Thursday, August 30, 2018
We are up before dawn, a rare event, getting an early start
to cross Lake Michigan. The storms are
finally past us and we want to cruise nearly 80 miles across the lake before
the wind picks up again. Looking back
east, behind us, we get a lovely view of the sunrise.
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| Sunrise over Leland MI |
Soon we pass offshore Sleeping Bear Dunes National
Seashore, the impressive cliffs along the shore of Lake Michigan.
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| Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore MI |
After an uneventful 7+ hours, we enter Sturgeon Bay Canal.
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| Sturgeon Bay Canal WI |
After a few more miles, we are tied up at Centerpointe
Marina in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. This
is a very nice, upscale marina and condo development and will be a great spot
to wait for predicted high winds to subside.
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| Centerpointe Marina, Sturgeon Bay WI |
Friday, August 31 – Saturday, September 1, 2018
We enjoy riding bikes around this charming small town and
have time to run errands – groceries, local hardware store, etc. I find a wonderful farmers market, at last! Seems like we keep arriving in these towns on
the wrong day. Apple season is just
beginning and I stock up on some delicious local varieties. This area is known for raising cut flowers
and I score a gorgeous bouquet of sunflowers and dahlias; would love to have
seen their growing fields! We are also
finding lots of good sausages and, of course, cheese – not just basic cheddar
but many excellent locally made types.
On Saturday, we play host to friends and
former neighbors from Port Aransas, Scott & Lynne.
What fun to see them and get caught up on
Port Aransas’ painfully slow recovery from Hurricane Harvey!
They have a summer home somewhat nearby and
have driven over to see us for the afternoon – much appreciated!
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| Scott & Lynne, Sturgeon Bay WI |
Sunday, September 2, 2018
Winds are calm again, so we make a 60-mile run to Manitowoc
WI. Six + hours and we arrive at
Manitowoc Marina.
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| Manitowoc Marina WI |
We are staying just 1 night here, so we quickly walk to the
Wisconsin Maritime Museum, a couple of blocks away. This museum has been highly recommended and
it does not disappoint! Exhibits are
very well done.
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| Wisconsin Maritime Museum, Manitowoc WI |
Located on the shore of the Manitowoc River, the museum’s
prized exhibit is WWII sub USS Cobia.
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| USS Cobia |
Our guided tour of the sub was conducted by a new and very
eager docent. The young man was a history
major and full of interesting tidbits.
This view of the torpedo bays is representative of the close quarters on
board.
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| Torpedo room, USS Cobia |
Monday, September 3, 2018
Labor Day! We awake
to light fog that is predicted to clear, so off we go to Port Washington WI. Unfortunately we spend the entire 6 hours
traveling 55 miles through dense fog! En
route we have numerous hitchhikers, grateful for a ride and shelter from such
limited visibility.
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| Hitchhiker, Lake Michigan |
Once tied up at the city marina, we walk the almost deserted
streets of this small town. Most
businesses are closed for the holiday, but catalog merchant Duluth Trading
Company has a waterfront store that we can visit.
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
The weather pattern changed abruptly the last week in August
and we are experiencing frequent delays due to windy, stormy weather. Guess fall has come early to the Great
Lakes! We are starting to skip some of
our planned stops and move as far as possible when we do get good weather. Seems like we will never get to Chicago and
off these huge lakes! Today dawns foggy again, but we are determined to move as far south as Racine before more weather and high winds set in.
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| Foggy morning, Port Washington WI |
Thankfully the fog lifts and we get a great view of the
Milwaukee skyline as we pass by just offshore.
We had planned to stop here but will go on to Racine instead, putting us
just one day from Chicago.
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| Milwaukee WI from Lake Michigan |
We tie up at Reefpoint Marina, a very nice city facility
near downtown Racine.
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| Reefpoint Marina, Racine WI |
Wednesday, September 5 – Monday, September 10, 2018
And here we sit! One
full week, waiting on … you guessed it … windy weather! Lake Michigan seas have been 6’ – 15’ for a
week. Not fair! We are so very ready to move south into the
rivers and away from the rough seas keeping us in port.
With time to kill, we rent a car to run errands and explore
the area. Racine is still a company town
– home of SC Johnson Company (the household products giant). The family provides generous support to area
museums with a very interesting contemporary art museum in nearby
downtown
Johnson heirs own Johnson Outdoors, a conglomerate of
numerous well-known manufacturers of sporting goods, such as Scuba Pro (dive
equipment), Old Town (canoes), Ocean Kayak (kayaks), Humminbird (sonar), Minn Kota (trolling motors), Eureka! (camping equipment), and others. We bike around the downtown area and stop to
visit their only retail store for a little shopping. Their unique store is more museum than retail, featuring their family collection of noteworthy examples of their brands. We bike around the downtown area and stop to visit their
only retail store for a little shopping.
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| Johnson family businesses |
We also meet several loopers here, who are stuck like we are
waiting for calmer wind, and enjoy docktails on their boats. Storm clouds on the horizon mean our
inclement weather is not over yet.
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| Reefpoint Marina, Racine WI |
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Finally the winds calm and we head to Chicago! We cruise past downtown and ...
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| Chicago IL from Lake Michigan |
... turn into our
marina, front row center to it all!
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| Monroe Harbor, Chicago IL |
