we are ready to cruise tomorrow morning.  One unusual thing about this harbor is that they do not take credit cards.  They did take our out of state check, however.  There are lots of tow boats here in the harbor and on shore.  Also, there is a floating casino, no longer in operation.  We thought maybe it was the old Argosy from Lawrenceburg, Indiana.  It says "Rock Island" on the side of it though. 

We hope to have an uneventful day on the water.  I am putting some pictures of this marina on the blog tonight.  Hope you enjoy them.

 The defunct casino we thought might have been the Argosy.

 View of the marina from the parking lot.

 A tow boat on shore at the marina.

The restaurant that has not been open in 5 years.

 

This is the first place we have been where we saw Asian Carp, otherwise known as Flying Fish.  They are pretty big and jump pretty high.  The stories on the dock here are that they land on the dock or in a boat and die.  They smell stinky and make a big muddy, bloody mess.  I am certainly hoping to not have any stowaways on our boat as we travel south down the Illinois Waterway and the Mississippi River. 

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

John got an email from UPS this morning saying that the delivery information was not complete and that he should contact them so they could deliver it tomorrow.  It needed a business name.  Unfortunately, John did not see this email until one hour after it was received.  Apparently, the company he ordered the part from, left part of the name of the marina off the delivery slip.  It did have John's name on it, but that wasn't sufficient.  John emailed UPS and explained the situation.  The driver brought the part later in the day.  It was too late for the mechanic to come down and install it, but he is coming around 8:00 tomorrow morning.  We are anxious to move on.  It's been pretty warm the last week or so.   Being out on the water, with the breeze in our hair, sounds pretty darn good right now.

Monday, August 27, 2012

The weather is better.  It stopped raining, and is in the upper 80s.  John ordered the boat part first thing this morning.  It's supposed to be here tomorrow sometime. 

I spent a good part of the day working on genealogy research.  I can get so lost in my research. I have found out some pretty interesting things over the past several years.  Today is no exception. 

After dinner, I defrosted the ice maker.  Big deal.  Not much happening here.  Just waiting to be able to move on.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

It was ugly here in beautiful Chillicothe, Illinois.  It began raining this morning and has been raining, off and on, all day.  Sometimes with thunder and lightning.  It's not as if we could move our boat anyway.  A very nice woman named Lisa loaned me her car so that I could run to Kroger.  Fortunately, I had my Kroger card with me.  Her car only has 10,600 miles on it. 

Then, later, we got some disappointing news.  Our friends who were going to spend the winter (in their boat) at Aqua Harbor with us, were not able to work it out.  We will really miss them and hope they come and visit us at some point during the winter.  In fact, we would really enjoy a visit from any of our family or friends. 

We will be here until at least Wednesday.  It all depends on how long it takes to receive the part and then have it installed on our boat. 

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Dale (the mechanic) came to the boat at 9:15 this morning.  By 11:30, the determination had been made that the problem is just what John thought it was.  Now, we have to wait for the part.  The place he needs to order it from, isn't open on the weekend.  So, it will be ordered on Monday and overnighted.  Now we just have to wait.

The people here are nice.  There are no amenities, except fuel.  So, it is up to us to entertain ourselves.  Not a problem for me.  I can always read, sew, or do genealogy research.  John has his guitar and TV to occupy his time.  We both have things we can do to the boat, like clean.  What fun!  It has been so hot the last three days, but tomorrow the high is supposed to be 79 degrees.  Much better. 

Friday, August 24, 2012

Today began as so many before have begun.  We were up and ready to leave at 6:00 A.M.  We left Starved Rock Marina with a little less money, but glad that the propellers have been swapped and the ride is smooth.  After only a couple of miles, we came to a lock called Starved Rock Lock and Dam.  There were barges in the chamber when we arrived, being locked up.  The tow and the rest of the barges were still on the low side, waiting for another cycle to get the rest of the barges and tow through.  The lock master said that we could slip in and lock down in between.  There wasn't a lot of room going into the lock or out of the lock.  Captain John had no problem maneuvering around the obstacles.

At one point, we were passing an island called Upper Twin Sisters Island.  It made us think of our twin granddaughters.  As we were passing this island, however, we noticed a bad fish smell.  It kept getting stronger and stronger.  Then we saw hundreds of dead fish floating in the water.  We have no idea why they died, but it sure was nasty.

We were about ten miles away from our chosen destination for the day when we lost our port propulsion.  The engine is fine, but it won't go into gear.  John investigated in the engine room and believes that the problem is a pressure plate between the engine and the transmission.  We called Hamm's Holiday Harbor Marina and informed them that we would be arriving on one engine.  Without having the assistance of the port engine, steering in the skinny channel into the marina was all but impossible.  We became grounded and the owner of the marina came out in his work boat and pushed us into deeper water.  We have found a mechanic who is coming down tomorrow morning to work on it.  We are hoping that it is easy and cheap to fix.  Now don't laugh too hard.  We know that nothing is easy and cheap on a boat, but you can't blame a girl for hoping.

The people here are nice though.  We have been offered the use of a car, if we need it.  We visited with the Friday night crowd for awhile and feel very welcomed by them all.

This morning's sunrise.

 

The barge waiting outside of the lock as we emerged.

 

Thursday, August 23, 2012

There are a number of floating houses on this river.  They are really cute, but awfully small.  I think a larger one would be cool though.  I am posting some pictures  of a few.

First thing this morning we had our boat pulled so we could swap out our props.  Things went pretty well at first.  The props were swapped and the mechanic named Shane asked if we cared if he looked in our engine room because the port shaft seemed to have a little too much wiggle room.  Once he and John looked in the engine room, they found that the same bolt that had broken off when we were on the Hudson River, broke off again.  It took another hour and a half to fix it.  Shane said he thinks it happened because the prop was bent and the vibrations caused the bolt to break.  I hope it is permanently fixed.  I am also posting a picture of the starboard prop.

 

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Yesterday as we were cruising along, we came across some things that made us think of home.  The first one was the Dan Ryan Bridge which made us think of Dan Ryan at home in Delhi.  We also passed a really big "mountain" with methane gas release valves which reminded us of Mt. Rumpke back home in Colerain Township.  We also passed a town named Robbins that made us think of Ron Robben also back home in Delhi.  Do you think we are getting a little homesick?

We spent a very comfortable night on the wall just before the Lockport Lock.  We zipped right through that lock first thing this morning at 5:45.  Besides Lockport, we also locked through The Brandon Road Lock, the Dresden Lock. and the Marseilles Lock, all without a hitch.  We arrived at our chosen destination (Starved Rock Marina in Ottawa, Illinois) at 2:45.  We had a wonderful dinner at "Captain's Cove Bar and Grill" on the marina premises.

We have arranged to have our boat pulled in the morning and the props switched out.  We hit something back on the Severn River.  We didn't notice too much of a vibration on Lake Michigan because of all of the wave action.  However, once we got back to the river system, it became more noticeable.  We carry a spare set of props which we will swap for the dinged ones and then get the damaged ones straightened out once we are settled in for the winter.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Yesterday we were visited by a woman named Brenda who is a Harbor Host for AGLCA (American Great Loop Cruisers Association).  She saw our AGLCA flag and came around to see if we needed anything, like to go to the grocery store or something similar.  This is the first Harbor Host we have met this year.  We didn't need anything, but it was really nice of her to ask.

We got a really early start this morning, leaving the harbor at 5:45 A.M.  We were planning on making it to Joliet, Illinois.  We cruised the Calumet River and the Chicago Sanitary Canal.  Both of these are very narrow with lots of barges and barge staging and slips around.  There are also a whole lot of bridges to go under.  The lowest fixed bridge along the entire Loop is here at 19 feet 1 inch.  When we got to this bridge, I climbed up on the roof and took the light down and stood up there to make sure we weren't going to hit.  We made it under with about 5 or 6 inches to spare.  We would have cleared without taking down the light, but only by one inch.Whew!

The next interesting thing we came to, was the electric fish fence.  We had to wait before scooting through this section for a few minutes because they were counting fish.  We turned our electronics off as we passed through here even though the Coast Guard man told us we didn't have to turn them off.  We thought:  better safe than sorry.

Then we made it to Lockport Lock.  The Lockmaster had us tie up to the wall because they had an electrical problem they were working on.  He told us that he didn't know how long it would take. Well, we arrived there at 12:30 and the lock wasn't ready for us until 6:45.  We asked the Lockmaster if we could just stay on the wall all night and lock through tomorrow morning.  He gave us permission to stay here.  So, we didn't make our intended destination today, but we are only one lock and three miles away from Joliet.

Sunrise this morning.

Pretty

Electric Fish Barrier Signs

Monday, August 20, 2012

What a difference a day makes.  Yesterday this place was hopping.  There were boats coming in and out in lines.  But, today, there is no one around. It's so quiet and the water is so calm.  John read that five water spouts were cited yesterday only about twenty miles from where we were cruising.  Wow!  Glad we didn't experience that. 

Today we each had our chores to do in the morning.  I won a free 8x8 inch, 20 page book from Shutterfly.  So this afternoon I went through our pictures and decided which ones to put in the book.  It took forever, but I've got the file ready to upload to Shutterfly.  Now I have to wait until we get somewhere that has high speed Internet.  It certainly isn't here.  Sorry, no pictures today.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

We left this morning at 6:30.  The weather was comfortable, but hazy.  No rain or wind.  Waves only one foot high.  We could see Chicago for more than 50 miles before we got there, even with the haze.  It was another of those perfect cruising days.  We arrived in Hammond, Indiana at Hammond Marina at 1:00, after cruising 57.5 miles.  This marina has a special going on right now, pay for one night, get the next night free.  So, for us it's two nights for $50, not bad.  On the same piece of property as the marina is a casino named "Horseshoe".  We just had to go check it out.  John played Texas Hold 'em, and was up pretty good at one point, but he gave it all back.  I lost 3/4 of my allotted funds, playing penny and nickel machines.  It was fun and not too expensive. 

This is another really huge marina, but even more empty slips than North Port Marina.  The marina office is even farther away than the one at yesterday's marina.  This time no one gave me a ride back.  I guess I got my exercise today. We are now finished with open water.  When we leave here, we will go right to the Calumet River and start toward the Illinois River.  We won't have to be so careful about the weather. 

This is the best (though hazy) picture of the Chicago skyline.

Can you see the white swirlies towards the right center part of photo?  It kind of looks like a roller coaster, but it's smoke from the stacks blowing in swirls.



There were about 25 sailboats just sitting in the middle of the water.  We think they were getting ready for a race.  It looked kind of weird to see them just sitting there.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

The weather today was perfect for cruising.  We pulled away from the dock at 7:00 A.M.  The seas were only one foot high.  Yea!  It was one of those days that make me feel so spoiled.  We cruised past Milwaukee and Racine, Wisconsin and ended up in Winthrop, Illinois at North Port Marina.  This marina is huge, having 1500 slips.  The walk from where we are docked to the office to pay for the night is at least 1/2 mile.  One man told us that the marina is only 43% full.  When we arrived, there were three very nice men on hand to help grab our lines and tie us up.  Then, this slip has 120 50 amp service.  We did not have the proper adapter, so one of those nice gentlemen loaned us one for tonight.  We are expecting to leave in the morning, heading for Hampton, near Chicago.  The weather doesn't sound quite as good for tomorrow as it did earlier today, so we will have to wait and see what the forecast is in the morning.  I am putting a couple of pictures of the Milwaukee skyline on the blog today.

Friday, August 17, 2012

After doing a little decluttering, I worked on my genealogy research.  No great finds today, but it still was fun.  A sailboat named "Summer Breeze" arrived in the dock next to our this afternoon.  Karen from "Summer Breeze" and I went for a walk.  It was nice to walk with someone.  We had a nice visit while we walked.  It seems to me that every where I go, the female boaters I meet are just like me.  We all love cruising and we all miss our children and grandchildren.  Karen has lots of local knowledge because this is their cruising grounds.  They are from Racine and cruise for several weeks each summer.  So, our plan is to leave here tomorrow morning.  The weather is supposed to be favorable for the next few days. 

After John looked at the blog last night, he said I should post some pictures of the boat we are buying.  So, here they are:

Thursday, Augus 16, 2012

The storm began this morning around 6:00 A.M.  Lots of thunder and lightning and then the rain came.  So, today I spent most of the day sewing.  I finished a shirt for John.  I'm not certain that he will wear it because it is so loud.  I'm posting a picture of it.  The designs are all brightly colored guitars.  We are most likely going to stay here in Port Washington, Wisconsin again tomorrow because the weather / waves are not supposed to be in our comfort zone. 

When we were home, we found a boat we are going to buy for after "The Loop".  We have decided that we want to continue living on a boat, but a larger one.  So, yesterday, John put two "For Sale" signs on the boat and shortly after that, we had two different people stop to look at her.  We are hoping it won't be difficult to sell our 42' Jefferson.  She has served us well.  This trip is the trip of a lifetime for us and this boat has made the journey very comfortable. 

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

The rental car had to be returned today.  Boo hoo!  It started out a little warm today, but as the day went on, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped.  We are expected to have 20 to 30 mph winds and heavy rain tonight and tomorrow.We are staying put tomorrow because of the weather forecast.  So far, it looks like we will probably be staying put on Friday as well for the same reason.  We figure we are two days away from Chicago.  We are ready to go whenever the weather is favorable to do so.

 It's nice to have the cupboards and refrigerator full again. John and I both spent the day getting caught up on things we have been putting off.  None of them were huge jobs, just things that it takes more time to get the tools out than the actual job.  You know what I mean?  Until tomorrow.....

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Yesterday, Jim had to take a client out to dinner and Gina went out to dinner with her friend Theresa.  Clara and Lindy went with Gina as well.  So, instead of waiting until 8:00 P.M. to leave Cincinnati, we left at 6:30 P.M.  We did pretty well until we were half way and it started raining pretty hard.  Chicago at 11:00 P.M. in the rain was not fun at all.  We took the toll roads which seemed counterproductive because every so many miles, you had to stop to pay more tolls.  We got back to the boat at Port Washington Marina in Wisconsin at 1:00 A.M. this morning.  We unloaded the car and put some water in the tank right away so we could get showers.  We slept until 8:00, went out for breakfast and then headed to the grocery store.  We needed just about everything.  It's been awhile since we've had access to a car.  Everything is put away and it feels good to just sit quietly and blog. 

The high temperature today was 79 degrees.  Last night it was 57 degrees when we arrived at 1:00.  It's nice to have the windows open and air the boat out.  We had so much fun at home.  We will miss you all until we get back again.  Here are a few more pictures from Mills Springs Battlefield. 

Monday, August 13, 2012

Well, the camping weekend is over.  Boo hoo!  We had so much fun with our children and grandchildren.  Everyone had fun and went to bed worn out each night.  We went out on the boats and swam.  We had a campfire each night.  One night the kids made s'mores.  On Sunday, Jay and Cynthia and their children went out on their boat and Gina and Jim and their children went out on their boat.  Kate had gotten a little pink from the sun on her face, so they went with John and me to check out Somerset.  We went to Mills Springs Battlefields and saw a movie about the Civil Was at the Visitor Center.  Then we went out for lunch and walked around at an antique / flea  market.  The weekend went way too fast.  As a matter of fact, our time at home has gone entirely too fast.  We are planning on leaving here early this evening.  We want to drive at night in hopes of avoiding the awful traffic we saw on the way here.  I am posting some pictures from our time at home:

 Lindy and Clara (and Jim)

 Kate

 Jonathan

 Carolyn and Maria

 

Jonathan had worn himself out.  Jay is imitating Jonathan.

Gina and Jim's boat.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Since we have been at home, we have been running around like crazy.  We had dinner at John's parents' house on Sunday.  Joan and Jim (John's sister and brother) were also there.  It was really nice to see them all and the food was excellent.  My mother-in-law is the best cook.  Then I had dinner on Monday with my Mom and my two sisters.  We sat at the restaurant so long, I thought they would kick us out, but they didn't.  We had a lot of catching up to do.  My sister Jenny has the lower part of her right leg in a cast from surgery.  She has a scooter thing that she puts her knee on and she goes speeding.  It's really fun to watch her buzz around.  I would be crashing into everything, but not Jenny.  John and I had to get caught up on our doctor visits.

John has been eating lunch with his friends in Delhi most days, getting filled in on what has happened around town while we have been away.  John got a haircut at the barber shop.  The barber asked him who cut it the last time.  He told them that I did, and the barber said that explains a lot.  I thought I did a pretty good job, but I guess not. 

Tomorrow we are going camping at Lake Cumberland with all of our children and grandchildren for the weekend.  So, this will probably be my last post until Sunday night or possibly Monday. I will take lots of pictures to share with you.  Promise.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

There is a pattern forming here.  I am skipping days of posting, not because there is nothing going on, but because we are busy with our family and friends.  Friday night we went to the Lighthouse Point Yacht Club's "Barbecue Bash".  We had received an email with all of the particulars and decided to just show up unannounced and surprise everyone.  It worked.  We had a great time visiting with our A Dock friends.  There are several boats of people on A Dock that we knew from Catalina Harbor.  We had such a good time getting caught up with everybody.  The food was delicious and, of course, I ate too much.  It was so pleasant sitting out on the dock, not hot and not cold.  Thanks to all of you, it was really fun.

Saturday was spent in the company of our children and grandchildren.  That's what I'm talkin' about!  It was wonderful!  It was the first day we had seen two of the three families.  Watching the kids interact with one another is precious.  Getting our hugs and kisses are even better.  We watched the Red's bring home another victory (on TV) and then went back to our daughter and son-in-law's house.  We are planning on going camping with all of them next weekend at Lake Cumberland.  It should be fantastic. 

We'll see if I can be more disciplined and write the rest of the days without missing any on the rest of this trip.  I will post some pictures later too.  So far, I've just been enjoying everyone and not bothered with my camera.  That's bad of me.  I'll try to do better.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Sorry, yesterday I neglected to write.  We rented a car and drove home over 7.5 hours.  It was the most miserable drive so far.  Traffic was backed up bumper to bumper through Milwaukee and Chicago and all the way through Indianapolis.  We finally made it home at 6:30 P.M. yesterday.  We are glad to be home for a short while. 

Today we picked up our van.  We each visited with our parents.  We made dinner for Jim and the kids. ( Gina is in Washington, D.C.)  Now we are settled in to watch the Olympics.  Lindy takes gymnastics and thinks she can do all of the moves the athletes on TV can do.  Maybe someday, Lindy.