Port#18: Docktails in Dolton...

Great Loop II Date: 9/5/2014

Day #36 (Friday): 13.5 miles (1030 total miles)

Locks: 1 (3 total locks)

Port #18:  Dolton, IL

On August 28^th a 57 foot tug capsized and sank in the Calumet River just past the 106^th Street Bridge in Chicago, IL.  Other than the headlines, who would think it would cause us problems as we prepared to start our trek down the rivers.  Because of Ocean Breeze’s bridge clearance, we chose to take the Cal-Sag Shipping Channel both in 2010 and again during this Loop.  The 106^th Street Bridge was part of this route.  Worse yet, we were informed the Army Corps of Engineers responsible for removing the sunk tug planned to close passage through that area for a week.

Todd and I had already decided we wanted to get underway and get to a point where we could pass through the famous Aquatic Nuisance Species Dispersal Barrier (Asian Carp Fish Barrier, for short!) on Saturday or Sunday when it was open.  During our 2010 Loop trip, we traveled down this corridor on Sunday and it was quiet.  No barges were moving, all the plants along the waterway were still and the locks and bridges opened as soon as we arrived.  We knew leaving on a Friday would put us amid a working river but we had to get down stream before the river would be closed.

By Friday, a large group of Loopers had come into Hammond Marina to prepare for their river transit.  A few made the decision to stay in Hammond.  Andante (Sue and Tom) and Sweetwater (Pam and Tim) were ready to make a run for the rivers.

Bye bye Hammond

We met our first barge before we even entered the Calumet River!  Only one barge being moved toward one of the steel plants.  We saw quite a few being moved around and repositioned in the river.

The entrance to the Calumet River.  We're finally off the lakes...until next summer.

The first bridge we had to wait for...although this one went up fairly quickly and our wait was short.

Believe it or not, we fit under this railroad bridge...and wouldn't you know a train came over it as soon as we started under it!

At normal pool we would have fit under this bridge.  With the higher water levels in Lake Michigan this year, the clearance was lowered to 17 feet.  We eased up to the bridge but there just was not enough room so we waited with this trawler.

There's a sunk 57 foot tug at the end of that crane.

This is a pretty big operation to get this tug pulled up and out of the river.

More barges in various stages of loading and unloading along the side of the river.

Scenes like this also populate the river and always catch my eye.

The last freighter we'll see until we come into the Hudson River...unless we catch them along the East Coast.  That won't be until next May.

The rivers were busy with small numbers of barges being moved about and positioned for taking on a load or travel.  Some of the bridges were open as we came down the river, others had to be called.  It was very windy and hot, so waiting was not pleasant.

When we reached our only lock of the day (the Thomas O’Brian), the lockmaster was filling the lock and two sailboats were waiting.  A trawler and a small johnboat joined us, as well.  The transit took an hour and the drop was only 3 feet.  We didn’t have to tie to a bollard since the drop was minimal with no turbulence.

Good Ol' Thomas O'Brien, the first lock of 8 we will go through on our way down the Calumet, Des Plaines and Illinois River System on the way to the Mississippi.

When we're in the rivers, the scenery seems so remote and rural that we often forget civilization may only be a bridge away.  This is the I-94 bridge that runs north into Chicago, on up the west side of Lake Michigan into Milwaukee then inland into Minnesota!

We arrived at our stop for the day only 13 ½ miles downriver from Lake Michigan.  The trip took us 2 ½ hours, which is not unusual with wait times for lift bridges and locks.  The run positioned us well to transit the Fish Barrier on Saturday morning.  We also had our first Docktails get together with 4 other Looper boats: Andante, Sweetwater, Satisfaction and NancyAnn.

Port #17: Making a Home in Hammond!

Great Loop II Date: 8/26/2014

Day #26 {Tuesday): 60 miles (1016 total miles)

Locks: 0 (2 total locks)

Port #17:  Hammond, IN

After an uncomfortable night, I woke up with the clock at 5:30AM.  NOAA’s reports were for afternoon and evening thunderstorms developing southwest of Chicago.  During the last 3 days we had heard severe thunderstorm warnings accompanied by severe weather marine warnings for Chicago and southern Lake Michigan.  Looking at the radar, all looked well with a line of developing storms well south of the Illinois/Indiana border and heading due east.  Lake Michigan was calm with 1 foot or less seas that would be on our stern.  That would make for a nice ride.

Before we left our dock at North Point Marina in Winthrop Harbor, IL.

We cast off our lines at 7:30AM and Todd set course for Hammond, IN south of Chicago.  We had decided our tour of Chicago during the last Loop was good enough for us.  Another determining factor was Todd had received a call from the VA Outpatient Center in Columbus, Ohio for a long awaited appointment.  This appointment would determine his hearing loss related to his service in the Air Force from poor ear protection while working in the loud missile launch bays.  Hammond would be a good place to stay, rent a car, and travel to Columbus, Ohio for the appointment.

Our trip from Winthrop Harbor to just north of Chicago was unremarkable.  The following seas had been comfortable, although the day had become overcast and dismal.  We were busy killing biting flies that continued to try to make a meal of us.

By 11:30AM it was evident a big storm had developed and was heading east.  It looked like it would hit us.  Todd opted to put OB up on plane and try to outrun the storm.  His strategy and some help from God worked.  The storm blew up directly behind us.  The skies were menicing, there was plenty of lightening and thunder behind us and there was plenty of rain.  It did look like it would overtake as at some point but never did.  The winds were very strong but were also on our stern along with growing choppy waves.  At one point we felt we were surfing 3 foot with an occasional 4 foot wave.  However, with them on our stern, the ride was never uncomfortable.  Part of that comfort was due to the excellent driving abilities of Otto (our autopilot).  We did dawn our life vests and put Charlie in his.  He immediately went to his safe place and hid.

The Chicago skyline did appear and is just under those clouds on the right.  The black dots on the windshield are flies!

Charlie's safe place...our master stateroom in the front of the boat under the pilothouse where we are stationed.  He's in his life vest.

We passed the Chicago skyline around 1PM.  It had just begun to reappear from under the dense clouds.  So far we’ve not gotten a good skyline shot of Chicago in either Loop.  Chicago was incased in heavy haze when we approached in 2010.

Todd slowed OB to a crawl just after passing Chicago.  There was another big storm to our south that had developed southwest of Joliet and worked its way northeast into our path.  It took us another 1 ½ hours to get to Hammond but we didn’t get a drop of rain out of that storm.

There goes that storm to the south of us.

Hammond Marina is a large facility that sits right behind the Horseshoe Casino.  Our dock was a good long walk from the main office and not quite as far to the casino.  Since I hadn’t fixed anything for dinner, we decided to go to the casino.  We went to the buffet and enjoyed excellent food from many cultures: Asian, Latin, Italian as well as American cusiene were available.  Todd and I left totally satisfied.

The Hammond Marina.  OB is waaaaaaaaay back in the very back of the picture!  It was a 1 mile walk from OB to the marina office and back to OB.  Excellent exercise.

Since we filled up at the buffet our first night, we stuck with one of our favorite meals the second night...wine, cheese, beef stick and crackers.

Another beautiful sunset...after a rainy afternoon, of course.

We enjoyed meeting and reuniting with many Loopers during our stay.  Akasha with Rosemary and Clark came in soon after we did.  They flew back to their home in Ft. Worth the next morning for a short break and to keep some appointments.  Blue Moon and El Nido came in that same evening.  We had just met them in Leland, MI.  DeDe with Diane and Henry as well as Fruitcakes with Julie and Andy had come in with this group.  All of them had crossed from Michigan and outwitted the storms.

Thursday afternoon we finally caught up with this group of Loopers.  We decided to go to the casino, have some cocktails and try our hand at gambling.  I’ve never had much experience with casino games but decided it would be fun.  Besides, the mention of food will get me to go most anywhere!

First we ate at the Asian restaurant inside the casino.  Again we had a delicious meal.  After dinner, we went to the video poker bar in the middle of the casino floor.  We ordered after dinner cocktails and tried our luck with Blackjack and Poker.  I stuck with Blackjack and managed to lose $4.10.

We took our cocktails out into the casino and Todd and I chose to try the slots.  Within 20 minutes I won back my $4.10 and added another $10.70 in winnings to it.  With that, I was content to stop and head back to the boat.

This was a huge casino with multiple floors.  This was just a small section of the main floor.  The lights and sounds always amaze me.

Friday was a catch up day on the boat.  We had gotten a mail drop from our mail collection company.  More storms rolled in and it made it a good day for inside work (laundry, sorting mail, etc.).  King drop by (from Blue Moon) and more plans were hatched for another trip to the casino for cocktails and gambling.

Todd picked up a rental car from Enterprise Saturday.  We restocked our supplies for the upcoming river trip.  Saturday night we did go back to the casino with King and Sharon.  I lost that night but still came out with $15.70 of the $20 I played.  I doubt I will ever become a high stakes gambler.

Sunday we prepared the boat to stay in place for the few days we would travel to Columbus, Ohio.  We both remarked how different it was to be in a car fighting traffic compared to being on the water fighting waves and wakes.  We decided we preferred the latter.

Sunday afternoon we had a wonderful visit from one of our Aquaholic couples who winter in Cape Coral as we do.  Linda and Bob have a home in St. Charles, IL just west of Chicago.  Bob knows the area well from his business.  After a brief introduction to Ocean Breeze, we went to a good Mexican restaurant south of the marina in Whiting, IL.  We talked and laughed and had a most enjoyable afternoon and evening.

Monday Todd and I packed, closed up the boat and went to Columbus.  Tuesday, Todd had an appointment at the VA Outpatient Center.  He was tested in the audiology department in follow up from his claim regarding exposure during his service in the Air Force.  That evening, we went to the birthday party of a dear friend and had a marvelous time with our boating buddies that all live in Columbus.

You just never know what you are going to run into on the roads!  This did look like a flying saucer.  I was completely round and could only go about 55mph.  I'd love to see it at night with all the lights going around the outside of it!

Coming into Ohio....

...with a fairly quick turn around going back to OB.

Wednesday morning we were back on the road early to get back to Ocean Breeze and return the rental car.  In the process, Charlie tripped me on the way from the car to the dock in his excitement to get to some grass for his duties.  I fell flat on my back and experienced another round of excruciating pain in my right shoulder.  I spent the rest of the day icing the shoulder and popping ibuprofen and Tylenol Extra Strength.  By evening the pain was well reduced which was a big relief.

Thursday presented itself with a day of wind and storms so we delayed at Hammond one more day.  By then we were getting anxious to be underway.  We spent the day checking blogs and Army Corps sites online concerning the locks and the Asian Carp Fish Barrier.  Many Loopers had already made it past this bottleneck in the Ca—Sag Shipping Channel however most have chosen to transit the area on Sundays while the barrier is open and work is halted for the weekend.  By Thursday evening, we had decided Friday was our day to drop the lines and leave Hammond for the rivers.

Port #16: No Point at North Point...

Great Loop II Date: 8/25/2014

Day #25 {Monday): 46 miles (956 total miles)

Locks: 0 (2 total locks)

Port #16:  Winthrop Harbor, IL

The clock was set for 4:45AM.  I woke up at 4:25AM and reset it for 5:30AM.  I couldn’t get back to sleep so I got up, got dressed and set up the crockpot with a pork roast, potatoes and carrots.

The weather looked overcast with rain developing all around us.  The seas were supposed to be 1 foot or less.  Todd and I readied the boat and were out of the dock by 7:30AM.  Once we passed all the break walls, we were in very confused seas with closer to 2 foot waves and they seemed to be building.  We decided to turn around and go back to the dock and wait out the incoming storms.

Storms to the North of McKinley Marina.

Storms south of McKinley Marina.

Charlie doesn't like storms...he went into full panic panting mode.

By 11AM all the fun was past, the winds seemed to have calmed and we headed out to Lake Michigan once again.  The seas were nearly calm..

Lake Michigan settled down nicely after the storms passed.

Charlie, our barometer, demonstrated the settled seas.

We were in and out of rain for most of our trip to North Point Marina at Winthrop Harbor.  Todd had called the marina office on Sunday and again the morning before we left.  There was a recording advising us the marina office was closed Saturdays through Mondays…period.  The recording did say ‘In case of emergency, call Security at…. or hail them on Ch.9'.  I mentioned Security might make dock assignments on.  Todd called back, got the Security phone number and called.  Security said indeed they would make a dock assignment for us when we arrived.

An hour before our arrival, Todd called Security at the marina….no answer.  As we got closer, he hailed them on Ch.68, the channel he thought they had told him to call when we got to the harbor.   No answer.  He called Ch.9.  No answer.  He called on the phone again and finally someone answered.  By then we were entering the harbor in increasingly windy conditions with an incoming storm.

We asked for directions to the dock and what side our lines should be on in order to tie OB to the dock.  The Security fellow stammered and basically had no clue.  We started down the row of our dock assignment and noticed the docks were for smaller boats.  With the direction and speed of the wind, Todd was not going to be able to easily turn OB around to get out of a bad situation.  He hailed Security, asked for a dock for larger boats and he began backing OB back down the long approach we had just come through.  Security came back with a new dock assignment.

We went to the newly assigned dock which indeed was on a longer dock however there was another large boat in the adjoining well.  With the wind direction and speed, we would again be in a bad situation so we proceeded down the row of docks until we found 4 or 5 empty ones we could maneuver into.

As Todd was backing into one of these docks, the huge center post was dead center on our swim platform.  I was already prepared with the boat hook to fend us off of anything we were sure to hit.  I pushed the pole against the post and my right shoulder stuck me with intense pain.  It was the shoulder I had injured last summer and had extensive surgery to repair it.  Now I was going about my line work moaning and trying to help Todd with our sad situation!

Ultimately Todd got us into the empty dock, I was able to get a line around a cleat from our mid-cleat.  Todd scurried down the stern ladder and secured the stern cleat.  He called Security to tell them our situation and asked if we could stay in the dock.  They said they were on their way.

Moments later they rumbled up in their Security car.  They said we couldn’t stay in the dock.  We both looked at them like they were speaking a foreign language.  Apparently the dock belonged to someone who was out on a boating vacation.  We told them we were only there for overnight.  Nope, that wasn’t going to work.  We all finally agreed on the T-head at the end of the dock.  It would make for easier docking and no one belonged to that particular dock.  They registered us right there on the spot and promptly left.  Todd and I just looked at each other.  Great…two big sturdy guys didn’t offer any help and just left us to our own.

Lines off, back on board, a shoulder that hurt with every movement, dark imposing clouds moving in quickly and the wind picking up even more made me a very unhappy customer.  With a deep breath, I retrieved the lines, did what I could to push us off the dock with the boat hook and away we went to the T-head.

We now had a stiff wind out of the west.  Todd put OB’s nose to the wind, brought us up to the T-head, I finally lassoed a dock cleat from the bow, Todd jumped off and got the center cleat secured and I got the stern.  We made quick work of securing OB properly, Todd got the water and electric set up and we waited for the storm that eventually passed us to the north and south.

A fine fellow, Wayne, had helplessly watched all of the proceedings and came over in his dinghy to make sure we were okay.  He asked if there was anything he could do to make us more comfortable.  Todd needed to go West Marine before they closed to pick up an inverter he had put on hold.  Wayne quickly agreed to take him there.  Todd and I both decided Wayne was our angel for the day.

North Point Marina is a huge marina with 1500 slips.  They advertise themselves as the largest marina in the Great Lakes.  Only half the slips were filled and it is obvious the marina is bigger than the income to help maintain it.  Further, with a security team left to tend the docks without full knowledge of what they are doing (other than keeping the bad guys out and the good guys in) puts transients in a difficult situation.

Early morning pictures of North Point Marina in Winthrop Harbor, IL.

Can you see OB?  Me neither...she's at the very end of the dock.

 Our stop in North Point was a basic stop much like a motel or a RV stop on the way to somewhere else.  Unfortunately it caused great frustration, inflamed an old repaired injury and left a bad taste in our mouth.

Port #15: Home of the Braves...I Mean Brewers!

Great Loop II Date: 8/23/2014

Day #23 {Saturday): 77 miles (910 total miles)

Locks: 0 (2 total locks)

Port #15:  Milwaukee, WI

I was up again at 4:45AM to get Charlie and myself ready for an early start.  Todd was up shortly thereafter.  We left Manitowoc Marina at 7:30AM in grey, overcast skies with light fog.  We had no problem with dead recogning however it’s always nice to know we have good back up with our electronics.

Manitowoc Harbor Light as we left Manitowoc.

Looking south as we left Manitowoc.

Nothing to see but the horizon.

The one nice thing about fog is the seas are usually very calm and quiet.  We had some rollers on our forward port quarter beam but nothing bothersome.  We had to door in the pilothouse open with a nice breeze coming through and Charlie had picked out his happy spot for the morning.

Charlie was sound asleep with his nose out the pilothouse door.

By noon the fog was thickening and by 3PM we couldn’t see our hand in front of our face…so to speak.  I quit working on the blog and pictures that would be going into it.  Todd and I both we posted at watch.  We could see two tugs and a sailboat on our AIS.  We began sounding our horn every 1 ½ to 2 minutes to alert anyone that didn’t have radar that we were in the area.  When we got the sailboat within ½ mile, Todd radioed him to let him know our position and progress.  We could see him move to the starboard side on the radar (as well as AIS) and out of our path.  I went up on the bridge but couldn’t see him even at a quarter mile.  He sounded his air horn and I could hear him falling behind us.

The tug Captain obviously saw us on radar and talked to the other tug Captain about the two crazy sail boaters out in this mess.  He didn’t know we weren’t a sailboat…surprise, surprise!

What we saw....

...what our radar and GPS mapping program saw.  All that orange on the radar was land, the dots behind us (left and right) were the tug and the sailboat, the red X in the middle of the screen was our current position and the red X in the white box was our target for the Autopilot.  On the left is the map...the little black boat is OB.  It was clear to see the entrance to the harbor, the marina and the dock on the map, not so much with the naked eye.

Coming into the breakwall and the marina was another intense effort for us.  Todd and I put on our headsets, I stepped outside the door.  He told me which side the wall would appear on first.  I’d respond when I could see it.  He’d tell me when he could see it.  Then we went about looking for the next wall.  We both were very thankful for the detail on our charting system.  Indeed it did show us exactly where we expected to be as we entered the marina.  Todd called into the marina office on the VHF radio.  They knew how frustrated we were as we tried to make out the fuel dock however they were of little help.  Finally I spotted an attendant on the fuel dock, the wind had picked up and it had started to rain and we literally blew into the dock.  It scared the attendant.  There was no harm, no foul and all was well with the world once again.

By the time we had taken on fuel, pumped out and checked in, the rain had rinsed out the fog (so to speak), the wind stopped and we progressed to our dock with little fanfare.

A fellow we had met in Key West by way of another good friend of ours lives in Milwaukee.  Hap’s dock was on the same dock we were assigned to.  He came down with his two dogs (Dory and Shamu) and a Yorkie he was dogsitting (Cooper).  Hap was the host of hosts to us.  He took us through downtown Milwaukee that evening on his boat, gave us a grand river tour and took us to a great pub for dinner.  We got back to the marina just before another rainstorm hit.  The rain on the bow lulled us to sleep.

Hap and Cooper

Dory trying to figure out Charlie.

McKinley Marina in the sunset.

OB at her dock.

The Milwaukee skyline from the shipping channel.

The Art Museum...

...those 'wings' are made of separate veins that close into each of the angled windows.  We didn't see them closed until the last evening and it was too far away for me to get a good picture.  It looks like a white teepee when the veins are down.

The shipping channel markers.  We couldn't see those when we came in, however we came in an opening closer to the marina.  There are actually three openings into one huge bay that is formed by the breakwall.

Our Lake Erie friends will remember the Dennis Sullivan.  It participated in the Battle of Lake Erie September 2013.  It was constructed and resides in Milwaukee.

The home of the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Ale House

Sunday, Hap took us to West Marine and another marine store in a failed attempt to find a replacement Inverter for our dying 400 Watt inverter that powers our computers underway.  We went back to the marina and walked over to the best vintage car show we’ve ever attended.  There were cars from the very early 1900s right up to the latest 2014 Corvette Stingray.  The cars were grouped by age and class into display circles.  We had so much fun spending the afternoon looking at these beautiful cars.

Hap came back to the marina with his sister and brother in law (Cindy and Gary) and two friends (Pam and Jay).  We showed them through the boat and had fun telling them about our adventures.  Afterward, Hap took Gary, Cindy, Todd and me to another great little brew pub (The Horny Goat…referring to the goats horns!) on the river for dinner.  Jay and Pam met us there.  We all had a fantastic time telling stories, discovering how small our world really is and laughing the evening away.

Our evening at the Horny Goat.

Milwaukee was a great stop and Hap was a most wonderful ombudsman for his city.  I got a note from my traveling nurse girlfriend, Nancy, that we had just missed her by three weeks.  Her next assignment is in Milwaukee.  She’s been assigned to a hospital in Wisconsin before (I can’t remember if it was Green Bay or Milwaukee).  I certainly understand why she’s coming back.  The folks in Wisconsin and especially Milwaukee are so genuinely nice.  It was a pleasure to be with everyone of them.