Days 10 & 11 – September 29th & 30th – Grafton

It felt good to sleep in a little this morning. We will stay here until Monday morning to rest and regroup. We have been running for five days straight and we are in need of some quality downtime. This is perfect place to stop and catch our breath. We both really like this marina. It is new, clean and the staff is excellent. A courtesy car is provided for trips to the grocery store just down the road a piece. Total thumbs up for the Grafton Marina.

The town of Grafton is small but the city fathers have been very clever to make it a “destination”. Cute shops, restaurants and local pubs with live music make a visit to Grafton well worth the time. The town also comes complete with a local winery – a must stop for me.



There is a ferry that runs from Illinois to Missouri almost non-stop during the day. Mark and I were really disappointed that we did not think to take the ferry while we were in Grafton...oh well, next time.

I spent most of Saturday battling with Windows Vista on my new computer. To make a very long and X*&#%$ story short, I am bound and determined that I will master Windows Vista and be a better person for having fought the battle. I actually love the new look but having to purchase all new software and hardware so that it is “compatible” with Windows Vista is not how I wanted to spend my time or money. At least I can rest assured that Bill Gates is giving all my money to charity!


Sunday we went on a bike ride to see the town and to find the ice cream shop. We even stopped by the winery for another free tasting as there was a different person working and she would not have known that we stopped by earlier…Since everything on the boat should serve a dual purpose, I purchased a festive Halloween decoration.

Hours on the water: 0
Nautical miles traveled: 0
Number of locks: 0
Time spent waiting at locks: 0
Tomorrow's Destination: St Louis & Hoppies Marina
What we're listening to: 0
What we watched: Notes on a Scandal = excellent
Lesson for the day: It feels good to just relax
Obligatory knitting report: Mittens for Wunder Kids

Day 9 – September 28th – Our last day on the Illinois River

I am still being eaten alive by the mosquitoes and the itching is about to drive me insane. So I took a Benadryl which stopped the itching but then promptly put me to sleep. Today I totally wimped out on Mark as a communications officer and navigator. I crashed on the couch in the salon and slept most of the day. Since I do not have any pictures from today I thought I would send some personal messages to the folks back home.

To Lisa and family:
Here is the fruit that you so gracious sent.

Here is the fruit gone.

Note of explanation to everyone else. When my sister Lisa asked if there were any concerns that I had about making this trip I told her that the only thing that I remembered from my history studies about explorers and people who lived aboard ships was that they always seemed to get scurvy. So I guessed that scurvy was something that I needed to be on top of. Being the very thoughtful and resourceful sister that Lisa is, she sent Mark and me a basket of flowers filled with wonderful fruit so that we could start our journey in good health.

To Nancy:
The following is a not so subtle hint (message) from your Mom and Dad (as well as from me). When your Mom was visiting our boat, she noticed that we keep our life jackets on our bed for quick and easy access whenever we leave the dock just in case we need them. You really should not have told your mother about that rough crossing that you and Jim made in the 5-7 footers on Lake Michigan – moms tend to worry and obsess about stuff like that…

To Bob:
I am working on getting maps uploaded to a permanent spot on the blog so that you can easily access where we are at all times. It will have print large enough for you to see clearly. I will get this done as soon as I figure out how to accomplish the task. I love that you are my editor and official spell checker. I take great comfort in knowing that one of Chicago’s most influential and high priced lawyers has my back.


To Terry, my gardener and Dearest Soul Sister:
This is the tree that I want in the front yard at the Indiana house.

To Diana:
Here are the socks that I finished for Mark. I can not wait to see your first completed pair.


To Kathy and Lee: We miss you and the kids very much.


To Sam and Beth: We miss you and love you very much even if you have no talent for decorating.

Day 8 – September 27 – Railroad Bridge Anchorage

The morning was crisp but sunny as we continued south on the Illinois River. I can not believe that it has been a week since we departed Chicago. The time has flown by so quickly. I think this is due to the fact that we are so physically and emotionally exhausted each evening. We are almost always asleep before 9:30p. I was very concerned about how we would provision and prepare a variety of meals during the trip and surprisingly this just has not been a problem. Other than when our friends Mark and Lisa took us out to dinner that first night and our breakfast at Starved Rock, we have eaten all meals on the boat. Mark is such a finicky eater but we have managed very nicely with an assortment of both fresh and canned meals. I think this is one area that I need not worry about any longer.

We had planned to stop in Beardstown for ice but the river was so low that we did not want to chance getting stuck again. What has happened as a result of the recent floods in the Midwest is that the Illinois River system has actually been lowered more than it should have been. It seems that when regulating the flood waters that someone overcompensated temporarily making the river lower than normal. We just need to remember this and plan accordingly.

We had a funny happen to us today. As I mentioned in a previous post, when we pass tugs with barges we are very careful not to cause a wake that may endanger the crew working aboard. But today, we asked permission to pass a tug with six barges going in the same direction as us and we were told to come on ahead. About halfway through passing the tug, the captain radios me to ask if we could speed it up a bit and not “Lolligag” so much in passing him. I laughed and responded that we would be happy to comply.

We were making such good time that we and Restless Wind decided to plow forward to make it the Railroad Bridge Anchorage location at mile marker 61.6. We were doing great until we got the LaGrange lock and we had a 2.5 hour wait. This was okay as it allowed us to practice our anchoring techniques. All went splendidly this time and I am much more confident in my ability to throw and lift the anchor. Also this is our last lock on the Illinois River. We will not encounter another lock until we reach the Mississippi.

After the lock, the river was truly even more scenic than previously. It was a calm and serene ride all the way. Our anchorage this evening is not in a secluded location as it was last evening. We are outside the channel markers but anchored in the main part of the river. Each time a pusher with barges goes past we do a 360 spin, which is kind of cool if somewhat disconcerting for us at times.

Paul and Emy from Restless Wind invited us to their boat for dinner this evening. They are cruising in a 40 foot Beneteau sailboat that is spacious and lovely. Dinner was excellent and we had a wonderful time. In addition, Mark and William were able to meet two of our neighbors at this anchorage. I did not think that I was spending the night in a swamp, but then again… Everyone who has done the Great Loop trip has said that the people that one meets along the way is the best part and I must say that thus far we certainly have found this to be true.

To say the mosquitoes were awful is the understatement of my lifetime. Having lived in Chicago for the past ten years I became very accustomed to NOT being bothered by them as mosquitoes do not live in downtown Chicago due to the wind. We really wanted to sit outside to enjoy the full moon and calm river but the bugs were so bad that we retreated inside the boat as fast as we could. I must have left the door open a split second too long because about a trillion of them decided that they too wanted to live aboard the Lolligag. I woke up in the middle of the night literally covered with bug bites and slathered myself in anti-itching cream.

Friday morning we again awoke to a beautiful morning on the river. In the morning I was able to sit outside for a little while to enjoy the sunrise over the trees lining the adjacent shore. We have a long day ahead of us in that we want to make Grafton, Illinois by nightfall.

Hours on the water: 9 hours
Nautical miles traveled: 53
Number of locks: 1
Time spent waiting at locks: 2.5
Tomorrow's Destination: Grafton, Illinois
What we're listening to: Finished Three to Get Deadly & started Four to Score by Janet Evanovich
Lesson for the day: It is nice to meet Ogres along the way.
Obligatory knitting report: Mittens for Wunder Kids

Day 7 – September 26 – Quiver Island Anchorage

The cold front arrived during the night and it was a crisp clear sunny morning as we left the IVY Club with fellow Loopers Restless Wind. We first met Restless Wind when they stayed over at P dock in Burnham Harbor in Chicago after having started their journey from Wisconsin. We made our way through Peoria and arrived at the Peoria lock to be informed that we would have a 2.5 hour wait. There is no place to tie off at this lock, so it was anchor time. I must confess that anchor (or “being on the hook”) training was the one area that Mark and I did not practice as much as maybe we should have before we left Chicago, but hey how hard can it be?...Seriously, we have anchored before – it is just that we could have practiced more to better acquaint ourselves with the new equipment on this boat.
Let me back up a little here and tell the story about the electric windlass (motor that raises and lowers the anchor) that lives on this Lolligag. When we had the old Lolligag we did not have a windlass (electric or otherwise) – we just had the wench (me) who had to hoist the anchor manually. Most of the time that was okay, it is just that at times the anchor was really hard to dislodge and I had a hard time raising it. Also when we would anchor in Lake Michigan we would often use as much as 300 feet of anchor rode (rope) and hauling in that much wet, slimy, icky line is not my idea of a good time. SO, when it came time to put together the wish list for the new boat, I INSISTED that we have a windless. I would have a settled for a manual windlass – where the wench actually uses a winch – but an electric one was my first choice. Luckily, for me (and subsequently Captain Mark) the new Lolligag came equipped with a very nice electric windlass.

So now we are at the Peoria lock and I go out to lower the anchor. It won’t move. I step on the pedal and it still won’t move. Captain Mark says “Oh, I forgot to give you this “thing” to turn the spokes manually to get the anchor going at little bit before you use the foot pedal”. So I go into the helm, get the handle like thingy and put it on one of the spokes of the windlass. I roll the anchor forward a little bit but the chain still will not budge. I step on the pedal, the anchor starts to lower and the handle like thingy literally flies off the front of the boat and splashes into the water. I just stood there and watched it sink…I turned to Mark to try to convince him that the handle like thingy just wanted to escape and that I could not prevent it from fleeing once it had the chance…Captain Mark did not buy my story, but he just laughed as I tried to wiggle my way out of just being careless. While we were waiting, I actually had Internet and cellular service, so I ordered another handle like thingy – in fact I ordered two more because I am sure that I will probably drop another one into the water before our journey is finished.

Now they say that things happen in a set of threes and today proved that theorem for us. I was still obsessing about having lost the handle like thingy so that when we entered the lock (finally) I forgot to lower the mid-ship fender. We scraped the lock wall slightly but luckily it was a small nudge on the rub-rail and no mark or scratch was made to the boat. Now I am batting two for two in the error department and I am beginning to wonder what terrible thing I can do next to mess up this day…


We head downriver with fellow Loopers Knot Home and Restless Wind with the plan that Knot Home would head to a marina while Restless Wind and we anchored out at Quiver Island. I was really excited about anchoring out because it just seemed to like a cool thing to do and it was totally free. I do like stopping at marinas but they can be really expensive night after night, so the idea of saving some money appealed to the cheapskate side of me. About 4p we arrived at the spot in the river where we would turn back upstream to go in behind Quiver Island. Very slowly Mark made the turn and almost immediately we watched as the water level below us dropped to less than 2 feet. Our boat draws (the measurement of the water below the boat) about 42 inches, so 2 feet of water means we were in big do-do, BIG TIME. Cool heads prevailed and we quickly determined that the bow (front) of the boat was lodged but that the stern (back) of the boat was free and was in about 5 feet of water. So Mark decided to use the dinghy to see if he could pull us backward off the sandbar. It is about this time that our problems really began in earnest…First of all our worst mistake at this point was that Mark forgot to put on his headphones when he got into the dinghy. I could not hear him or his instructions which frustrated us both and added to the stress of getting us unstuck. His efforts to pull the boat backward were not successful and we did not budge at all. So he decided to take the dinghy to the front of the boat and try pushing us back. I was at the helm and VERY SLOWLY put the boat in reverse, neutral, reverse, neutral, reverse as Mark used the power of the dinghy motor to push us backward. It was difficult for me to tell if we were moving due to the current in the river but slowly but surely we made our way off the sandbar. Just about this time Restless Wind came around the bend in the river and stayed with us until we were certain that we were free, which we were at this point. Now to add more drama to this event, a tug boat pushing six barges was coming by us at this time. The barges themselves do not cause a troublesome wake but the tug creates a churning wake and we knew that Mark needed to get back onto the boat or at least tie the dinghy securely to our boat until the waters calmed. Mark got back onto the Lolligag just in the nick of time.

As I raised the dinghy back in place I was finally able to take my heart out of my throat and let my stomach calm down. I think what scared me the most was not getting stuck but the fact that Mark and I were not able to communicate effectively and I did not know what he was planning to do. After we successfully anchored in the proper spot, we discussed what happened and we both agreed that NO MATTER WHAT, neither of us go outside the boat without our headphones on from now on – no exceptions!



We invited Paul and Emy from Restless Wind over for dinner. Their company and friendship greatly calmed us down. As the evening became darker and the night sounds began to prevail, I came to realize what a wonderful experience it was to “be on the hook”. The bright full moon and dark sky full of stars filled me with wistful and dreamy thoughts.


Waking up the next morning put all my fears of the previous day to rest.
Mist had formed on the river and the setting was like in a movie with an almost surreal feel to it. How can anything so beautiful, calm and scenic every be a problem?



Hours on the water: 8.25 hours
Nautical miles traveled: 43
Number of locks: 1
Time spent waiting at locks: 2.5 hours
Tomorrow's Destination: Railroad Bridge Anchorage
We are listening to: Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich
Lesson for the day: Headphones are required!
Obligatory knitting report: Mittens for Wunder Kids

Happy Birthday Beth

We hope that your day was as wonderful as our day was 34 years ago when you came into our lives.
XOXOX
Mom & Dad

PS The check is in the mail...

Day 6 – September 25 – Peoria

The harbor at Henry was really shallow and in hindsight we probably should have stayed on the outside wall with our Looping friends Knot Home. But we were able to slowly but surely get out of the harbor safely and did not churn up too much mud.

It was cloudy and overcast when we left Henry, Illinois this morning but the storm that was predicted did not really materialize after all. We had about an hour of rain, but nothing hard.

The trip downriver was again spectacular but the river itself it a little different in this area. While the river is quite wide at times with many inlets and even some “lakes”, the navigable channel can be rather narrow. We followed a commercial tug without barges most of the way to Peoria so the going was slow and easy – just two tugs tugging along…


We arrived at our destination of the Illinois Valley Yacht Club in Peoria. This is a really nice location with wonderful facilities. I would highly recommend it.

I had hoped to get together with my cousin Mike and his wife Laura while here in Peoria, but unfortunately they are out of town. Mike, we will catch you next time around on the Loop for sure, but hopefully sooner.


Hours on the water: 3.25 hours
Nautical miles traveled: 25
Number of locks: 0
Time spent waiting at locks: 0
Tomorrow's Destination: Quiver Island - Anchorage
Lesson for the day: It is hard to be away from children on their birthday
Obligatory knitting report: Mittens for Wunder Kids

Day 5 – September 24 - Henry

Upon rising today, I called the Starved Rock lockmaster to determine the status of the lock. He told us to come on down but when we got there, it appeared that it was going to take a little longer than anticipated to get the barge ahead of us into the lock, so this meant about an hour wait. Another Looper boat, Kaos, offered to allow us to raft off them as we waited and we gladly accepted their offer. We quickly introduced ourselves and we found that they had spent four months in the Bahamas last winter (as we plan to do this winter). They quickly filled us in on their wonderful experiences and gave us many recommendations and suggestions that I am sure we will find very valuable. They also suggested that we consider spending some time exploring the Tennessee River, especially a side trip to Chattanooga. We are giving this some very serious consideration as it sounds like a great idea.

Oh, I got into trouble at the lock today…after we were secured but before the water started to go down, I decided that I needed more lemonade and more ice. So I quickly run to the stern of the boat where the cooler is located but obviously not quick enough in that I did not escape the teasing of the lockmaster. He announced to the other two boats and commercial tug waiting in the lock that as soon as I was done getting my liquid refreshments that he would commence lowering the water…Everyone laughed and I just smiled while I held up my huge mug of lemonade.

The river south of Starved Rock lock is wide with lots of islands and inlets. Mark said that this is how he envisions the Mississippi to be…we shall see when we get there. Again the scenery is peaceful and serene. Today I did something that I had not done before while traveling on the river – I knit. Normally, I track our route manually as Mark navigates electronically, but today I decided that I wanted to knit. I was able to follow the chart book but I felt that I was missing the journey…I really do not think that I am able to multitask in this manner. Either I should knit or I should see where we are going. I am not one who can knit without looking at my work, so I think I will knit when we are stopped and not while we are underway.



Today I am paying the price for my poor choice in shoes yesterday during the hike. My legs were a little sore and stiff when I awoke this morning but as the day progressed so did the stiffness. I became acutely aware of this fact very quickly when docking the boat and I hopped onto the dock to tie the lines upon our arrival in Henry, Illinois. My calf muscles have decided to strike in protest to my very ignorant choice of hiking shoes. Therefore, they refuse to work. It is very difficult to walk and consequently tie up a boat when one’s legs refuse to cooperate with the rest of one’s body. It was truly a pitiful sight watching me try to coax my lower legs to follow the upper part of my body as I tried to maneuver along.

I have decided that I have found my own true Hell on this earth. Having found this place, I really do try to avoid it at all costs, but it is inevitable and my current destiny (penance?) that I must visit this place of ill-repute at least every ten days or so. I am sure that if Dante where alive today, that he would add another circle to Hell to include this place. It is always hot - unreasonable so, almost always not very clean and while I hate to sound like a snob (or snot), when I am there I am sure that I am in the company of major felons and at the very least, serious jaywalkers. Like all vices and addictions, I find that no matter how much I try to restrain myself and tell myself that I will never “use” again, I am back for more. I dread with all my heart to enter, but I am sucked back in each time. I find that I hoard my money in special stash just so that I may have enough for when the time is right. Upon leaving this establishment, I almost always have to take a shower to purge my body of the sweat and overall ickiness of the experience.
Yes, my Hell is a laundromat and I will never get used to them...

Hours on the water: 6
Nautical miles traveled: 33
Number of locks: 1
Time spent waiting at locks: 1.5 hours
Tomorrow's Destination: Peoria
Lesson for the day: Looping means doing what you gotta do sometimes
Obligatory knitting report: Baby and bear sweaters

Days 3 and 4 – September 22 & 23 – Starved Rock

We slept in a little bit on Saturday morning but were on our way by 10a. From this point on, our trip will be all virgin territory to us as we have never been south of Spring Brook Marina before on the river. The Marseilles lock was just around the bend and has a really neat approach. The dam is a little upriver and then the actual lock is accessed via this almost secluded and lovely channel in the river. Again we lucked out and had to wait only a short time before entering the lock.

The day was absolutely gorgeous and much too nice for me to stay inside the boat even with all the doors open. When we travel on the river I follow our route via the hard copy book of the Illinois Waterway Navigation Charts while Mark uses the electronic GPS system. So I took my chart book and my lemonade and spent the day sitting on the bow of the boat as we made our way south. I must admit that I often lost my place in the chart book because I was distracted by the peaceful calm of the river. It is too early here in the Midwest for the leaves to have changed colors but still I was totally captured by the way the tress grow along the river. It was nature at its best to see the water fowl that use these areas of the river.
We passed the city of Ottawa, home of the famous Lincoln/Douglas debate and made our way to the Starved Rock Marina. The plan was that we would stay here until Monday morning so that we could visit the state park and the fact that the marina had free Internet totally cinched the deal.


As we were settling in, a knock on our boat let us know that our new friends from Knot Home were also in the marina. They invited us to their boat for homemade blackberry pie that they had gotten at the farmer’s market in Ottawa. Never one to turn down pie, we joined them Saturday evening aboard Knot Home. There are two couples traveling aboard Knot Home and this is their second year and final leg of the Loop. I had a ton of questions for them about both their experiences thus far as well as the dynamics of two couples traveling together. They very graciously answered the myriad of questions that I had and then gave us a tour of their wonderful boat.

I had heard tell of fellow boaters offering their vehicles to Loopers but in reality I thought it was just a tall tale. However, the owners of the largest houseboat that I have ever seen in my entire life offered their car to Marilyn of Knot Home and they in turned asked Mark and I if we wanted to go with them to Starved Rock State Park. Mark and I had been planning to ride our bikes to the park, but a ride in a car sounded much better to us. We all had breakfast in the lodge which was built as a CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) project during the depression. Following breakfast we headed out to hike. (I awoke late that morning and simply was not thinking when I slipped on my comfortable but certainly not good walking shoe sandals - more about the repercussions of bad shoe choices in the next post.) We all walked up and down the park for a total of about six miles. It was truly spectacular to see the river from up on the rocks as well as the natural canyons and waterfalls that are formed in the rock. Starved Rock arrived at its name during the 1600s when two Indian tribes took to battle. One tribe retreated to the top of the rock but the other tribe surrounded the rock literally forcing the first tribe to starve to death when the natural resources became depleted upon the rock.




After the park we all visited the charming town of Utica, Illinois. This is a weekend destination for motor cycle clubs and I was in hog heaven (pun intended) seeing all the bikes in town. For those of you who do not know me, I must confess that if I did not own a boat, I would be owning a Harley. My friend Will and I keep trying to convince our respective spouses that this is something that we MUST have, but our pleas have fallen on deaf ears to date.

Following a very physical day, Mark and I were again asleep by 9p. This is becoming a trend now and is not really a bad thing at all.

Hours on the water: 3
Nautical miles traveled: 20
Number of locks: 1
Time spent waiting at locks: 15 minutes
Tomorrow's Destination: Henry Marina
Lesson for the day: Wear sensible shoes when hiking
Obligatory knitting report: Finished a mitten for the Wunder Kids

Day 2 – September 21 – Yes, Linda drives the boat

You would think that being on a boat tied up to a docking spot in downtown Joliet with tugs and barges passing within thirty feet of us all evening and with two nearby bridges opening and closing (complete with a siren each time) that I would have not been able to sleep a wink…however, this was totally not the case. I slept like a log and did not hear anything all evening and Mark also slept well, but not as deeply as I guess I did.

I awoke early and enjoyed the sunrise over the Joliet levy. About 8a I called the Brandon Road lockmaster to determine the status of the lock through. He told us to come on down so I rounded up Knot Home’s crew and we both headed the mile down river to the lock about 8:45a. It seems that the lock was not operating as quickly as anticipated so it was necessary for us to tie up and wait about an hour before we were able to lock through.

We arrived at Dresden Island lock which is a short distance south from where the Kankakee River meets the Illinois River. We had to wait and tie up again for just about an hour before it was our turn to lock through. We were placed at the very front of the lock and before we started to be lowered, I was able to see over the lock docks to the river below. It was a spectacular view and it is just magic to me the way these locks work. This was also the first lock that has allowed us to use the floating boillard to secure the boat while descending. Usually, we are given lines to hold but I really liked this method – it certainly was easier on my hands.

After exiting the lock, I took over the helm for the rest of the day. It was really funny to watch Mark flit around the boat while I was driving. He claimed that he was not nervous or concerned about my driving but he could not sit still, so I sent him outside to sit on the bow. I think I did a very good job of driving, thank you very much.



We were scheduled to spend the night at Spring Brook Marina in Seneca, Illinois and as we approached the marina I gave the helm back to Mark. It is always windy at Spring Brook and there is a small whirlpool at the entrance of one of their harbors so I did not think that this was the best time for me to practice docking the boat… This is the marina from which we purchased the previous Lolligag and it was a bit like coming home.

Hours on the water: 8
Nautical miles traveled: 37
Number of locks: 2
Time spent waiting at locks: 2.5 hours
Tomorrow's Destination: Starved Rock Marina
Lesson for the day: It is okay to go to sleep before 8:00p
Obligatory knitting report: Finished charity mitten and started a mitten for the Wunder Kids

Day 1 – September 20th - We’re Off

As soon as the sun rose, I was awake and eager to start our journey. I allowed Mark to sleep in until 7:30a and then it was time for him to get moving…

I opened the back door of the boat and there were our friends and dock mates Bob, Nancy and Kim all smiling and ready to help us on our way. This was extra nice and wonderful because they are still part of the working world and I knew that they should have been at their places of employment but were on P Dock with us instead. As our friends helped us untie our lines from slip P37 at Burnham Harbor for the last time, a sense of sadness and loss was mixed equally with my feelings of excitement. I looked back and I could hardly see them waving through the tears in my eyes.


The sky was a beautiful blue and the seas totally calm as we slowly made our way to the Chicago lock near Navy Pier. We wanted to travel down the river to the Ship and Sanitary Canal so that we may have one last look at our beloved downtown Chicago. Mark drove a little slower than is required and we savored the sights and sounds of the city as we made our way down river.
Shortly after the merger of the Cal Sag Channel and the Ship and Sanitary Canal one enters the Hellhole of Lemont. This is a seven mile industrial stretch along the river where the tow boats and barges are staged for the trip either down the Mississippi or out into the Great Lakes. This can be a very daunting passage as this area requires that captain and crew be ever vigilant and aware of the wake created by their boat due to the crews on the working barges that may have a freeboard of only two feet or so. As communication’s officer, it is my duty to hail the tugs/pushers as soon as I can identify them so that I may ask them how they wish us to proceed. I have found that tug boat captains, for the most part, are very charming. They are professional and at the same time they can be playful and a tad bit flirtatious in their responses. Most of them love our boat’s name and we hear lots of nice compliments about both the boat and the name. Our journey through the Hellhole this time was rather uneventful, which is a good thing. I am not sure if this is because Mark and I now know what to expect and are more confident in our boating skills or if it was a slow day, but either way, it was a pleasant and exciting part of our day’s trip.

We totally lucked out at Lockport lock in that we were able to slide right in with no waiting. For us, this is a very rare and an exceedingly welcome event. It seems that we always come to a lock where we have at least an hour wait before it is our turn. The city of Joliet lay just beyond Lockport lock and we docked at the free municipal docks at Bicentennial Park in the heart of downtown Joliet. Shortly after we got settled in three additional boats joined us. It was fun to catch their lines and meet fellow Loopers aboard Knot Home and Lady Luck who is bound for Florida.

Our friends from P Dock Mark and Lisa, very graciously took us out to dinner and gave us a sight-seeing tour of Joliet. This was the perfect ending to a perfect day. Our adrenaline had been running so high during the day that an evening relaxing with friends was exactly what we needed to cap off the first day of our adventures.




Hours traveled: 6 hours
Nautical miles traveled: 41
Number of locks: 2
Time spent waiting at locks: 10 minutes
Obligatory knitting report: No knitting today.
Thought for the day: Friendship is the best gift to give and to receive.

Less than 12 hours, but who is counting

Well, our departure from Chicago’s Burnham Harbor is scheduled to take place in less than 12 hours. We are packed, organized, and we hope that we have not forgotten anything. We have spent the last couple of days shopping for everything from 18” orange ball fenders to more can goods than we ever knew existed. I am sure that the cashier at the grocery store thought that she was dealing with two survivalist fanatics with all of the can goods and non-perishable food we purchased. Now everything is in its place on the boat, the laundry is done, the fuel tanks full and we are ready to start our adventure tomorrow morning, Thursday September 20, 2007 at 8a.

Tonight our good friends Fireman Jim and Nancy took us out to dinner to Twin Anchors – a fabulous rib joint and the site of several movies filmed here in Chicago. Our other dear friends Kathy and Lee joined us for a wonderful farewell dinner full of laughs, kisses and hugs. Leaving good friends is very hard but we are comforted in knowing that they will join us along our journey, hopefully often.

Both Mark and I took time to sit on the back of the boat this evening to capture for the last time the outstanding Chicago skyline. Downtown Chicago has been our home for the past ten years and we have fallen in love with this city as it is truly like no other place on earth. Frank had it right when he said “my kind of town, Chicago is…”

Reunion Reunion 2007

Last year in 2006, my high school graduating class held its 40th reunion. Like many reunions, a good time was had by all who attended and we were reluctant to allow renewed friendships to fade. During the evening, the conversation came around to The Lolligag and our home in Chicago. Very quickly a group of “Golden Knights” living in or having a connection to Chicago was formed for a weekend aboard The Lolligag. This momentous event was held October 2006 aboard The Lolligag in Chicago. As we all had such a wonderful time laughing, reminiscing and seeing Chicago from the lakefront, the attendees and those who heard rumors of the fun and laugher, vowed to make this an annual event.



So, the 2nd Annual Reunion Reunion aboard The Lolligag was scheduled for Labor Day Weekend 2007. This year’s attendees included Beret, Terry, Will, Cindy, John, two Marks, and two Lindas (or one Linda and one Lolli). We gathered in Chicago to take a three hour tour (a three hour tour) to Michigan City, Indiana for the weekend. Beret and Mark who have a lovely and very large house in Northern Indiana opened their home to all of us. The trip across the lake was like skating on glass so Terry, Linda and I spent the time practicing our Sweet Potato Queen Wantabes lifestyle by lolling about on the bow of the boat while Will and Captain Mark supervised the autopilot.
Beret, Cindy and John were there to catch our lines as we arrived at the Michigan City Municipal dock. Hugs and laughter immediately ensued and set the pattern for the remainder of the weekend.

Activities during the weekend included multiple trips to the casino – where I was the biggest loser and Beret made one pull that everyone gambler dreams of making…Beret’s husband Mark was sailing in the Tri-State Race during the weekend but before he left he made the most wonderful dinner for us, which we ate on the veranda of Beret and Mark’s home.
The food was excellent, the liquid refreshment plenty, and the camaraderie was the very best. Since Beret was the big winner at the casino on Saturday evening, she treated us all to breakfast Sunday morning at the most charming Retro Diner in New Buffalo Michigan. Dinner Sunday evening took place at a local restaurant which featured a very talented jazz performer and again the food was to die for…do you see a pattern here…good food, good friends and good times. On Monday morning, we bid farewell amid more hugs and kisses while hoping that our friends will be able to join us at some point during our journey.

A Dinghy Story

A major part of preparing for a trip like the Great Loop is determining what kind of auxiliary craft one should have. Personally, our daughter Beth and I thought The Lolligag needed a really large and very fast jet ski as our auxiliary craft, but Captain Mark prevailed with his ever-present logic by stating that it is extremely hard to transport groceries on a jet ski. So we got a four-person dinghy with plenty of room for crew and provisions. The next decision to make is how one should transport the dinghy aboard the main vessel. Somehow this did not seem like the most efficient way to store and transport our dinghy...

The most important thing that most Loopers told us was that the auxiliary craft had to be quickly accessible and able to be deployed by all crew in case of an emergency. There are about a gazillion different dinghy/davit systems out there to choose from and we read the literature on just about all of them. Only one system seemed to meet our needs and that was the Sea Wise System http://www.seawisemarine.com AND just like everything I else I seem to like, desire and have to have, it was one of the most expensive systems around. Each of these units is custom made to order to the specifications of the main vessel and dinghy. Oh, did I forget to mention that the closest dealer who sells the system is Trawler’s Midwest http://www.trawlersmidwest.com in Manitowoc, Wisconsin which means a two day trip up to Manitowoc and a two day trip back. But that is okay because we really like to travel the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan and since we had not been to Port Washington or Racine, this gave us an excuse to visit these two ports.



I am sure that I am going to totally jinx us by saying this but we had the very best weather possible while traveling on this trip. The seas were calm and the most beautiful blue sky imaginable. Since the last time we traveled to Manitowoc we were traveling in a fog soup, it was nice to be able to see where we were going this time. As one never to miss an opportunity to loll about, especially in such great seas, I spent every moment on the bow of the boat unless it was knitting time. I probably could knit while lolling about but I really do think that these two favorite pastimes of mine should not be combined. Each activity is to be savored and enjoyed just for itself.

During the installation of the davit system the part that took the longest was allowing the adhesives to set. So while the stuff was curing, Mark and I rode the public transit system all around Manitowoc in search of the Piggy Wiggly. This is a really cleverly designed system with six different routes that are all 30 minutes long so that all of the buses can meet back at the transit station at the same time. Then everyone can switch to another bus if they wish or they can do what we did... We made the mistake of thinking that Bus 2 would stay Bus 2 so we just stayed on the bus, but when it left the transit center it became Bus 3, so we got to see a whole other part of Manitowoc. We just rode back to the transit center to catch Bus 4 that then became Bus 2. It took us a couple of trips around Manitowoc, but we finally grasped the logic of the system. After thinking about it, this too seemed really clever because the bus drivers never get bored by always driving the same route. The bus drivers are really friendly also and we soon became known to all of them as “the people who want to get back to the marina but keep getting on the wrong bus”.


Finally Geno has the davit system installed. He instructs us both on the mechanics of the system and makes me raise and lower the dinghy multiple times to make sure that I can easily use the hand crank. It is very easy for me to deploy as well as raise the dinghy and we are both glad that we spent the extra money for this system. If any problems arise during our trip I will be sure to whine about them.




We are ready to head back to Chicago after having spent three sightseeing days in Manitowoc. We lucked out again with perfect weather and calm seas allowing us to get back to Chicago without any delays. This was a good thing because we had BIG SOCIAL PLANS for the Labor Day Weekend. I will be sure to tell you all about the Reunion Reunion in the next post.