Day 221. Sept 22

 Leaving Green turtle bay for home at Aqua!  Left At 6:45 and arrived at 5:00 with friends circling and honking!  Quite a thrill.  Docked with banners, appetizers, and dinner for us and most of everyone here to welcome us. Great to be back and get our gold flag.

SUMMARY:

70 locks   18 states   2 countries   5,835 total  miles   10,680 gallons of diesel   459 hrs on engine  630 hrs on generator,  .62 mpg. AND THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME!  Hope all enjoyed following us.

Last lock

Our dock

Leaving at sunrise for home

Getting our gold flag

Bye green turtle bay

Another pic of the last lock coming into home at Pickwick

Days 217-220. Sept 18 -21

Docked near us

Great store

Patties restaurant

Another great store

 Traveled 209 miles to Green Turtle Bay.  We skipped Paducah and went on.  Jan and Tim met us here also.  They crossed their wake here.  For you non loopers, that means that is where they started. Then you get the gold flag.   We will be crossing at our next stop which is home at Aqua  Harbor on Thursday. I think is extremely hot here at 97 degrees ,as I miss Michigan weather  already.  We have been shopping, swimming in the pool, and of course eating!  We met up with our friends Randy and Shanna Durbin last night at Patties restaurant.  Two pages of desserts!

Tim and Jan getting their flag along with their dog Brick

                      

Day 217 Sept 17

In a pool

 Traveled 94 miles thru 2 locks and legendary Hoppies for diesel.  Last stop for gas until Paducah.  Boated by St Louis as they have no docks.  Moored at Kaskaskia lock wall with 7 other loopers and Jan and Tim.   Grilled out with them. 

Grafton oyster bar

Famous hoppies

Kaskkasia where we tied up

Day 216 Sept 16

Traveled 80 miles from Logston (the name of the tug stop) to Grafton Ill. At the marina in Grafton was. great restaurant and Oyster bar. We got to fill up with water and did lots of laundry.  Jan and Tim met back up with us. We are not sure how far we will go tomorrow.

Day 215. Sept 15

 We  awakened at 5 am to make the lock this morning.  However, they are letting the barges thru so we had to wait until 3:00. We therefore went back to bed ,slept in, and  I made a big breakfast.  We were in the lock with 14 other boats and then took off after that.  We left our friends Jan and Tim as they can’t go as fast but will see them again along the way.  Stoped at Beardstown Ill. at a tug stop overnight at 6:30 pm. We will be in nowhere land for a while!  

Day 214 Sept 14

 Left early in the fog for a 12 hr day.  Went thru 3 locks and had to wait for the fourth overnight in Peoria I’ll. Lock master said it would open at 6 am. We then anchored out,ate and went to bed for the early morning.

Fog

Bridge at Peoria

Day 213 Sept 13

Left At 6 am and arrived at 6 pm.  Long day!  Went through over 30 bridges which most ,had to open for us and 3 locks.  This Illinois river is a no wake. At one lock,we had to wait 2 hrs.  As you will see in the pictures, there were 14 boats in our group.  All the northern loopers headed south for the winter.  Made it under the fixed bridge that is everyone’s worry.  This is a very industrial river.

Boats in our lock

Many bridges

Days 200-212 Sept 1-12

 While I was gone to Tx, Mark arrived to help Bob. Mark is our friend who started the loop with us.  He flew into Grand Rapids and came to the boat in Holland Michigan.  They did projects on the boat ,put our new dingy on the back, and traveled on to Chicago where I flew back into.  We stayed at the marina by the Bears stadium.  It was cool as they played on Sunday.  I visited the planetarium and my friends will be very pleased.  Right Rick?  We had dinner with our friends Sherrie and Mark.   Traveled a short distance today to Hammond In. where we will begin early at 6 am for a 10 hr day thru the locks to the Illinois river.            .  By the way, as you can tell,there was no blogging by Bob when I was gone   What would he do without me?😂

Sherrie,me Mark,Bob and Mark

Downtown Chicago

Bears stadium

Day 199-200 Aug 31

 Leaving tomorrow for Texas to keep my grandchildren while the parents go to Belize for a much needed vacation. Mark will come back and continue on with Bob until I return on the 10th. Hopefully he will take over my blog while I am gone!

Days 197- 199 Aug 27-29

Leaving Grand Haven

 We left GrandHaven and came to Holland Mi.  Wind chop was 3 ft but we only had 1 hr to travel.   Nice marina with pool and hot tub.  It’s called Eldean shipyard as it is a huge boat service and repair center.  We are going to get our oil changed and check for a ding in a prop.  Had a bad storm last night in dock that was short lived thank God.  We will be exploring Holland for the next days.

Days194-196. Aug 23-26

We love Grand Haven.  We are docked at Grand Haven Municipal marina right at their downtown.  Another fun town and farmers market.  Each night behind our boat they give a light show with music.  Also bands perform in the waterfront stadium, which is also by the boat.  We had dinner with Jim and Jane again and went to their beautiful home overlooking Lake Michigan.  Stunning .  Staying here  three more nights.  I’m not posting as frequently as we are moving so slowly waiting for the lock to open in Chicago on the fifteenth of Sept. It is slowing us down but enjoying it.

Map of Great Lakes

Our friends beautiful view

Light show

Party pedal boat

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Days 188-193. Aug 19-23

 We left Muskegon Monday morning for a short one hr ride to Grand Haven.  In Muskegon, Bob and David toured the submarine there while Denise and I shopped and I got my hair cut.  Went to the huge beach.  The marina there was called Town Harbour and we were in K dock. We met the nicest people  and there were condos behind the dock and a fun restaurant.   Last night in Grand Haven we were with friends ,Jim and Jane.  We went to their beautiful home on the water. Gorgeous!  We are hanging out with them again

The harbour

The Greer’s

Restaurant behind us on K dock 

Submarine

Days 185-18 7 Aug 15-18

The Badger.  Ferry from  Mi to Wisconsin

 Stayed in Ludington for a few days.  Went to pool and messed around town. Next,we traveled on to Muskegon on Wed.  We had some great friends from New Orleans, Tom and Nadja  come see us who were in the area for a wedding. They stayed till Thursday and the Greer’s came back.  Staying here at Harbor Town Marina until Monday.

Days181-184. Aug 11-14

 Stayed in Portage for 3 days.  Went to beach ,paddle boarded  and used the zodiac to tour around the lake. We stopped on another beach area and let Piper run all over the place. She loved it.  The next two days it rained. We went to plan B.  Movies,games,puzzles and watched UK in the Bahamas tournament.  Our friends that we just met had an accident.  She fell down and broke her hip,femur and shoulder.  I feel so sorry for them both.  They are keeping their boat here until spring and then finish the loop.  We will miss our time together. Moved on to Ludington this morning.