Heading south

      Leaving Burnham Harbor Marina for the Chicago River.

We left Chicago after a great warm and sunny weekend. We entered the Chicago lock which is only a 2 foot drop. It was built to keep sewage from the river from entering Lake Michigan. (How about stopping the sewage?) We had a phenomenal ride through the city with bridges full of commuters walking to work and water taxis taking others. The sun totally disappeared as we were dwarfed by skyscrapers. 

We weaved our way through the shipping canal full of tugs and barges for miles. It's a real experience 

passing a tug pushing 10 or more barges that are each 200 feet long. 

After a few locks as big as football fields we arrived in Joliet, the home of Jake and Elwood Blues aka,

"The Blues Brothers". Nondescript town with a Harrahs Casino.

     The Chicago lock and river entrance.

   

   Once in the river is the Trump Tower

     Rolling through Chicago, what a thrill!

       

           These condo owners have their own parking spots.

The infamous fish barrier which was made to keep the Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes. A none event as no fish jumped in the boat. The coast guard takes you through single file.

Filling up a barge on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship canal. These barges carry the equivalent 

Of 1050 truck loads of cargo.

If you build them they will come. Prefabs on the river.

Back in the USA- Drummond Is.

We left Gore Bay Thursday morning around 11 am after fueling up.  Our goal was to reach Drummond Is.  which is 76 miles North. It is the gateway to USA with a US customs office on sight. The winds were from the South and the first leg of our trip took us Northeast, which provided an uncomfortable ride for the first hour.  After turning North at Barrie Is. Sharman took the wheel and we had the waves at our back the rest of the trip.  Just as the weatherman predicted the winds died down and we arrived at Drummond Is. around 4 PM.  We were met by customs as soon as we docked at the Drummond Yatch Harbor.  It was nice to have cell service after two weeks in Canada.  We had hoped to leave Friday morning heading to  Macinkac Is.

However, the winds kicked up from the South which meant that the winds had from Chicago to Macinkac to pick up steam.  Waves were reported as high as 8 ft. which meant we stayed put.  We went into town ( 3 stores) for groceries and lunch.  We decided to take a ride to the De Tour Passage which separates the end of the North channel from Lake Huron.  It is also the intersection for the locks system taking ships up to Lake Superior.  There were a number of large ships waiting to head North.  De Tour also is the landing area for the Ferry that leaves Drummond Is. for the Michigan mainland.

The school on Drummond  goes up to sixth grade and they  average 50 students.    After that, for Jr. high and high school kids (About 50) are bused and then ferried to the main land, De Tour. 

To go or do anything off the Island you must ride the ferry.  Kids go to school on the ferry, come home from school and then go to and from again for sports that night.  That means Parents too!  It's usually a half an hour wait if you miss the hourly run.

 This morning we had thunderstorms and continuous rain which means a lazy day.  We are still waiting for it to clear so we can ride bikes.  We ended up taking a nice hike and bumped into the Drummond museum which was very interesting.

We intend is to leave our harbor tomorrow morning but it looks like Monday is more realistic.  We heard that is was in the seventies today at home.  It is 62 here and rainy. Late this afternoon a "looper" pulled into the marina headed for Tampa so it looks like we"ll have some company for a while.

Just a travel day.

Left midland for the seventy mile trek to Lions Head.   The weather here is very fickle, it was sunny when we left and half way acrossed  the Georgian Bay we passed under a big black cloud and the rain followed us the rest of the way in.    Lions Head is a cute little town.  I would compare it to Fair Haven but they used the waterfront for a marina, public beach, and playground.  The next morning we were off to Tobermory,On.  Sooooo cute.  Nice shops, groceries and good food.  Tobermory is situated at the end of a peninsula boarded by Lake Huron and the Georgian Bay.

Enjoyed our stay but hopefully off to  Killarney tomorrow.  We are moving on until we get to Chicago and then we can slow down.

A travel day!

Monday, Sept 8 after 25 miles and 8 locks we arrived in Burleigh Falls.  We could go no further as the locks were closed for the day.  We had no power available so we ran the generator for coffee etc. in the morning.  A Very remote area but beautiful.

The next morning we had a little hectic travel day, we had to cover five locks and twenty miles.  We definitely wanted power and wi-fi. We arrived in Fenelon Falls and tied up on the lock wall which had shore power but no wi-fi.  So now you can see why my posts have been coming slow.  Fenelon Falls is a Vibrant little town with Trent Severn Canal system running through down town.

Sept. 10, we left Fenelon Falls to to make it to Orillia.  A Very interesting travel day, as we needed to make it through five locks before entering lake Simcoe. We needed to be  through the last lock before 3:30 and we made it in the nick of time.  We past a larger boat at the last lock and asked where they were going as they faced opposite of us.  they said Oswego and the Erie Canal, and south  down the East coast to florida.  It seems they did not want to travel the Mississippi River  so they were doing the loop in reverse of us.  When we arrive at the south end of lake  Simcoe,  we had to travel 16 miles down to Orillia.  The winds started to pick up, the rain started and the waves built to 3-4 footers.  We entered the port of Orillia marina just before the storm hit.   The night was quite windy and the rain continued all night.  We were snug as a bug in a rug!  So, we are here at this great marina right in the center of town.  We are spending an extra day to get chores done and have dinner with Sue and Gary Smokum.

   

 Rick has been working hard to get everything ready for our launch.  He has installed a new GPS, new satellite service and today new radar which hopefully will keep us safe!  I have been learning how to blog so give me some time to get this package under my belt.  Hope you enjoy the trip.  This was written about a week ago.