Cutting the dock lines (7.20.19) We finally got organized after weeks of having the cabin filled with electronic boxes and were able to “cut the dock lines” on July 20th.
And this was after we got organized 
John was our first guest in our new home – see you in NC 
Ready to start our journey
The journey to the cottage (7.20.19 – 7.27.19) On July 20th we were able to leave Waukegan. We had thunderstorms forecasted so we changed our plan of crossing Lake Michigan and went up the Wisconsin coast instead. Linda naively ignored key learnings from our Mahina trip and drank coffee, had no food or water for breakfast, and had a glass of wine the night before. We won’t get into gory details, but a scopolamine patch came to the rescue!
Arriving in Milwaukee just before the storm hit 
The next morning was a beautiful sunrise
Manitowoc (7.21.19 – 7.22.19) We really enjoyed the little town of Manitowoc: Maritime Museum, the Rahr West Art Museum, Beernsten’s, The Wharf.
Beerntsen’s Confectionary started 50 years ago! Yum Yum 
I’m glad our boat isn’t as complicated as a submarine 
A piece of smoldering Sputnik landed right in the middle of the road on Sept 6, 1962. 
Live band, Totally Neon, was very entertaining to our crowd of all ages at The Wharf in Manitowoc
Our new friends at the Manitowoc Marina!
Pentwater (7.23.19) Next we crossed Lake Michigan to Pentwater: We had a delightful sail across the lake with southwest winds on a broad reach.
We hardly ever motored during the 9 hour crossing
Meeting fellow voyagers: In Pentwater we found a great anchorage behind another sailboat, Bertha. Later we met the owners, Ed & Erin, at the dinghy dock in town. We started chatting and discovered so many similarities. They had just left Chicago after raising their children in Libertyville and are planning on cruising and heading to the east coast through the St. Lawrence seaway next year – same as us! In addition Ed worked for Abbott for 20 years, we bought the exact same dinghy at the same place in Lake Bluff, and they had stayed in the “gated community” at Larsen the week before we did! We met after dinner from some great conversation. They jogged our memory that we need to register our dinghy. So now we are in stealth mode whenever we go out. We will try to hit the Secretary of State when we get to Suttons Bay. We are looking forward to connecting with Ed & Erin as we both go out the St. Lawrence.
Our first dinghy ride with our inflatable fanny packs:) 
Heading out with Bertha 
Ed and Erin Irwin – fellow voyagers
Arcadia (7.24.19) We found a great little marina in Arcadia (pop. 650) with excellent WiFi. We walked up to the only restaurant around, The Big Apple, founded in the 1930’s. The ice cream shop across the street was rated in the top 10 for Michigan – we could see why! We walked it off with a walk on the beach observing lots of erosion due to the high Lake Michigan water levels. Alarms were set for 4:30 am for the long journey to Suttons Bay.
Big Apple restaurant 
Great flavors of ice cream – Michigan Pothole was our favorite!
SV Tiger Lily 