Day 1 – 8/2/08
Everyone was up and ready to go by 0500. Breakfast was served by the Musial’s for every one leaving for the Lake. What a great send off! Comfort Zone is captained by Bob Pyzik with crew members Paul Eckard and Tom Hackett. Running on Empty is captained by Frank Fitzgerald with crew members – first mate Mary and Mike (Frank’s brother). Bada Bing is captained by Mark Gibson and first mate Elizabeth. Last of the flotilla of four boats is, Moor$tuff captained by me “Skip Johnson” and first mate Barb. At 0610 I turned into the river followed by Running on Empty, Comfort Zone and Bada Bing. At 0615 an alarm went off so I shut down the starboard engine and returned to my slip at SRYC. By the time we got into our slip with the help of Margo and Karen - Dave and Ron arrived within minutes and was asking where my tool box was. At 1200 we were underway again with two new impellers and thermostats installed. With the boat running perfectly we started the chase to catch up and almost did due to the other three boats getting stuck at the Brandon Road lock for three and a half hours. As we were waiting for the last lock we could see Comfort Zone and Running on Empty in the cell above us. Two hours later we were tied up on the wall in Joliet back with our good friends. The Pizza that was ordered had just arrived and was still hot! A few cold beers and a little dock side BS and every one turned in for the night.
Day 2 – 8/3/08
Picture is at the wall in Joliet.What a great day – blue skies no wind and we got an early start. Mark called ahead to the lock and they were ready for us when we arrived. The morning was smooth and uneventful. Barb captained the boat through the 10 miles of hell with little help from me. I think she will be a great boat driver by the time we return next year! About half way down the Cal Sag Cannel Bada Bing developed a major fuel leak that required the boat being towed to Crawleys Boat Yard to have the problem fixed and about 30 gallons of diesel removed from the bilges. The boat was worked on until the wee hours in the ship yard and hopefully we will connect with them tomorrow! On the bright side – the other three boats arrived in Michigan City, Indiana about 1530 and we drove directly to the fuel dock. We looked like the SRYC drill team the way we lined up and filled three adjacent slips. Gas was $4.57 a gallon. After the three boats were secured we walked to the local steak house and had a great dinner and a few drinks with everyone including Glenna who drove to Michigan City to join Bob. Paul, Tom and Mike returned to the club in Glenna’s car. We did miss the Gibson’s at dinner but knew that they had a long night ahead cleaning up the boat.
Day 3 – 8/4/08
Well --- while Bob, Frank and I were having coffee on Frank’s fly bridge watching the storm approach we agreed to stay in port and wait for better weather. As we checked the weather it got considerably worse with all types of warnings! The talk at the table was about Mark’s boat and if it was going to get repaired today and where he was going to catch up with the other three boats. As we watched the line of thunder storms coming at us over the open water Bob said look at that one boat going like hell! Who ever he is ----- I think he’ll beat the storm into port. 15 minutes later and five minutes before the rain kicked our butt Mark & Liz came roaring into port ---- Bada Bing was the boat we were watching! Everyone is safe and planning to party tonight. Weather permitting we will move to South Haven, MI tomorrow.
