So with son Jim at the helm, we motored south in high winds to Pentwater where we anchored. From Pentwater we had a long day of sailing and motoring to Muskegon where we anchored off the State Park. After a windy night, we had a great sail with strong beam winds off the shore (meaning no waves) and we were anchored in Lake Macatawa near Holland by noon. Wednesday morning we got a dock at Eldean’s shipyard and spent the rainy day doing some minor boat projects. The Danly's, fellow GLCC members who live in Holland, heard us on the radio and came by the dock. They even came back the next morning and took Bobbie shopping -- very helpful and much appreciated! Thursday we sailed on south to Saugatuck where we spent a day and a half waiting for the weather to be favorable for crossing the Lake. While we waited, Bobbie and son Jim took the Chain Ferry across the Kalamazoo River and walked out to the highly-rated 'Oval Beach' on Lake Michigan. They followed this by hiking to the top of Mt. Baldhead -- this was on the first really summery day of the year and when Bobbie's warm, you know it's hot! This turned out to be a nice place for killing extra time -- they even have an Internet Bar where we were able to catch up on our email. After dinner on Friday and listening to the weather, again, Jim decided that it was time to make the crossing. The engine came on at 8:15 PM. EDT (which is still light), but the undocking had an interesting moment. Son Jim had the bow line and Bobbie was 'up' on the finger pier pulling in on the stern line to keep the boat straight in the slip as we backed out. The line came off the cleat, and Bobbie fell backward six feet into the river. She was wearing her life jacket and swam to the back of the boat without losing her glasses or the dock line! She climbed aboard and said it was OK to continue, so we did. In the future, we won't be just dropping loops over cleats, at least not when the boat is below the level of the dock! Bobbie was lucky to fall into the water and not back onto the boat in the next slip. We were down the river and into Lake Michigan with the main up and on our way for the 73-mile crossing by 9:00 PM. The first seven hours of the crossing were motoring in smooth seas with a full moon that peeked in and out of the clouds. When Jim came on watch at 3:00 AM, there was lightning everywhere to the west. The thunderstorm gave us lots of rain and winds to 23 knots but was not much of a problem; we did not have any close lightning hits. We arrived in a strengthening north wind and were safely docked at the beautiful Prairie Harbor Marina by 8:15 AM on Saturday. Our 'next-dock neighbors' at Duncan Bay had generously offered us use of their slip at the marina on the Wisconsin and Illinois border. We spent nearly all morning sleeping then changed all the clocks to Central Time. Jim L. went for a walk in the afternoon and found that we could walk to the Winthrop Harbor Metra Station for his trip down to Chicago, and that’s what we did Sunday morning. Later that afternoon Jim rode his bike into town and bought a Sunday paper which occupied us when we weren't doing laundry and other boat cleaning. We were blessed with clear weather on Monday making it easy to remove the sails and get them folded and stowed. Tuesday morning we motored down to Larsen Marine in Waukegan to have the mast removed. We arranged to have the mast and rigging shipped to the Kentucky Lakes area where we will meet up with it near the end of September and have it re-stepped. We stayed on the service dock at Larsen on Tuesday night and motored here to Chicago on September 1. The weather was fair with high clouds, and we were about a mile offshore; we had a great view of the city as we came into the Du Sable Marina which is very convenient to downtown. We've decided to celebrate our 35th anniversary a few days early and splurge in the big city this evening. Tomorrow we'll be heading on down to the Hammond Marina for a couple of days and expect to start down the Illinois River on September 5. It may be several weeks before we get a chance to update this site again; expect to see something by the third week of October when we will be driving to Plano for a week. But for now, it's time to meet Barges and Tugs! As always, we appreciate your feedback. Jim & Bobbie
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