After being off Dream Chaser for a month to take care of commitments to family, friends, and fishing at the cabin, we are back on the boat and excited to continue our journey!
So where is Dream Chaser now?
Our first blog ended after completing the trip from Madeline Island, WI to Seneca, Illinois. For our month long dockage, we stayed at Spring Brook Marina, and they took very good care of Dream Chaser.
We had planned to return to the boat by flying to Chicago and then driving to the boat, but we ended up driving from home with our car stuffed to the brim-even the back window was full. How would all these items fit on an already full boat? We did manage to find places for most of it. Thankfully, Nick was returning from a fishing trip with family in MA and Susan, his girlfriend, flew from MN to Chicago, and they drove the car home for us.
Since Dream Chaser was probably never used for an overnight stay, we needed to make changes in order to live aboard for extended periods of time. Before we left on this adventure and while we were still docked at the Madeline Island Marina or Washburn Marina, we had several jobs completed there including the electronics. In order to complete these projects, most of the floor boards on the boat were taken up in order to access the needed spaces. These floorboards were in almost every living area on the boat. Mary’s greatest fear was that she would forget the floorboards were up and go strolling into the galley or salon and end up in the bottom of the boat-thus delaying the trip departure due to broken bones. Thankfully, nothing happened, but those floorboards still get removed occasionally. Rule 1: Always remain alert! We are still finding many things that need attention on the boat or perhaps just need some tweaking. Snaps here! Hooks there! More fenders for docking and locking-just in case! Probably the most important item on the to-do list was the new admiral’s helm chair. If the admiral is not happy then no one is happy! Standing in the upper helm during the entire trip wasn’t working for Mary! Steve found the perfect chair! The admiral is happy! He installed a water filtration system (which is fabulous) and applied the new boat name lettering. What do you think?
Mary is figuring out how to make gourmet meals with an electric fry pan, microwave/convection oven, crock pot, and a rice cooker. After sampling the crumb cake that she baked recently, things are looking good for Steve. There is an outdoor grill, but she hasn’t seen it installed, yet. It is somewhere “down below with the other stuff”.
We have had several requests to see the inside of Dream Chaser. So....
This is our galley with refrigerator/freezer, three burner stove, microwave/convection oven, divided sink, and limited cupboard space.
This is our lower helm which is used for piloting on cold, stormy days. Usually, the boat is commanded from the upper helm, but when we were traveling down Lake Michigan at night during a thunderstorm this was very inviting.
We have one head (bathroom) on the boat.
A nice hot shower at the end of the day is wonderful!
Our guest cabin is small and cozy. There is little space for extra luggage, so visitors bring limited personal clothing and items in a duffle type travel bag.
We are grateful that we were able to motor Dream Chaser to our present location during the first week of August as we have heard that Lake Michigan has had some big waves in September. Being on the river system, we are spared from the big wave action, but we’ve weathered two big thunderstorms in Illinois. Thankfully, everything remained dry inside. This week with temps in the 90’s and high humidity, we know that the air conditioning works. It is ON!
After a few days completing projects on the boat, cleaning off the dirt from the local farm fields, and provisioning for the upcoming weeks, we are anxious to head south.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Our day began with our “morning walk” which has become almost sacred. Many of you know that Mary and Steve like to go for walks, but Steve is REALLY into walking. After climbing Kilimanjaro in July, he gave away his hiking boots, but not his walking shoes! At 10:37 a.m., we threw off the docking lines and headed down the Illinois River. After about 5 minutes of a panicky feeling of “what do I do now?!”, it all came back like riding a bike, and both of us felt comfortable again maneuvering the boat. We motored down the tree lined Illinois River past the Marseilles Dam and entered the Marseilles Lock 2.2 miles downstream. After dropping 24 ft. in the lock, we ate chicken salads as we continued past Ottawa,IL (at the mouth of the Fox River) and on to Starved Rock and Dam. While we waited an hour for the barges ahead of us to clear the locks, we enjoyed hot licorice tea with our delicious crumb cake. The river is beautiful in the Starved Rock State Park area with limestone bluffs and wooded canyons lining the river. We entered the Starved Rock Lock with another looper boat, Pisces, and dropped 17 ft. in minutes. We continued on passing by Peru, IL and waited for the barge, Capt. Sam Yount, to clear under a highway bridge. The barges move about 3-4 knots and slow down when clearing bridges. Mary radioed the captain who responded quickly and professionally advising us to pass on the starboard side. Yes, the towboat captains REALLY like to hear the female voice! One could swear he was smiling!
The little town of Hennepin was where we chose to overnight. There is no marina, so we tied up just below the town at the free dock. This dock consisted of a barge buried in the bank of the river several feet below the town. No electricity. No water. No problem. We are very self sufficient and generate our own power when needed. It was very easy to tie up to a cleat, but harder to climb out of the boat, over the barricade, and into the parking lot. Of course, Steve had his phone handy for this picture.
After hiking up at least 30 steps to get to Hennepin’s street level, we found the town to be very pleasant with a hardware shop, bank, marine store, and a restaurant/bar. The little grocery store, Food Pride, closed at 6 p.m. We were at the door at 6:17 p.m. and saw them turn out the lights. Plan A for supper was fish tacos, but we needed tortillas. Plan B for supper turned out to be fried fish, rice, and peaches as we watched the sunset across the river. Delicious! Awesome! It is all about flexibility!
Our day began with our...morning walk. As we strolled through the town of Hennepin, we noticed people setting up booths getting ready for an event...The 101st anniversary of Harvest Days! Realizing that this could be one of those experiences that we didn't want to miss, we decided to remain in Hennepin for one more day and night. Out came our projects list, again.
At 11 a.m. we headed back for the parade. The parade lasted 10 minutes with men in firetrucks throwing candy, elected officials waving from cars, ladies riding on decorated horses, an 1889 hearse being pulled by horses (have you seen that in a parade?), kids of all ages screaming and running for candy, elderly folk sitting in groups along the curb reminiscing, and the crowd enjoying every one of those minutes!
As with all good small town celebrations, the ladies of the local Methodist Church made some enticing BBQ for lunch-so we joined them. As we were headed back to our boat, a lady (from the same church) was selling tickets for the big chicken dinner in the evening-yes, we did!It was another beautiful sunset! What a day! It was nothing like we had planned. By taking time, we had a glimpse of a community in celebration, had an opportunity to chat with the locals, and we just love partaking in what the little Methodist ladies have cooking and baking!
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