Benton Harbor and stuck again sort of

The past three days we have been able to move from Frankfort on the northwest side of Michigans lower peninsula to Benton Harbor on the southeast side and now only a 70 mile jaunt across the lake to Chicago. We left Frankfort and put in a long day, to White Lake, just off the big lake, almost 100 miles, with a fuel up in Ludington. Diesel there was $2.85/gallon, so we filled and shouldn't need fuel until we hit the Gulf of Mexico, whenever that will be. That long day was not flat, but pretty tolerable and we pulled into White Lake and anchored in it's sowuthwest corner at dusk. I new it was weedy there, the depth was 10 feet or so, but the sounder said less than two, bouncing off the weeds. The next morning we found out how weedy. The anchor was loaded. It was then on to Grand Haven, a nice harbor town on the Grand River, downstream from Grand Rapids, Michigan. They had a wall tie up for $10, a prety good deal. It had a nice downtown area, and a good "gastropub" with outstanding hot wings. Our attention was now on the weather. Initially the weather window looked to be on Wednesday to move on, but that closed and it was Tuesday or sit for 4-5 more days, so we fired up and moved on to Benton Harbor yeserday. The first half of the day was pretty ugly with short period 3-4 foot waves. The boat did fine, but the thrift shop beer mugs less so. The day did improve as predicted and by the time we arrived at Benton Harbor things were pretty flat. The next three days look awful though. So, we are about 70 miles ENE of Chicago, a good day run, with our goal to be there October 5 for the locks on the Illinois River to open. About half way through our day yesterday, we were informed via online sources that the lock openings are going to be delayed, at least until Oct 10, and likely longer, so once again we are on hold, but not weather related this time, and everybody else doing the loop still on Lake Michigan is in the same boat, so to speak. There is an Enterprise car rental here so we are going to go to Kalamazoo tomorrow and meet up with family there and re supply some groceries and tequila. I hope within a day or two we'll have a better handle on when the locks will open.

Salad on the anchor at White Lake

This is the old coal bin at Grand Haven. It loaded the coal car behind the engine, fueling it.

Huge steam engine at Grand Haven

Fireworks at Grand Haven, part of a celebration of new lights at the harbor entrance.

Sandbar off the beach at Benton Harbor. 10 minutes later in the image below, it is covered up. The ebb and flow of the water levels occur over minutes and are 6-10 inches. Never realized this happened. 

The two heads are swimmers off Benton Harbor entrance

People in Benton Harbor were out last evening paddleboarding

Huge mansions on the shore of Lake Michigan at Benton Harbor