The shakedown.

While I fully appreciate that it is important to not have a schedule or timetable for the Loop, I felt the need to plan a little more detail of the pre-loop shakedown, particularly since we have guests scheduled to arrive at specific times. The idea was always to cruise around Lake Michigan for a couple of months on our return to the USA and be in Chicago for starting the Loop around early August. As Charlie and Pauline will be arriving 3 weeks after us and will be with us for the following 3 weeks. I felt obliged to provide some kind of itinerary for their stay (always subject to change, of course, for factors outside of our control), so they would know what to expect while they are with us. Again, it was always the intention to head North up the Wisconsin side of the lake, as we would probably be coming down the eastern (Michigan) side when we do the Loop proper. I am lead to believe the Door Peninsular and Green Bay are very pretty cruising grounds and it seemed logical to use this opportunity to go and have a look.

So the plan now is:

Arrive in Milwaukee and take the boat straight to Kenosha, where we have a slip (marina berth) arranged for a month and where we will spend the first 3 weeks provisioning and modifying the boat to our requirements. We will need a rental car for this, so when Charlie and Pauline arrive at Chicago, we can pick them up and take them back to Kenosha and spend the next 5 days or so sightseeing around Milwaukee and Chicago areas. We will then leave Kenosha and “harbour hop” up the western lakeshore to Sturgeon Bay and the Door Peninsular, then Green Bay before finally dropping off Charlie and Pauline at Green Bay City to catch a bus back to Chicago and fly out. After that, since it is only around 50 nautical miles from Sturgeon Bay across the lake to the Michigan side, we will cross and then “harbour hop” down that side to be at the Calumet Harbour by early - mid August. Not only does this fit in well with our original plan, we will have actually begun the Loop when we reach landfall on the Michigan side of the lake. Also this timing gives us around 40 days to get to either Kentucky or Pickwick Lake for our next lot of guests, Dennis and Kathy, to catch up with us.

60 DTG (days to go)