Taking the mast down...

We've been slipped in port at the Waukegan Port District (Waukegan, IL) since Monday evening. Our original plan had us going all the way to Chicago, but without the wind for 2 straight days, we motored through the rest of our diesel supply (that we forgot to top off in Mackinac!) and realized that we couldn't make the full distance under steam power so we ducked into Waukegan for fuel. Turns out they charged way less for slip rental and destepping the mast than in Chicago, so we decided to make this place our home for a few days. Other than having no wind on Sunday or Monday, we had a real nice passage from Mackinac Island (Mackinac Bridge pictured above on a cold saturday morning). We even made a friend, a little bird kept flying back and forth to and from our boat. We named him boomerang, a friendly little guy who was probably trying to find a place to take a breather, not sure how he got out that far.

Yesterday we had our 1st hometown visitor on our trip! Chris Warrington graced YOLO with his presence in Waukegan. He came bearing the gift of power in the form of 2 6v Golf cart batteries for our house battery bank. I wired those bad boys up then we hopped into his car to make a run to home depot to get materials to fabricate stands to rest our mast on the deck. This morning we had the crane pluck the mast out and off the boat and rest it on our mounts. We are now gonna be doin nothing but motorboatin' for a few weeks. (that last sentence is for you, Wheatley!)