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Looking at the weather forecast, we decided that we needed to be off of Lake Michigan by no later than Wednesday night since they were forecasting 3-5 foot waves Thursday and rough conditions for the next few days. When we woke up on Tuesday morning, the wind was blowing hard from the south and the waves were pounding the break wall. Looked like a no go. So we went out for breakfast and when we got back miracle of miracle, the wind had shifted and the lake laid down. We even saw another Patriot coming in to the dock, she was a Grand Banks 50 and had just finished her loop. On our walk we noticed the trees are starting to change. Time to head south.
We ran into some other loopers that were in Racine and they mentioned that another boat called Volare had left early morning and pulled into Waukegan because they were getting beat up on the lake, but since it had laid down we decided to head out. Everything was good until we passed Kenosha, then the wind shifted again, the lake kicked back up and we were getting tossed around pretty well. We had hoped to get to Waukegan, but Lake Michigan decided we would put in at North Point Marina at Winthrop Harbor. We only planned on taking a break but common sense prevailed and we grabbed a slip for the night.
I did take advantage of the West Marine located around a mile from the harbor, and ANYTHING is walking distance if you have the time. I needed a shore power adapter and they had it. I looked like I was walking through a field of Black Eyed Susans but they assured me that this road led to town and eventually it did.
Well, Wednesday morning dawned beautiful and we headed out again. This time the lake cooperated and we made it all the way past Chicago and into Calumet harbor and into the river. Patriot was leaving Lake Michigan and we will not see it again for almost a year. We were officially in territory we have never seen before. We passed under numerous bridges and past lots of very heavy industry. We even hit our first lock of the trip at mile 326.4 on the river. It was more of a dress rehearsal, since it only changed the water height a few feet and we didn't even have to tie to the wall, we just floated in the middle of the lock.
Right after we exited the lock we tied up at the Sunset Bay Marina early after noon and topped off our fuel tank. (Ouch, $6.34 a gallon and we took 65 gallons.) Back home it only cost us $4.71 a gallon. Well that pretty much brings us up to date, our next stop should be Joliet, Illinois.
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