What was supposed to be only a 4 day hiatus turned into a month long furlough for me and required Christian to move the boat, alone, from Grafton to Memphis. I would love to post pictures of the reason why but have neglected to get Elias’ approval to do so… and new grandparents do not want to start off on the wrong foot! 🤗🤗👶👍💃☺️
Christian was kind enough to document his journey in pictures for us… A solo journey on the Upper Mississippi is quite an accomplishment so we will forgive him the lack of editorial. I will add color where I can but full disclosure, I was not here…
The flotilla from Grafton to Paducah; Christian’s traveling companions turned off at the Ohio to make their way down the Tenn-Tom route but he had company for the first three days.The famous Hoppies stop… I am truly sorry to have missed this as it is legendary among the Loopers.There was a very dicey start one morning – fog! This is hard with two sets of eyes, a major feat alone!See you in… wherever!A tow head; these are Mississippi River features made famous by Mark Twain. Huck often landed his raft on a tow head and Jim hid in among the trees when necessary.Please make note of the gauge which marks swings in the rivers depth… and notice how low it is currently.The Mississippi River current added 4-5 mph of speed to Christian’s travels. We plan the day’s trip, normally, using 7 mph as travel speed. It is completely conservative to use 10 mph descending the Mississippi and Christian reported he saw 13 one time!🚀The big boys are ALOT bigger on the Mississippi…A gaggle of tows.
The Mississippi has no pleasure boating infrastructure to speak of so overnights stops are slack harbors (inlets where barges are loaded or tows are staged) or sides of the river where the bends are wide and the current is low.
This geographical feature was most likely produced by barges parked on the river. The tows beach the barges on the tow heads…Very little in the way of development along the banks of the river…… but interesting nonetheless.The Memphis skyline
If I neglected to mention it earlier, the Michigan state marinas spoiled us (me) rotten; easy in and out, clean facilities, free laundry in some cases (!), relatively inexpensive and staffed by friendly, knowledgable people. Of course, DuSable in Chicago was most of these things (not the inexpensive part), as well, but the rest of our accommodations in Illinois have been, ummm, different.
Two of the anchorages have been spectacular and each of the little towns we visited had something we liked so I will stop with the commentary and comparison but you decide…
Joliet, IL
The wall in Joliet is free but it was in a section of town where there was not much else. On the other side of the river was a large casino but the nearest bridge was impassable due to construction. Not that we would have gone to the casino…… because we were busy trying to figure out why we seemed to have lost engine cooling. We found this in the engine cooling water strainer. Yikes!😳
Channahon, IL
Our first overnight on a fuel dock; our draft didn’t allow us to go any further into the marina. This place had a great restaurant, though!
Ottawa, IL
Like Joliet, we stayed on another free wall in Ottawa. This time, though, downtown was immediately accessible. Ottawa was the site of the first Lincoln-Douglas debate and the first town we encountered on the Illinois River Road, a scenic highway running along the river, down to Havana.
Depue, IL
Our first river anchorage; we tucked in just in front of the little island, out of the channel, but still on the river. This was the first place we needed to use a stern anchor to keep from swinging around the anchor on our bow.We did not visit the town but had delightful company the next morning.
Henry, IL
Our second fuel dock “slip”. Oh, and the orange box with the K is the pump-out station… 😵💫 This marina is in the development phase; a young couple bought the property and are working hard to develop it with little capital.
Peoria, IL
We docked underneath the dam, next to the lock. Not my favorite… the tows run through the lock ALL night…
Havana, IL
A GREAT anchorage… off the river, way behind the island with a dingy dock less than half a mile away. Havana is the end of the Illinois River Road and a lively little town. Plus, we had the best dinner on the Illinois River at Babe’s on Plum!
‘Grandma’s Got a Notion’ quilting supply store had a surprisingly large on-hand inventory for the size of the town and the historic water tower inspired a creative solution to the problem of a left-over tree stump!
Diamond Island, IL
We anchored in the dam pool of the LaGrange lock but I don’t have a photo for that overnight. Our water tank sloshed all night long from the current coming over the dam so we did not like that anchorage AT ALL. This is Diamond Island and it was a well-deserved reward for the night before.This guy had breakfast with us at Diamond Island!
Hardin, IL
Not even sure what to call this… no pump-out or fuel dock, just a spot deep enough and securely tied to the bank of the river.
The best part of Hardin was the bicycle ride we took to get our first glimpse of the Mississippi. Hardin is pretty much the last town before the junction of the Illinois and the Mississippi.
Grafton, IL
Another fuel pump/pump-out slip in Grafton. We tried to get into the slip they assigned, A1, but got stuck. Seems they did not know their depths although we called that morning to confirm 6’+. 🙄Grafton did have this cool chairlift/gondola ride you could take to a nice restaurant at the top of the hill, though. The ride was closed so we walked; the views were spectacular and the pizza was delicious.And, finally, we have arrived at the Mississippi River. And, finally, we have the beginning of what we know as autumn! This is mile 0 of the Illinois and mile 218 of the Upper Mississippi.
The Illinois River has provided us with a new perspective on American industry. Even the industrial giants (Ford, DuPont, Goodyear, Chrysler) we knew from Buffalo are further up the supply chain than the work in progress we passed traveling down the river.
Behind the river banks we pass are miles and miles of farmland, let’s call that ground zero.
On the river, we see “warehouses & distribution centers”, this is stone but we have seen mulch and salt stored in this manner, as well.
The key components in this system are the towboats. These little guys move the barges; empty ones around the processing plants and “warehouses” or full ones up and down the river.
PS – the towboats do not actually tow anything… they PUSH. The largest tow we encountered on the Illinois River Waterway was 15 barges, 3 wide x 5 long… You saw our boat next to a 3×5 in the last blog entry, wait ’til you see us next to a Mississippi tow!😬
This is one of the grain storage facilities we passed. Seems to be a lot of shrinkage from this one, the others appeared much more efficient.
This was a processing plant for some sort of grain. The aroma upstream of the plant was of cinnamon, as we passed the plant, cereal.
Peoria, Illinois was, until recently, the home of Caterpillar’s corporate headquarters; this is probably the most well-known company we passed.
Then, there is all of the infrastructure required to support the raw material processing, transport and the employees these businesses employ. Power stations…
… railways and the engineers who lift the bridges for the barges…
… cell towers (not that we enjoyed any of those benefits on this leg 🙄)…… the ferries which served in the place of bridges…… pleasure boats…
… tiny towns and the bars and the one or two restaurants they supported…
…and, of course, the Army Corp of Engineers and their locks. Without these partners in the supply chain, nothing, including us, would be transported down the inland rivers.
…of the Illinois River Waterway. The first of the inland rivers we are traveling is known as the Illinois River Waterway. This section of the journey is comprised of the Chicago River, the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal, the Des Plaines River and the Illinois River. We will have traveled 285 nautical miles (327 statutory miles or 526 kilometers to reach the Upper Mississippi River from Chicago. And as you can see, this vista could not be more different than downtown Chicago!
In addition to the abundance of things to do, places to eat and sites to see, Chicago is simply a gorgeous city. Its location on the lake, and the river which runs through it, give it a natural head start over some other cities, but the emphasis on form and detail, in buildings both new and old, combined with the geography, make it special.
The Architecture River Tour
As virtual crew, you can take the tour down the Chicago River with us…Marina City (1962)The Wrigley Building (1924)Does this need saying??? (2009)
The Reid, Murdoch & Co. Building (1914)
The Jeweler’s Building, in 1927 the tallest building outside New York City.The Bank of America Tower (2020)The Chicago School of Professional PsychologyChicago Union Station Tower (2021)300 S Wacker Drive – The design on the face of the building is a map of the river and surrounding streets; the red rectangle indicates this building’s location relative to both (renovated in 2014)The Merchandise Mart was, when opened in 1930, the largest building in the world by usable area.
Vista Tower (The Residences at St Regis Chicago) is the tallest building in the world designed by a woman, Jeanne Gang. The small black stripe near the top of the 3rd tower is actually an open floor. It is designed to allow the winds from Lake Michigan to pass through the building thereby minimizing sway. Many of the new buildings had some feature like this, to reduce sway. Both the old and new buildings were also designed with features that allowed light and air to reach the street level of the city (2020).
The building in the back is the Aqua Tower, another Jeanne Gang building (2010).333 W Wacker Drive at Riverwalk (1983)The “Champagne Flute” (2017)180 N Wacker
The Civic Opera House (1929)
Fulton House CondosThe former Montgomery Ward’s Distribution Center, now lofts (1907).Riverview Lofts on the North BranchLeaving Chicago on the River. Here, finally, is the Willis Tower, formerly the Sears Tower.
Architecture NOT on the River (but interesting, still the same)
Even with the predominantly cheerless weather AND 10 days of required isolation (yes, COVID), we are Chicago’s newest fans. The waterfront, the bike-friendliness of the city, the architecture, the art… and of course, the pizza!
Quarantining in Chicago
Our first night was spent in the mooring field in Monroe Harbor. Looks great from the boat, right? Not so much ON the boat… the waterfront swung in a 30 degree arc all night and we were going to have to be there for 10 days.🤢
We moved into DuSable Harbor which sits on the Lake Shore Drive bike and pedestrian trail. From this vantage point we could watch the world go by… and get gelato & groceries delivered!
Our Neighborhood
With no ability to do much until we could be “sprung from jail”, we masked up and walked. The harbor was right downtown so Grant Park, Millennium Park, Navy Pier and the River Walk were all easily accessible. There was also a beautiful little park tucked into a block of four residential towers between the harbor and the Aon Center (Chicago headquarters for Heinz, Microsoft and the like).
Buckingham Fountain in Grant ParkLake Shore East ParkEast Randolph St… even the streets are manicured!
Cloud Gate at Millennium Park, known to the locals as “The Bean”. The picture on the right is taken from underneath, looking straight up.
The Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Crown Fountain at Millennium Park
Navy Pier
The River Walk
Free at Last
Once we were able to, we took advantage of being tourists in the city. We rode the Lake Front Trail to its northern end and had lunch in a little restaurant in Edgewater, we rode to the southern end and visited the Chicago Science and Industry Museum. We saw an exhibition of work by Banksy, the British graffiti artist, and Barbara Kruger’s nightly display on the Mart (a 4 million sq ft building). We caught the beginning of the Chicago Marathon, then rode to the finish line and watched some of the fastest runners come in. A shout out to Dana & Sarah who provided the highlight of our time in Chicago: a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s house and studio, as well as a walking tour of the Wright houses in Oak Park. Many thanks for making that happen…
The end of the Lake Shore TrailFrank Lloyd Wright’s Unity ChurchA private Frank Lloyd Wright houseAnd another… the differing styles reflect the different influences over the course of his career.The children’s playroom in Wright’s personal residence. This photo highlights the meticulous detail…… this the actual scale of the room!They’re off!Some of the best at mile 20…
Some of Banksy’s most irreverent and rebellious works were on display.
The tornado simulator at the Weather exhibit in the Science & Industry Museum. We wished we could have had a couple more days to spend there!
A Barbara Kruger projection at the Merchandise Mart
Such a spectacularly beautiful city… but while we were there, the weather did NOT facilitate photographing for you. We had a hint on the ride in from Lake Michigan where a strange, low cloud rendered the skyline fuzzy and everything a bluish shade of gray. Those clouds hung around pretty much our entire stay making us wonder if we had somehow landed in Seattle??? This post will set the stage while we curate the city…
This week we experienced Lake Michigan living up to its reputation for tantrums after Labor Day. This, so far, five day hiatus is NOT because we are off the boat enjoying family celebrations and re-unions; this is a full fledged weather delay. There is a very good chance that we will not leave South Haven until Monday the 27th… all up to when Lake Michigan wants to calm down.
Monday, Sep 20th: We left Saugatuck a day earlier than planned because we saw bad weather coming. South Haven is a short 20 mile hop down the coast and we snuck in there before the rain started. We were still optimistic that the delay would be a short one and the clearing skies reinforced our hopes.
Tuesday, Sep 21st: After a miserable night sloshing up against the pilings in our slip and looking at an updated forecast, we sought shelter in the marina’s seasonal basin as it was a little more protected. The waves coming into the river, at this point, were only 2 ft but were forecasted to go to 5. By Tuesday evening, Lake Michigan was starting to boil.
Wednesday, Sep 22nd: By Wednesday, the early morning forecast was for up to 20 ft (6 m) waves on the lower part of the lake. The image below is a tool we use on the Great Lakes which provides wave height and wind direction status & forecasts. The little red star is about where South Haven is and any place we would travel to is south… In this case, green is NOT good… By Wednesday evening, there were 5 ft waves on the South Haven beach and at the mouth of the river.
Thursday, Sep 23rd: Still no change in the wind direction on Thursday. The waves rolling into the river are still 4-5 ft and now, it is cold🥶. This has been a north wind for two full days.
You can get a sense of the volume of water that was ricochetting from one wall of the channel to the other if you keep your eye on the red barrel.
Friday, Sep 24th: Today the wind changed direction and lessened in speed. The forecast looks much better BUT those waves will be right on our nose if we head directly to Chicago (not a pleasant ride). Also, the wind forecasting tool has the wind picking up again tomorrow… Still, it is much warmer today and there are even sailboats out enjoying the wind (they are heading north).
This is an unabashed advertisement for Ludington State Park. All you land yacht owners, motorcyclists, world travelers and campers should put this on your list of “must sees”. And if you are bored with swimming at the beach, hiking the dunes, campfires, kayaking on the lake and eating really good ice cream, drive to Ludington and watch the SS Badger come in or go out…
Ludington State Park
The Big Sable Lighthouse at northwest point of the park.A soft, clean sand beach runs along the Lake Michigan shore.Behind the first rise of dunes, miles of trails through the rise and fall of even more dunes.On the other edge of the dunes, the sand gives way to grassland and trees.And then, on the other side of the campgrounds, hidden among the trees, is Lake Hamlin.
SS Badger
The SS Badger is the last coal-fired steam car ferry still in operation in the US. It carries 600 passengers and 180 cars 62 miles between US route 10 in Ludington, MI and Manitowac, WI.
The Badger departs Ludington at 9:00A and arrives at 7:00P everyday from May through October.
And if the state park or the Badger are not enough, there are always the sunsets on this coast of Michigan…
We traversed (😜) Grand Traverse Bay from Charlevoix to Suttons Bay to make distance between the Lake Michigan blows, then spent another long day to traveling to Frankfort to hide from yet another. This is the area in Michigan known for its scenic shoreline highway, M-22, and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
Suttons Bay
The Leelanau bike path ran from Suttons Bay to Travis City. We made about two thirds of it before we had to turn around because it started to rain… and our hatches were open.😬No Mushroom Houses but I do think that Earl would have liked this.
The bike path was the best since The Black Diamond Trail in Ithaca. It was a wide, well-maintained, zero grade path through farmland, orchards, wineries and the “Polish Acres”, home of the funky art above.
The trip from Suttons Bay to Frankfort was going to take eleven hours so we left the anchorage in the dark. This is the reward you get for getting up at 5:00AM…
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Perhaps a better photographer could adequately capture the beauty of this part of the lakeshore… these pictures can’t begin to convey the immensity of the dunes and the raw beauty we experienced on our trek past them. Look for the people in some of the pictures …
Frankfort
Looks lovely, right? Remember this view…Frankfort is a clone of all of the small, well-appointed shore towns we have visited. Tidy and prosperous with great access to outdoor life; biking, fishing, beaches and hiking trails are easy to access and abundant.No beach warning flag system here; Frankfort has a traffic light! The red light is why we were hunkering down in Frankfort.Not so peaceful now…The water in the foreground is inside the break wall! 😳We may not have wanted to be on the lake in the 4 footers but the locals were out in force playing on their boards and with their kites.Not just the locals were playing, either.Back to benign…
