6.29
Parades and Storms
Sunday we went to the Chicago Gay Pride Parade. What an eye opener. I can't say I enjoyed the parade all that much, so many people you couldn't see and floats etc... however the attendees were flaming fantastic! Most dressed in some form of rainbow attire. Some, next to nothing attire. The most interesting, in my opinion, were the girls who used two, 2 inch sections of electrical tape in the shape of an “ X “ to cover their nipples and something on their bottoms. Many had statements marked on their tummies professing something. Fishnet clothing for very part of your body in every color you can imagine. Yang went with. She said the news report estimated more than a million people attended. wow. It was really interesting and everyone was having fun, not a drunken debacle that some of these events turn out to be. maybe we left to soon... or just in time
We returned to the boat and made homemade pizza with various toppings and Jim grilled them on our new infrared grill. We bought a Solaire Infrared Grill just before leaving for the trip. It has been working really well. We are still in the learning curve stage for using it because... cooks at a much higher temp. Low burner seems best and the food has a fantastic flavor. Experiments have included steak, veggies, fish, chicken and pizza.
6.30
last night we needed to charge the batteries because we have been on a mooring ball since arriving 4 days ago. the alternator wouldn't work which meant cut / conserve electronic use immediately… Sunday morning Jim was at the manuals trouble shooting and isolated the problem to the new voltage regulator. A call to the manufacturer and a resetting of the programing and we were up and charging… yeah! we charged the batteries for a couple hours then off to site see and some Chicago Dogs. We asked around and decided to go with the recommendation of Max’s … the dogs were quite good. We walked around and ended up at the Planetarium. It's a lot farther than it looks from the Monroe Harbor / Chicago Yacht Club water front. We ( I ) decided we should return via the city bus. air-conditioning! we returned to the boat because the weather report issued threatening weather in the approaching storms… estimated wind gusts of 30 - 40… one report said they could gust 70 - 90… hatches secure and cushions stowed we had our Injera bread with a conglomeration of fixing for dinner. It was fantastic! Storm #1 came through, highest wind gusts at 39 knots… the clouds after were lovely.
7.1
we made it through the storms. The worst was actually after the storms passed. the winds died down but the harbor was quite confused. it was a sloppy mess. we bounced around quite a bit and the mooring ball slapped and ricocheted off the side of the boat throughout the night. we now know why seasonal boaters have collars of “noodles” wrapped around their balls… the morning revealed the damage. A 5 foot section on each side of the hull is marred from the concussions. we will have to wait till we get to another venue to check the extent of the damage. grrrr
the morning is clear so we are off to North Point Marina, Winthrop Harbor, IL.
7.1 pm
A quick and easy passage. 40 miles. great south west winds. 6 hours to our destination, hull speed a steady 7 knots . It is the largest marina on Lake Michigan, 1477 slips. Most unfilled. It took us 1 1/2 hours to actually secure our slip. it seems most boats come by land (?) because the marina office kept giving us land marks via street names to get here, being put on hold multiple times with someone different on the other end each time… the first few slips were too small, had boats / lines obstructing the slip or there was no room to maneuver… finally in a suitable slip. Jim ran off the the office to take care off paperwork before they closed for the day… a flip flop blowout, a 10 minute jog, a detour to Skipper Buds to get a loaner power cord adaptor (thank you Scott) and we are here for the next week. We will do a road trip to see our lovely Miss Nora (grandbaby) in Minneapolis for the holiday weekend…
Rich, Mary and Bridget, family, joined us for dinner at the local restaurant The Tropics. They live about 45 minutes from here. A nice bottle of wine of the boat after and then to bed…
No comments:
Post a Comment