About 20 miles into the 62 mile journey, these little birds landed
on our boat and rode with us for a while. One sat in the console beside Kermit
for a while, then hopped around to the back of the boat and ate dead fly
carcasses (yes we had a fly problem again!).
The other sat on the isinglass in
the front window and watched the world go by. Then he pooped on the window and
flew away! What a guy. Must have been a guy…
The other sat on the isinglass in
the front window and watched the world go by. Then he pooped on the window and
flew away! What a guy. Must have been a guy…
This photo (above) shows Navy Pier reflected against the backdrop of the Streeterville highrises. That is Lake Point Tower at the base of Navy Pier. We are aiming for the lighthouse marker on the left in this photo.
We pulled in to DuSable Marina at the end of Randolph Street
at about 2pm. This is a new marina built only a few years ago with slips. It is a large marina but still smaller than the vast array of mooring buoys of Monroe Street Harbor next door.
You enter Monroe Street Harbor through the big breakwall then turn right at the second light, passing along the inner wall through the mooring buoys at the Chicago Yacht Club past the large old cruise ship that houses the Columbia Yacht Club to DuSable Marina.
The first slip assignment was way too narrow so we pumped
out (really good pump out equipment – we were finally completely empty – not full
of crap anymore!) and talked to the nice lady about a new assignment. Bama
Belle was right behind us so we got a new slip for them too. I don’t think either
sailboat we were assigned as dock buddies would appreciate any attempt to put
our 14’ beam next to them. The dock master needs to ask about beam (she didn’t)
because it matters. I know Tom Steiber doesn’t mind the tight squeeze in our
shared docks at Venetian but we haven’t been introduced to these folks yet!
You enter Monroe Street Harbor through the big breakwall then turn right at the second light, passing along the inner wall through the mooring buoys at the Chicago Yacht Club past the large old cruise ship that houses the Columbia Yacht Club to DuSable Marina.
New dock assignment is perfect. B Dock, fourth slip in right by the bathroom. Kermit and Rusty are happy. Bow in, port side tie up with floating docks means Rusty and gang go off the stern. Dinghy is standing at attention and Rusty needs guidance up and down stairs to avoid a repeat of the falling-in
Idebacle at Wyandotte. It is a 2 person job. Docks are new and very nice. Great security all night standing right outside our gate. A security guard I mean.
Interesting to mention Wyandotte because the cost of docking in Chicago is only slightly higher than the cost of Silver Shores Marina in Wyandotte. Things that make you go mmmm.....
Great things about being in Chicago:
·
Bike and walking path right at the top of the
gate· Great view of Columbia Yacht Club and Navy Pier
· Skyline at night is spectacular and right at our steps
· People are so friendly - great opportunity to spend time with Charlie and Mary from Bama Belle
· Right now 6 other loopers are on our dock; some we know (The Zone, Our Bubbles, and Bama Belle) and some new friends
· Parking is steps away and secure
· Little cafĂ© by the bathrooms is dog friendly and has Wi-Fi
· Great dog walking
· I am home
Not so good things? Seems almost sacrilegious to complain
about anything but it is a long walk anywhere – blocks. But that is the point
of a great waterfront, isn’t it? To encourage people to move? So no complaints
so far.
Thursday after our arrival I walked to State Street downtown
to shop and walk around. At Macy’s (still Marshall Fields to me) I scored two
nice tops for $35 total – a steal!! I realized a while ago that I have 2 kinds
of clothes – really grungy boat clothes that I wear 80% of the time and a few
nicer tops that are not really grungy but not dressy either. Not that I plan to
go to a black tie affair but sometimes a girl just wants to look pretty. I don’t
have much to wear that is not grungy. I didn’t find any pants that I liked and
I am still short on shorts since I lost that extra suitcase so I ordered a pair of black trousers and a pair of comfortable looking shorts from The Gap. That will have to do.
In the evening we walked to Navy Pier with Charley and Mary
from Bama Belle. This is quite a commitment from this marina. Even though you
can see it from here you have to go down a bike path, a dark set of stairs, then
over the Lake Shore Drive Bridge (now known as DuSable Bridge), then across traffic
past the Lake Point Towers to get there. This made Kermit and Charley very
nervous but both Mary and I did part of this walk while exploring early in the
afternoon so we knew this was the right way. It takes about 30 minutes to get
there from here. Beautiful sculptures everywhere. And flowers like you can't believe. It is like walking in a garden around here. So different from what I remember. I sure have been gone a long time.
Navy Pier is “the Midwest’s #1 tourist and leisure
destination”, according to its own advertising. I hadn’t been there in years.
It was pretty crowded but nothing like it probably gets in summer. Part of
Daniel Burnham’s grand vision of a magnificent skyline, it was built in 1918 as
a municipal pier for shipping and public entertainment. There is a cool
ballroom at the very end that I visited years ago for concerts and dancing,
nicely restored now. It turned into a navy pilot training center in WWII (George
Bush trained here!). University of Illinois moved in after WWII. My mom told me
she once took a class here in college. Not much happened here until the late
70s when Mayor Byrne started ChicagoFest.
It was very beat up then. I remember seeing water between floor boards
while watching concerts during ChicagoFest! In 1994, just when I moved to Ohio,
they poured $150 million into refurbishing the pier into the neat attraction it
is today. So I have only ever visited the new Navy Pier as a tourist myself!
Dinner at Harry Carey’s did not disappoint. The restaurant has an interesting collection of Chicago sports stuff. This is the ball that they exploded after the guy in the outfield mistakenly touched the foul ball causing (so they say) the Cubs to lose their shot at the World Series in 2004. 
This is a time capsule holding a special baseball that will not be opened until the Cubs win a World Series!
then a great relaxing walk back to the marina. Spectacular view of the city from the DuSable bridge. This is a picture of Kermit and me over the Lake Shore Drive (DuSable) bridge going home. And the other photo is Charlie and Mary. We sure enjoy traveling with them!!
We arranged to meet my cousin John Dreuth at his work near O’Hare
and he would take us to his home for dinner with Aunt Pauline and Uncle Lee and
John’s new wife, Donna. John agreed to loan us his car for the week, which is
very generous of him. But this means Kermit and I must get to John which means
we must travel together.
On the boat Kermit and I have our individual assignments. Kermit is the captain. He drives and handles the mechanical operations. I am responsible for cleaning the interior (ha) and handling lines. With these specific assigments we get along just fine. Limited bickering. We stay in our own corners which is how we can get along. None of this applies in Chicago. This is by far the worst place for us to travel together. If he drives he doesn’t know where he is going and I can’t feed him information fast enough. Plus he can’t hear me anyway so we have the hearing loss to make it more interesting. So I drive. But then he points out every possible hazard like the good back seat driver he is and asks a million questions about why we didn’t do exactly the opposite of what I chose to do based on my experience. When I snap at him he whines that he is only trying to help whereupon I ask him not to help so his feelings are hurt. As you can guess we have done this many times and it is a cycle hard to break. Substitutes walking, bike riding, and public transportation for a car. It is the same pattern.
It is with this background that we embarked on the journey
to meet John on Friday afternoon 9/7/12. We left at 3:45 to meet John at 5pm at
Cumberland station on the blue line CTA near O’Hare. It wasn’t too bad as
travel together goes. We were on time although the adventure fulfilled our normal pattern.
Kermit’s little butt tightened up immediately as we walked
west under Randolph to a nice dark stairway, up 1 flight to street level. Then
West down Randolph . Everything going well. Stop for cash. No problem. I see the
Goodman Theatre and want to detour 1 block to see the schedule but no, you said
we walk 1 more block so ok no detour. Let’s walk 1 more block to Clark Street.
But when we do that he says, “I thought you wanted to walk past the Goodman
Theater?” Stay calm. Deep breathes.
We found the station inside the Thompson State of Illinois Building.
No bloodshed. Even bought tickets with no problem since neither of us knows how
to do it – we do great when we are balanced in our ignorance since we both have
to figure it out. Down the stairs to the station. A train comes right away. It
is 4pm so it is very crowded. No getting on that one. Plus we are standing by
the last car so we need to move up to have a fighting chance to get in a car. So
I start walking and Kermit starts muttering. Deep breathes. Two more trains
come in so crowded it looks like Tokyo. All we need is the pusher. I explain we
need to get on an train and it is Friday afternoon rush but Kermit wants to
wait till it is less crowded – on a Friday afternoon rush hour! So we wait.
Deep breathes. Stare straight ahead. This is why we left early. Finally a train
comes that is less crowded and we get on. I even get a seat. Kermit stands. A
seat opens next to me. He refuses. I insisted he sit down so he does, reluctantly. He is
ok as long as he can see me so he can guard me from danger. It is kind of
sweet actually. Relax. Read the Reader to see what is going on. Interesting
article about a chef who forages in Chicago parks for scraps then uses them in
her underground restaurant in her home kitchen. Not going THERE. The stop before
Cumberland is Harlem, where I grew up. I stand up. Kermit says it is not time.
Slight conflict as I continue to move to the door. Kermit follows slowly. He wants
to sit till we get to the station then leap out. Nope. Not going to do that.
That is not how I do it. Not with him. With our luck we will miss the exit if we do that. We get off
smoothly enough at exactly 5:05pm – almost perfect. Minimum conflict, still
high blood pressure, simmering tension. How I love to travel with Kermit!
John shows off the changes to the family home he purchased
from his folks. I like their choices. Donna has lots of art she picked up in
many trips to Cuba for her work. She gets them for about $25 each. Colorful
modern art makes the house look warm and cozy!
Then we pick up pizza at Lou Malnati, our family favorite
and head to Aunt Pauline and Uncle Lee’s new condo in Skokie, about 2 miles
away. John and Donna take good care of the folks. The condo is taking shape and
will be good when all the upgrades are finished. It was great to see everyone. We should meet more often. I am lucky to have such a nice family!
I realize as I tour these two homes that I have changed. I
find myself feeling closed in and maybe a little oppressed being in a house. I
can’t believe I prefer our little boat over being in a house. I want to go home
and that means the boat. I never anticipated this. I am not sure what to do
with this idea yet. I need to sit with this a bit. 
John loans us his car and we begin the trip home to the
marina from Lincolnwood. I am driving. Kermit is asking a million questions
about why I didn’t do exactly the opposite of what I chose to do. He is "helping". My stress level and blood pressure rises. I stop responding. Finally I
think of a good job for Kermit. Can you read the signs please? I can’t see
them. Why didn’t I think of this before? Now we can both do something we are
good at to help the other! We get home without a fight!!
Saturday we kicked around the boat and marina in the morning.
We slept late after coming home at about midnight last night. Our appointments
today include a picnic with Loyola graduate school people for The Interview
Doctor. This is where I got my masters degree. We are trying to cultivate
colleges for consulting work, speaking engagements, and the new online magazine
we are developing. Then we are scheduled to watch the Northwestern football
game with college friends.
We left the marina about 2pm in the car. We were early! We
decided to stop at a grocery store in Evanston prior to going to the Loyola
party at the Loyola Lakeshore Campus because we wanted to buy liquor. Prices
are great here in general, much better than in Ohio and we need Crown Royal. But the suburbs have a lower tax making the prices even better. Unfortunately
the store didn’t have Crown but we bought vodka, wine and beer. Great prices! And we
have the car. It is hard to carry a large amount of liquor on the bikes.
The Loyola party was nice. The professors were friendly. I
think we can develop a relationship. The students were a surprise. They asked
questions I did not expect about how to make decisions, how to make an
influence, and how to get people to do what you want them to do when you are
new to the workforce. It was fun.
Then up to Kildeer for the Northwestern gang. It was great
to see everybody at Maureen and John Behof’s house. They have a great house for
entertaining and lots of people were there. And NU WON!! They soundly beat
Vanderbilt with a great 4th quarter. It was great to catch up. We
were tired when we left so the stress level was high on the way home. Another
night of midnight to bed – way past our bedtime!! It was also raining. It was supposed to rain on Friday but it never did. The rain on Saturday made up for it. I forgot to take pictures! Darn...
Sunday we slept a little later to recover. We have
been going to bed so early that this social whirlwind in Chicago is a little
tiring. We ended up walking from DuSable Harbor at Randolph Street down to the
Shedd Aquarium with Charlie and Mary from Bama Belle. We had a marvelous time. Art work everywhere. And flowers. Such a beautiful park along the lake.
Buckingham Fountain putting on a show. We are all acting like big tourists and loving every minute!
View from the Field Museum steps. It is a perfect day. 
The Shedd Aquarium is amazing. The exhibits are well done, it was not crowded, and everything was completely excellent. Charlie is very familiar with the New Orleans Aquarium and the Atlanta Aquarium but he says this one beats anything he has ever seen. Even the food was good at the food court! I particularly liked the Jellies exhibit with jelly fish, the penguins, and the whale exhibit. Kermit says the best thing for him was the location. All the windows out to the lake were unbelievable and the walk there and back was spectacular. He appreciated the number of regions he covered and he like the 4D movie we saw. It sprayed water in our faces, had snowflakes, and the chairs jiggled when the Killer Whale got the seal. We are jumped a mile in the air.
Notice the little metal guy on the ledge looking up at the huge horse head! Such a clever sculpture with a sense of humor!
We had dinner with Charlie and Mary on the Bama Belle, a
fitting end to the day. Mary leaves tomorrow and Charlie gets a new crew member
on Tuesday so we celebrated our time together!!
We have more parties scheduled this week with John and Donna, loopers here in the marina, Becky and
Mike, folks from Ricoh, and Alex and Katie Gonzalez so we look forward to
really enjoying Chicago. Tomorrow we want to bike over for a good breakfast and
go shopping. We also want to get some maintenance done on the boat – Kermit wants
to wax again. Go figure. And I have work to do for the Interview Doctor
including a meeting on Wednesday. Then a pedicure with Aunt Pauline on Friday
and a ballgame with John and Donna next Monday. So Chicago will be a full and
fulfilling couple of weeks before we go down the river. Tech corner:
- Fuel used so far on this trip: 954 gallons at cost of $4339.40
- Miles traveled: 928
- Dockage cost: $1751.00, excluding Chicago
- States visited so far: Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois
More later.
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