Waukegan

Today we left the lovely waters of Wisconsin and entered Illinois. While this brings us closer to our destination we are sad about leaving the waters of northern Lake Michigan. We grew to love the scenery, ports and people we encountered there. Lake boating is amazing!

Today's cruise was fairly short- only about 3 hours. You might be wondering how we pass the time while we are up in the bridge with the auto pilot steering. Today we worked on tying knots. Knots are a necessity on a boat, and Mark knows them all thanks to his Boy Scout training. So while we traveled he taught me 3 different knots. 

The clove hitch, useful for tying a fender onto a stanchion. 

The 2 half hitch

The bowline, good for making a loop to toss over a pole- or for tying around your waist after you've fallen off a cliff and need to be rescued. I think I just earned a merit badge!

We are docked in Waukegan, the home port of our friends Kathy and Bob, who arrived here yesterday. They picked us up and took us to Big Ed's for lunch, and then to the grocery store. We helped them unload "stuff" from their 7-week voyage and haul it to their car. We hope to see them on the Mississippi one of these days. 

Always on the lookout for interesting boat names, we saw this one today:

You might need to enlarge the photo ( that right there is funny) to read the small print.