We made it to Chicago!

 This tiny fellow rode along with us across the lake to Chicago.

Woohoo!  We made it across the lake today.  We are tucked into Hammond Marina in Indiana, about 20 miles south of Chicago.  We are finished with our Lake Michigan travels.  Yahoo!  We did have a lovely week of trips on the southern part of the lake, but we are still glad to be finished with this section.  

This morning we took off at dawn, following Nearly Perfect and Spirit.  We had gentle swells behind us all the way across the lake.  Our speed was from 8.5 to 9 mph, which is really good for us.  It was a peaceful crossing.  They travel about 10 mph, so they arrived before we did and grabbed our lines at the dock.  Thank you!

A tiny yellow bird flew into the back porch of the boat and rode all the way across with us.  She gave me lots of entertainment.  I watched her hopping around, snagging insects.  She ate a bunch.  She did not eat flies though, and lots of flies came on the trip too.  Another sparrow joined us half way through, and the two birds shared the back porch.  They ignored each other and both feasted on flying insects. I could not get the two of them in the same photo.

Making herself at home

We were lazy this afternoon once we got settled into our slip, put on the window coverings, and retrieved the bow thruster motor from the office, which must be a mile from the slip.  Did you hear that?  Our bow thruster is fixed and was returned to us today! We hope a mechanic will reinstall it on the boat on Tuesday.  

We spent time making plans for the Chicago weekend ahead of us.  We had FaceTime with Addie and Zoe.  Then we went to Horseshoe Casino next door for the buffet dinner.  It was delicious! So much food.  We just ate fun stuff. 

Tomorrow we are meeting Dan and Sue from Tranquility to take the Architectural Boat Tour and have lunch.  We are also going to visit with Kenny and Kathy on No Zip Code.  We haven't seen them in a couple of months.  We're excited about being here and so proud to have conquered (?) or at least survived Lake Michigan.

We saw our boats from the window of the casino restaurant.  

Aunt Aggie is on the right, facing the camera.