The Butterfly effect 42◦06'.720N 086◦28'.870W

   Every single day where we have had good sailing weather, there has always been a monarch butterfly following us. Usually flying faster than our boat; but that's a whole other story. Today was no exception. Every time I see this butterfly I always think of my sister Cécile and it pleases me to think she is here with us, protecting us somehow. She is my big sister after all!

  We left Grand Haven @ 7:10am and we had a lovely sail. The forecast called for 2-3 foot waves but there was hardly a ripple on the lake(see picc). The sailing was beautiful all the way and oddly enough there were no issues with the filters, the engines or anything else. With all of the rough weather we have been having recently our menu items have been limited to anything we can eat without having to open any cupboards or the fridge door. Mostly for fear of what may fall out of these while we were bouncing around. So for the last few trips; it's been apples, bananas, oranges or cheezies. I will let you guess which ones we have been eating. Today though, we were actually able to eat a good breakfast and a decent lunch too. The forecast did call for winds to diminish after noon, so it just stands to reason that it actually got worse instead of better. Even at its worst today, the butterfly still came to visit and we had another day of no clanking dishes or anything falling. We did about 66 miles today which is a pretty long day but at one point in time we were at 10miles per hour. That my friends is speeding in this thing!

    We arrived in Benton Harbor at 3pm and docked again on a community dock which is free and has power! Life just does not get any better. This particular harbor as two different towns on either side of it. Benton harbor to the port side (that's left) and St-Joseph's to the starbord side. (that's the right). We pick the St-Joseph's side because we felt religious (and because that's where the free dock is). There is a cute little park here with some rather interesting sculptures. I have included a few here for your pleasure. Not sure how religious this side is! There is one sculpture that is a 20foot tall red chair. I wanted to get a picture of Jim and Jeff sitting on it but our ladder was not tall enough for them to get up it.

    There is a store here called Wolf Marine and they will come and pick you up to go to their store and they will drop you off again if you spend enough money lol. After we settled in, got tied up, put bumpers out and got the power going, we called them and went on a little shopping excursion. We bought some snorkeling gear at a really good price and got some navigational lights for the dinghy; so we got to have a ride back to the boat.

    After the shopping we had a quiet pot luck dinner with Jeff and Susan on the Lido deck. As you can tell by the time of this post; we were better behaved tonight then we have been the last two nights... but not by much! Tonight unfortunately is our last night traveling with them as our boat is too tall to go into Chicago proper (see picc), but they will be going through Chicago. Jim and I will be entering the river system via Calumet river which is about 12 miles south of Chicago. Tonight by the way is also the first time in a week that we have not needed sweatshirts, jackets and gloves to sit outside.

   The trip tomorrow is about 60 miles and there are no anchorages in Calumet River. So our plan is to travel to Hammond, which is just 2 miles before the Calumet. We will take a slip there in a marina and then we will go into the river system early on the 18th of September. We have to put our mast down to go under some of the bridges in the Calumet so taking a slip tomorrow will allow us to be securely tied down to do this heavy task. A demain mes amis.