Transition to a motor boat.

Karen and I woke up this morning and looked at the weather radar and decided to leave for Skyway Marine to have the mast removed before the storms moved into the area. We motored  from Hammond marina to the Calumet river. Called the bridge tenders to have the bridges raised and got stopped for about twenty minutes at the Norfolk Southern railroad bridge by a train. The trip is really something. The bridges and the infrastructure reminds me of what I would think of the industrial revolution. Big old rusty bridges with huge wheels and pulleys to raise and lower the working areas. We finally turned into Skyway and began the final prepping of Last Mango for having the mast pulled and the thunderstorm began. Wet we were. We continued our work after the majority of the rain eased and the lightening stopped. Mast is down now and the now the trip back to the marina. We slogged against a 25 knot wind which slowed us down about 1.5 knots. No problem for us we had nothing but time and it was still pouring down rain.

92nd Street Bridge

We arrived at the marina and decided to wash the boat since everything including us was very wet. We noted the workers had gouged Last Mango’s gelcoat when removing the mast. We notified Skyway and they promptly sent someone out to repair the gouge. 

While this was going on we ran wires so we can use our ships radio and still receive AIS signals from large boat traffic. We jury rigged our dinghy mast on the back of the boat to hang an anchor light and sealed the hole where the mast was removed. Busy day.

We later met up with fellow cruisers from Ohio, Duluth and Quebec for a drink. It’s hard to describe how busy we’ve been. After some laundry and showers it was almost 11pm, Crazy! I didn’t stay up this late when I was home.

By the way Karen and I both lost $5 at the Hammond casino last night. We’re big spenders.

Entering the Little Calumet river

Sans mast, Now a power boat.