Joliet to St. Pete (Oct 8 to Nov 21)

We left Joliet early the next morning.  During a nearly 11 hour cruising day, we went about 67 miles, but also through 4 locks for a total drop of about 120 feet.  It was a nice October Saturday and we were far from being the only boat on the water.  It seemed that they were all going north, though!  We pulled into the Spring Valley Yacht Club shortly before sunset.  It was not really as roomy as we had expected it to be, but we fit in and the folks were friendly - offering to re-locate a boat and helping with our lines.  When Joe plugged us in to their power, though, it wouldn't pass into the boat.  Not a big problem since we didn't need a/c or heat.  We decided to go up to their little bar/restaurant for dinner instead of running the generator to cook.  Turns out they don't actually serve food, but they had menus for places that would deliver and upon learning that the power wouldn't work, they said we wouldn't have to pay for dockage.  So, we had a few cheap glasses of wine, a good pizza and conversation with some of the regulars at the bar.  When another boat arrived, blocking us in, the captain said they probably wouldn't be spending the night - they were just going to the bar.  He told Joe to wake him up when we wanted to leave if he did spend the night.  When we got up in the morning the boat was still there and there was no sign of activity.  We had a leisurely breakfast and pretty soon saw someone moving around.  The captain said he'd expected us to wake him up, but he was grateful that we hadn't - evidently they'd had a good time at the bar!

That day was a relatively short trip to Peoria where we stopped at the town dock.  The signs say you need to feed the meters - but they'd obviously not been operational for a while.  It also appeared that you were not supposed to stay overnight, but we'd been told that "everybody" does it.  We did.  No problems.

Our main reason to stop there was to see some of Joe's family who live about an hour away.  We had missed his Aunt Kay's 90th birthday by about a week, but cousin Danny brought her, his wife Sylvia and his sister Margy to meet us for lunch.  If Joe and I could be in that kind of shape at 90 we might still be living on the boat!  Amazing woman.
The rest of our trip down the Illinois,  the Mississippi,  the Ohio,  the Cumberland, to the Tennessee was relatively uneventful.  This is the part of the loop that gets bad press.  It's not really bad, you just have to appreciate different things.

One that we don't see other places is evidence of the extreme changes in the water levels.  Along this stretch we often see boats and barges sitting on dry land along the shoreline.

The clearance gauges on the bridges are also a bit daunting.  The current water was about 20 feet below the gauge.  The gauge runs from a clearance of 55 down to 30 feet - which would be an increase in water depth of about 45 feet.  Hard to believe the level can go to those extremes.

But then we see the houses along the way up on high stilts.  Even some up on banks that seem high enough are built up higher.

 We saw one house that was unique.  It was small and sitting on the ground.  There was a tall post at each corner.  It had been built so the whole house would float up with the rising water.  Why walk up a long stairway all the time if it only floods occasionally?

Another thing we enjoy is seeing the tow boats and their big loads.  It is a bit intimidating when you see a tow pushing 30 barges at you.  In order to be sure we stay out of their way we need to communicate with them to negotiate a pass - being where the tow captain wants to put his barges is not a good idea.  Generally, the captains are professional and courteous.   We've even contacted a few that were downright chatty.  The names can also be interesting - like Leviticus, here.

And then there's the scenery and wildlife.  In some areas, there are barges pushed up all along the banks, or places to load and off-load.  Not very pretty - but sometimes interesting.
St. Louis is the only big city on the river in this area and unfortunately there is no convenient place to dock to see it.  The arch is impressive as we go by, though.

But there are also long stretches that are rural - with limestone bluffs along the shore and even the start of some nice fall foliage.

And Joe is constantly on the look-out for bald eagles.

It seems that almost everyone who does the loop stops at Hoppie's Marina.  Fern, the proprietor, gives boaters advice on the current river conditions - where to anchor and, at least as important, where not to anchor.  Two years ago we missed this stop, although Joe did speak to Fern on the phone.  Not ones to make the same mistake twice, we stopped.  Not exactly high quality, but Joe had a nice chat with Fern and I walked into the little town of Kimmswick, MO. Known for its old log houses, Kimmswick might be three square blocks, but  I've never seen such a concentration of cute little shops anywhere else.  I only hit a couple, but I know why people like this stop.

Going down the Mississippi we really made good time.  We were actually going more than 10 miles an hour!  Hard to imagine such speed.  Then we turned onto the Ohio River, against the current and dropped to about 6 miles an hour.  There are only two locks on the part of the Ohio that we travel on.  These are big. busy, commercial locks second only to the Panama Canal in tonnage locked through in the western hemisphere.  When the water is high enough there are wickets that can be lowered so you don't have to go through the lock - just cruise right over the dam.  That worked for us on the first lock, but the second one had a lot of barge traffic lined up.  We moved off to the side and anchored and were able to lock through first thing the next morning.

We had really been pretty lucky with the weather.  It had been cooler than normal, but with the sun out during the day, the boat warmed up nicely.  Then we hit a couple of cold, rainy days.  We don't run the heat while we're cruising, so I was less than comfortable for a day or two.  The good news was we didn't have to much locking in the rain.
We'd been cruising long days, usually leaving near dawn.  When we got onto the Tennessee the air and water temperatures combined to make fog every morning.  It was hard to complain about having a leisurely breakfast and leaving the dock sometime after nine when the fog had burned off.

Our insurance won't let us go below 31 degrees latitude (about 30 miles north Mobile) before November 1 and Joe wanted to get new bottom paint on Carolyn Ann before we got back into salt water, so we stopped at Aqua Yacht Harbor at the north end of the Tenn-Tom for that and some other maintenance work.  Aqua is a good stop for work because they let you stay on the boat, don't charge for dockage if you're having work done, and have courtesy cars available.  The part I don't like is that they think a few of those skinny little sticks will hold the boat up - although, I guess they were right.

 At any rate, Carolyn Ann was filthy when they pulled her out.  While the other work was being done, Joe and I washed, waxed and applied Phenomenon.  The coat of Phenomenon, which is easy to apply, seems to make cleaning easier.  She looked so good it was a shame to put her back in the water to get dirty again.

While we were there, we met Frank and Fonda on Irony - a steel, 60' Florida Bay Coaster.  It's a massive boat with 4 state rooms and 4 baths - with travertine tile showers and marble topped vanities - and grantite counters in the kitchen.  We had a good time getting to know them and their dog. Buster, and will undoubtedly cross paths again.

Since we had the use of a vehicle, we made some trips for re-provisioning and also visited Shiloh.  After a short film, we toured the battlefields by car.  Near the end of our tour, we found out you can buy a dvd that takes you through the park chronologically.  That would've made for a better experience, but it was still  an interesting and moving experience.  The casualty numbers are just staggering.

Our stay at Aqua ended up lasting more than a week, but Carolyn Ann was clean, her engine valves had been adjusted and her drip-less shafts had again become free of drips.
From here to Pensacola, where we planned to make a brief stop, we'd travel about 530 miles and go through 12 locks with a total drop of more than 400 feet.  We started out with the Whitten Lock and its 84 foot drop - the biggest one we'd come to.  After four locks in about only 30 miles we stopped for the day with three other boats we'd been in the locks with.  There are limited facilities along the way and there are lots of boats moving south at the same time, so you take what you can get.  Smithville Marina boasted proximity to two good restaurants - one for catfish, the other a steakhouse.  The four of us took up all the transient dock space, the rest of the marina being filled with small, dilapidated house boats.  Maureen (Duddon Pilot) dubbed it the Bates Marina ala Psycho's Bates Motel.  The owner showed up to take our money and said we could use the car to go to the nearby restaurant.  Seven of us piled into the six-passenger car which had a lot in common with the marina house boats!  We made it to the restaurant - which may have been the former two combined in one.  Surprisingly, the catfish and steaks were quite good.  It all made for a memorable stop.

Again we cruised from dawn - some very chilly dawns! - and often to dusk.

 It took us eight days to get to Pensacola.  If they could straighten the river out, we could probably make it in half the time!  Besides being time consuming there's another problem with all those curves.  There is a lot of barge traffic and the channel is often narrow.  Coming around a curve to be suddenly faced with barges and no place to go is no fun.  Joe was often thankful for our AIS receiver. Commercial vessels are supposed to have AIS which sends out a signal showing their location to anyone with a receiver.  With our receiver we could effectively see around the corners and slow down if necessary.

The river runs south through Alabama, winding through some pretty remote areas - often out of cell range (oh, no!).  Most of the time it's lined with forests.  Occasionally we pass small groups of houses - mostly hunt or fish camps.  There is a section with white bluffs of rotten limestone that undulate along the shoreline.

As we move farther south, we start watching for the signs - Spanish moss, palmettoes, cabbage palms, dolphins, Blue Angels.  Yes, that's right.  As we approached our intended anchorage at Ft. McRae across from Pensacola Naval Air Base, the Angels were performing their annual homecoming show.

They even had fireworks for us later in the evening!
Our renter was kind enough to let us spend a few days tied to the dock behind our house.  It was great to catch up with our neighbors, friends and family in the area.

The weather wasn't cooperating for a Gulf crossing so we worked our way east on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway until we reached Carrabelle, near Apalachicola.  Joe checked the weather forecasts and buoy reports frequently as they seemed to change hourly.  Finally, mid-day on Sunday - a day or two earlier than we'd originally expected - he decided it was time to go.  We knew it wouldn't be the smoothest crossing ever, but it the conditions didn't seem ready to improve anytime soon.  As we started to ready Carolyn Ann for departure, several other boaters decided to follow our lead.  We've always crossed by ourselves in the past, but ended up with five other boats crossing with us this time.  We left Carrabelle about 1pm on Sunday and arrived at Treasure Island near St. Pete about noon on Monday.  In the past we've had some ideal conditions, but this time was certainly less than ideal.  It was definitely not a comfortable trip, but not bad enough to be scary either.  We were glad to reach our dock on Treasure Island where we were greeted by Randy and Barb (Lazy Dolphin) who plan to spend at least part of the winter here also.

We had a couple days to catch up on our sleep before beginning the holiday season with Thanksgiving at our niece Lisa's with her husband, son and parents and our son, his wife, and our number one grandson, Alex.  It's nice to settle in for while and we're looking forward to winter visits from several family members.
Not sure yet what next year will bring  - other than we'll be heading north somewhere.

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Mackinaw City, MI to Joliet, IL (Sept 24 to Oct. 7)

We left Mackinaw City under cloudy skies.  Rain was predicted, but not much wind so we expected calm seas on our first day on Lake Michigan - finally heading south!  The rain didn't really show up - but neither did the calm seas.  As the day went on conditions got worse.

We had planned a long day, but cut it short and stopped at Charlevoix.  When we did the loop Charlevoix was a popular stop that we missed so it didn't take much to sway us.  When Joe went in to pay for our dockage he learned that our second day would be free.  We'd never pass up a deal like that - and the weather didn't look promising anyway.  Now we know why everyone likes Charlevoix!

Young's "Half House"

 Nice little town but the big attraction for us was the Earl Young designed homes, referred to as mushroom, gnome, fairy or hobbit houses.  Earl Young dropped out of architecture school after one year and proceeded to become a self-taught architect.  He agreed with Frank Lloyd Wright's philosophy of fitting the house into the landscape.  He also seems to have had a great love of boulders.  He supposedly would collect boulders he liked and hide them - underground, in the woods, in Lake Michigan - until he found the proper use for each individual one.

Young house on Round Lake

The exteriors of the houses are so interesting, often with stunning landscaping, but we would have loved to be able to go inside.  We heard that they are not always easy to live in as functionality was not Mr. Young's primary concern.  And he was only five feet tall.

After spending two days in Charlevoix, we left at dawn to cruise almost 80 miles south to Frankfort.  Again we didn't have the calmest seas and they were building as we pulled into our slip.  We arrived early enough for me to get in a good walk through town.  I happened across a trailer full of the biggest pumpkins I've ever seen.  Since our daughter, Caitlin, had lost all her baby pumpkins to squash borers, I had to get a picture.
 The next morning we left early again as there was a good weather window to cross the lake to Wisconsin where we would find more shelter from the winds.  After some debate we decided to go to Manitowoc.  That decision was driven by the predicted weather for the next few days.  Manitowoc is big enough to find things to do when you can't move the boat.  Enterprise also had started their annual week-end specials - $9.99/day on weekends.  We decided to take advantage of that so we could see more of Wisconsin.

The bad weather showed up on schedule the day after we arrived.  Gale force winds - up to 55 knts - and BIG waves - 25 feet with occasional 35 foot ones. We know that because of checking the buoy and weather reports - not from actually experiencing them.  Tucked safely in our slip the waves weren't more than about six inches, although Carolyn Ann did dance around a bit on her lines.  During the night the wind howled but by midday Friday Joe felt comfortable enough to leave the boat and start up to Door County.  On our way up we heard on the radio that because of downed trees and power failures all the state parks would be closed until Monday.  A little disappointed, we continued.  Our first challenge was finding a place to spend the night - so much power was off and people flock to Door County for the fall foliage.  We found a small motel on the less popular lake side and then started the search for dinner.  Not only were the tourists dining out, the residents without power were eating out too.  We finally found a little bar/grill - the Blue Ox - and had a good dinner. Chatting with folks at a nearby table we learned about a trolley of Door County's famous... cheese factorys?...  cherry orchards?...apple orchards?  No, vineyards, of course.  This was our chance to fill the gap left when we missed the Finger Lakes vineyards.

On our tour Daryl, our driver, filled us in on lots of Door trivia - and the best restaurants, cheese shops, produce markets.  We visited four vineyards, tasted lots of marginal wines, had a nice lunch and lots of fun.  One interesting bit of trivia was that Al Capone tried to buy one of the farms that is now a vineyard.  Offers were made three times and the farmer declined all three times.  When the current owner decided to make it a vineyard, the grandchildren of the farmer told him the story.  Thus, the first red wine they produced is called "Untouchable."  Joe would also call it "undrinkable," but that's another story.
One of the restaurants Daryl recommended was an Italian place on the northern end of Door County.  Turns out it was attached to an inn that had a vacancy, so we made a reservation.  When we arrived later the "no vacancy" sign was lit, so we'd been lucky to get the room.  Also lucky because the restaurant prices were reasonable and the food was great - Pasta Vino if you're ever near Ellison Bay.

 Another reason we wanted to go to that area was to see this road we'd seen on a postcard.

The next morning we had to stop in Egg Harbor for breakfast.  I say "had to" because Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant is in my book of 1,000 places - not actually because of the food, though.  The big attraction is the goats grazing on the sod roof!  Wisconsin does have a large Swedish population, so we sampled the Swedish pancakes, meatballs and lingonberries.  I wasn't excited about the meatballs, or really the pancakes either, but the lingonberry jam was great.  They're related to cranberries and make a nice tartish jam.

side view 

When we had decided to rent a car, we started looking for places to go.  I stumbled upon a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Two Rivers, just north of Manitowoc where we were docked.  My excitement dimmed as a saw they only did one tour every other month.  However, it turned out that we had hit the right timing and could stop for the tour on our way back from Door County.  In 1938 Frank Lloyd Wright had gained famed for his architecture when Life Magazine asked him to design a house for an article they were doing.  Life's plan was to have a traditional and modern house each designed for families in four different income levels.  Wright's design was for a family in the $5,000 to $6,000 income range.  The family picked Wright's designed, but were unable to obtain financing for such an unconventional house.  They ended up building the traditional design, and Wright was happy when Bernard Schwartz contacted him about building the Life house on the river in Two Rivers.

windows with decorative inserts used through out

This house is one of what Wright referred to as Usonian (which he preferred over American).  These were usually small, taking advantage of passive solar heating, natural light through clerestory windows, natural cooling and radiant floor heating.  Instead of the expensive leaded glass windows seen in many of his homes, these had wood inserts to add interest to the windows.  Typically for a Wright home, there was little need for additional decoration as he designed it into the house and included built in furnishings.

The current owners are working to bring the house back to its orginal design and even trying to find the plans for some of the furniture that was designed and not built.  As with most (all?) of his designs, this went way over budget.  The house is available to rent for special events - and even to spend the night in.  That would be quite an experience.
The weekend of calm weather had allowed Lake Michigan to settle down, so it was time get underway again.  We spent a long day on the water before anchoring for the night in Milwaukee, then a short day to reach Racine.  In 2009 we had a nice stop in Racine where the O'Donnell's had let us use their slip.  Joe called to see if they were in town and if we could get together.  We knew they had sold their GH37 (the one that Gary, the guy in St. Clair, had originally owned) and thought they'd also sold the slip.  Unfortunately, they were not in town, but fortunately for us they have not sold the slip.  We stopped there for a couple of days because we had mail coming in.  Thanks, guys!

We left Racine as the sun peaked over the horizon for our last day on Lake Michigan.  The weather cooperated again so we by-passed Chicago and kept heading south.  We put in a long day and must've really made some progress because we warmed up to 80 degrees!

As we traveled down the Cal-Sag Channel, we again saw the nice parks with waterfalls that we'd noticed on our first trip through here.  From our new guide, which had mailed to Racine, we learned that these are SEPA (Sidestream Elevated Pool Aeration) stations.  Besides being attractive, they circulate what would be stagnant water and also add oxygen for the fish.
So, in a month we had traveled from the Erie Canal, across Lake Erie, up Lake Huron, down Lake Michigan and entered the inland river system.  We were really feeling pretty good - as Joe said, "It's all downhill from here."  Our first full day off the lakes was expected to be a short one - 36 miles.  We started out near dawn heading for Joliet, with only one lock in our way.

We arrived at the Lockport Lock around 11am and were told to tie up to a wall nearby.  Unfortunately, while they were constructing a new wall, a portion of the old wall collapsed.  The lock was closed while they evaluated the damage.  It could have been much worse.  The wall is actually a levee protecting the town 45 feet below.  When the wall collapsed, enough structure was left to contain the water.  After more than six hours of waiting, we were allowed to lock down and tied to the wall in Joliet shortly after sunset.  While it certainly was not a huge problem for us, we hope this is the most exciting thing to happen on the remainder of our trip!
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Seneca Falls, NY to Mackinaw City, MI (Sept 1 to 23 )

Once we made the decision to loop again, we felt like we were way behind schedule.  Generally, "loopers" plan to be in Chicago, getting off the lakes, by Labor Day.  Here it was September first and we were no where near Lake Michigan.  Spurred on by the changing leaves we saw, we made it back to Tonawanda in three days - 15 locks and more than 200 miles.  A far cry from our earlier slow pace.  Once we arrived in Tonawanda, though, it was time to sit and wait and shop.  The change of plan meant we needed more charts and guide books, and then we needed to wait for a good weather window on Lake Erie.
While we were in Tonawanda, we met several other boaters whose plans were disrupted by Irene.  Burt and Prue, on sailboat Exuberant from Sandusky, were heading to Annapolis and ended up having their boat trucked there.  Mark and LuAnn on sailboat Journey from Holland, MI, out for their first big cruise, decided to turn around and go home.  We also met a couple from Austria, Eckhardt and Ursula on sailboat Azimut, who had recently completed a 14 year circumnavigation of the world.

Buffalo

After a couple of really interesting happy hours, we crossed under the last remaining low bridges on the Erie Canal and, with help from Burt and Prue, raised Carolyn Ann's radar arch.  Now we'd be able to use the radar if necessary - and also could use the satellite tv again.  From Tonawanda it was a short trip to Buffalo's waterfront to stage for our Lake Erie crossing. We enjoyed the chance to see Buffalo's skyline from the water and got there early enough to see some of the new waterfront area.

It would've been nice to spend time touring the ships located there, but our weather window was approaching.
 The Great Lakes are notorious for seas that kick up quickly and somewhat unpredictably.  Lake Erie in particular poses issues because of its relative shallowness and also, for us, the fact that we needed to cross the length of it running east to west.  Prevailing winds from the west could easily build up big wave action on the eastern portion.

Our first night was spent in Erie, PA.  Unfortunately there was no tourist break here as we arrived in the evening at left at dawn the next morning.

The next night we stopped in Mentor, OH and were greeted by Great Harbour owners Carl and Lois.  They picked Joe up and took him home for a great dinner and conversation.  I wasn't feeling well (flu shot reaction?) and decided to stay on the boat, but Lois kindly sent some left-overs that we enjoyed later.  (Thanks guys!  That pie was great, too.)  Our last night on Lake Erie was spent at Middle Bass Island where we met yacht club members, Bob and Joan.  We used the club grill and dining room for dinner and really enjoyed our time together.  It's amazing how quickly connections can be made.  The Austrian couple we'd met had stopped at Middle Bass Yacht Club near the beginning of their voyage and offered to take the club's burgee around the world with them.  When we met them in Tonawanda, they had just returned to Middle Bass, after ten years, to deliver the tattered flag (actually the third in a series of replacements).

Detroit

The water from Lakes Michigan, Superior and Huron drains via the Detroit River into Lake Erie before flowing over Niagara Falls into Lake Ontario.  That's a lot of water so our usual 7 1/2 knots dropped to about 5.  The slow pace gave us plenty of time so see the city skyline on our left and Windsor, Canada on our right.

Odette Sculpture Park, Windsor Canada

Windsor's waterfront consists of miles of greenway including the 5 km  long  Odette Sculpture Park.  We could see many sculptures from the river, but it would be wonderful to see them up close.  We made need to come this way again when we have more time!

Our next stop was Metro Beach Park on Lake St. Clair.  The facilities here were very nice in a very secure park.  Weather conveniently kept us there a few days because we ended up having lots to do.  First one of my best friends from college, Barb, who lives in the area came for a visit.  It had been 30 years or so since we'd seen each other (we can't possibly be old enough for it to have been that long!), but it felt like it could've been yesterday.
Back in June in NC on our way north, we had anchored near a boat named Manate.  Joe had talked to the owners on the radio and learned that they have "looped" 21 times.  Every year they move the boat up the east coast, across Lake Erie to the Detroit area for the summer, then around Michigan and down the rivers to Marco Island for the winter.

Once we decided to take the inland route back south, we decided to try to contact them.  With all Joe's contacts it was really pretty easy to find Sarah and Ted - our stop at Metro Beach Park off Lake St. Clair was their suggestion.  As you can see, most boaters in Michigan consider Labor Day the end of the season.  Carolyn Ann looked pretty lonely.

Sarah came and picked us up for shopping and later she and Ted took us out for a nice dinner.  Before dinner they came for happy hour on Carolyn Ann and brought along their friend, Gary.  Gary owned the very first GH37, but had never seen one of the N's, so he got the full tour.  We had a great time listening to the stories of such long time cruisers - and also getting lots of good information for the trip ahead.  Our late start didn't seem nearly so late when we learned that Ted and Sarah don't leave until mid-October!
After all that partying we needed to start cruising to get some rest.  The trip up the St. Clair River to Lake Huron was even slower than the Detroit River had been.  We actually slowed down to below 4 knots - which means the current against us was nearly 4 knots.  At one point we were instructed to stay in the center of the channel to avoid divers that were in the water.  We wondered what they had to do to keep themselves in place with a current that strong.
Michigan has harbors of refuge about every thirty miles along its shores on  both Lake Huron and Lake Michigan because there are very few natural harbors.  The harbors have a breakwater around them and the prices, set by the state, are reasonable.  Our first day was relatively short - about six hours.  We had stopped in St. Clair and couldn't leave before the first bridge opening at 8am.  Our choice ended up being to stop around 3pm or go another 30 miles and possibly arrive after dark.

 The following day we'd planned to leave at dawn, but awoke to high winds.  As the morning passed, the winds dropped and we finally left shortly before noon.  The winds had not totally died though, so it was not a pleasant ride - although not horrible - to our stop at Harbor Beach.  As we were tying up a man came over and invited us to the annual chili cook-off to be held on the dock that evening.  The chili was great - about 10 different kinds - and so were all the cooks.  Winds picked up again, so we stayed a few days.

Next stop was Harrisville - the nicest Michigan facility we've seen.  They've all been nice, but this was exceptional.  The lake kicked up again, so we stayed two nights.  The next day we left shortly after dawn and stopped at Rogers City.  Then left shortly after dawn the following day - our last day on Lake Huron.  

The days we'd spent on Huron hadn't been too bad - but not always the calmest either.  Our last day was the smoothest, and we were treated to the most vibrant rainbow we'd ever seen.

It was a short day's cruise to Mackinaw City.  We needed to stop because Joe had been unable to find a chart for Lake Michigan anywhere else.  Joe found the chart he wanted, and I took a nice walk around town which included nice parks with historical information.  It was good to have a little sightseeing time.
This is the end of our northward travel - finally - it's starting to get cold up here.  Now we'll head south down Lake Michigan.

There are more pictures on the picasa site: http://picasaweb.google.com/joseph.pica