What an exciting four days we've had!! Exploring all over Milwaukee, a glassy Lake Michigan cruise to Waukegan, IL, a visit with an old high school flame, a rainy/foggy/choppy day to Chicago, an incredible thunderstorm show last night from the flybridge in Chicago Harbor, and then today the exhilaration of cruising down the middle of Chicago with the majestic skyscrapers all around us!! This picture seems to say it all! The fireworks were after a ballgame in Joliet, where we ended today.
We took a fabulous dinghy excursion in Milwaukee, under 22 bridges through the heart of town.
The day before, when we arrived after ANOTHER difficult day on Lake Michigan from Port Washington (the wind and swells always built during the day and hammered us by the end), we walked all over town exploring, and tried several beer places. Hey, it's Milwaukee! One really cool neighborhood was called Brady Street.
After the early-morning dinghy ride, we biked out for a tour of the Pabst Mansion. No, they don't serve beer at the mansion; the beer would come later. We then biked to the Harley Davidson Museum, and spent three hours looking at 4000 motorcycles. Just kidding, it was better than that, getting to understand the history of cycles and choppers and gangs and hogs. I didn't realize that for their first 11 years, Harleys were motorized bicycles! You could pedal if you were a man, and use the motor if you were a wuss. hahaha just kidding. This picture shows me on a motorcycle for the first time since I had my Kawasaki 90 for a couple months in college.
To truly experience what makes Milwaukee famous, we then biked across town to O'Gallager's Irish Pub where we had lunch, and then ALL the way back to the south end of town to the Horny Goat Brewery where we sipped Hopped Up n Horny Ale. A lot of good it did us since our women weren't there!
Here are Linda and Jim Krueger, who live about 25 miles from our next stop in Waukegan. After we arrived, I phoned Linda, who was in my 7th-8th grade classes and whom I dated in 10th grade, and luckily she and Jim could come for a visit! It was fabulous to catch up on everything, with a Happy Hour on the boat and a nice Italian dinner.
That was about all Waukegan had to offer. Oh, Jack Benny was born there. But the BEST thing about Waukegan was getting there; the seas that day were total glass the entire way!! What a change from the usual beast-of-a-lake. Otto took over and we could relax and sightsee the coastline and view the Tall Ships heading north from their celebrated stay in Chicago. Interesting, the initial slip they assigned me at the marina was too narrow for my boat, and we got wedged in between the post and the dock! The dockmaster walked out to see our plight, and assigned me a new slip and gave us a good shove to get us out of our predicament.
Then it was on to Chicago yesterday. The seas weren't too bad at first - it was actually raining quite a bit and very foggy. But then the wind came up and the seas got bad, and it stormed some more. But, eventually we got to see the Chicago skyline approaching and we knew we'd soon leave the nasty Great Lakes. We also saw the impressive Bahai House of Worship through the fog in Wilmette, north of Chicago, where I'd been several times with Annette over the years.
What a relief it was to enter the breakwater in Chicago Harbor! We tied to a dock and were assigned a mooring (one of 1000) in the harbor. Here's the view we had, although this picture is from this morning when all the clouds had gone. Totally cool to see the City from that lake perspective.
And here is how it looked at night! That was even more impressive! And, it was lucky, because right after we took this picture, a massive thunderstorm came in to treat us to a spectacular show for the next hour or more. We had been walking around the city for six hours seeing various sites and eating at Billy Goat's Tavern (and having beers at Burghoff's), and when we took the water taxi back to Breaking Away, we beat the storm by only a few minutes. Man oh man was that a ferocious thunderstorm! It rained so hard you could not see any of the lights in the city for about 5 minutes, and the wind strength was whipping us all over. The lightning was incredible. I was SOO happy we were tied to a secure mooring and not anchored. We finally went to bed and it was still raining.
This morning it was bright and sunny, although the wind was still whipping at 20-30 mph. It didn't stop us. We first had to lower the radar mast and antenna -- we needed to be as low as possible to fit under all the bridges. It turned out it was a good thing we did that. We then motored the short mile to the lock, and descended all of two feet into the Chicago River. Pulling in behind us was the boat with the woman who had recognized me on Mackinac Island from from reading my blog. They had taken the east side of Lake Michigan along the Michigan coastline, yet we arrived at the lock to leave the lake at exactly the same time.
Here's the glorious scene of cruising down the middle of town, something I'd imagined myself doing for many years. Under all those famous bridges. Next to all those impressive high-rises. I even got emotional for a moment, getting to achieve that part of my dream.
The river eventually led out of town and got less glamorous. All the bridges we fit under except two, although many were only by a foot or two and were scary because it seemed like we would hit them. This picture is of the Amtrak bridge where we had to wait for the train crossing. Then it lifted straight up and off we continued. At another bridge just past this one, we weren't sure. Breaking Away is 16 ft high with the radar mast down, and this lock operator said on the radio to me that he was 16.5 feet. I hesitated, and he said, without my having to ask, that he'd raise the bridge to be on the safe side. It opened just for me!
The Chicago River soon turned into a canal to take us to the Des Plaines River here in Joliet. The scenery became very industrial. Eventually it even became crowded with tug boats and barges tied to the walls. We had to wait twice for tugs to move out of the way for us to pass, but they did so without hesitation.
Here's Breaking Away tied to the wall in Joliet. Even though it was very windy all day long, it didn't affect us until it came time to tie up or dock. Just before we arrived here, we had to lock down 47 ft at a huge chamber in Lockport, IL. We were the last ones into the lock with four other trawlers doing the Great Loop. The wind made it difficult as it pushed the boat all over, and the fenders saved poor Breaking Away. Then, I was able to land here on the wall with the help of the four other boats that arrived before me. When it's so windy, I'd never make it without such kind assistance, and Rick's capable line handling.
Tonight Rick and I went to the minor-league baseball game down the street -- after he played the slots at Harrah's and came out $60 ahead! The Joliet Jackhammers beat the Gary RailCats, 7-3. Such games are a hoot, with so many shows and promotions between innings. What a trip this is!
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