Lake Shelbyville, Southern Illinois

A few weeks ago we made plans with our friends Dennis and Christa to visit them on Lake Shelbyville in Southern Illinois. Dennis was even nice enough to mail us a large waterproof map in advance, so we are really excited to see them and explore their lake! We told them we just wanted to experience their usual boating weekend, since inland lake boating was completely foreign to us. It turned out to be one of the most relaxing boating weekends we have ever had!

I guess Dennis wasn't kidding when he told us the lake is way out in the country!

 Friday we loaded Seapickle up on the trailer around 12:30 and hit the road for a 4 hour tow to Findlay Marina where Dennis and Christa would be waiting to help us launch.

With no tie up dock having the extra help of Dennis and Christa made launching very easy

Once in the water we followed them to Eagle Creek Cove where their friends Gary and Brenda waited for us with their 60ft houseboat named Captain's Quarters!

Dennis and Christa in their Four Winns 278 named "Wet Ink"

We planned to have both boats raft up to the side of Captain's Quarters for the night and have dinner on the top deck under the stars. Neither Dana nor I had been on a houseboat before and we were blown away by how cool it was! After tying up our boats, Gary fired up the grill and starting cooking an amazing dinner of bacon wrapped BBQ shrimp, bratwurst, corn, Brenda (baked) beans, and the "love em or hate em" BBQ chicken livers. 

Dining al fresco Captain's Quarters style!!

Looking out of Eagle Creek Cove at sunset

After dinner we poured some cold drinks and took in a sunset from the top deck, but the real show was about to start. Once dark the stars shone with brightness and intensity like we had never seen! The stars were so bright that when you looked down at the water you could easily pick out your favorite constellation! Dana and I were awestruck with the peacefulness and beauty of the night and quickly agreed this would be a trip to remember!

Saturday morning we decided to do a little exploring with our inflatable kayak, lil Pickle. In our short trip we saw deer, cranes, and some really pretty coves. One of coves we liked so much that we decided to stay the night in it. All the paddling worked up an appetite and since everyone was getting hungry, we decided to take a boat ride to a restaurant on the lake called Skeeter's. We all piled on Wet Ink and headed toward the marina to pick up another couple, Forrest and Cathy, on the way. With 8 people on board, Dana and Christa were glad to volunteer to ride up on the bow of the boat, with drink in hand, it turned out to be the most scenic spot to enjoy the ride!

The ride up front reminded Dana why she sometimes misses our old bowrider.

 Skeeter's was a cool little restaurant with a menu full of good boating food. The menus were printed on mini wooden paddle's and everything was nautical themed.

Skeeter's

After taking a slow cruise back to the cove to let our food digest, we decided it was a good time to do some swimming. Dana's first order of business was to find the highest point on Captain's Quarter's and jump off!

Dana finding the best spot to jump from

Ben opted for an easier way to get into the water and used the water slide, swam over to the nearby kayak and passed out for an afternoon siesta!

Life doesn't get more relaxing than this!

Saturday evening we split off from the departing Gary and Brenda since Gary had to work. We greatly appreciated their hospitality and were sad to see them go. We decided to head over to the cove we saw earlier in the day, and Dennis and Christa moved into the cove next to us. Dana and I spent the rest of the night listening to the cicadas and enjoying the peacefulness on the night. This was a lot different from our normal anchorage back home where there is constant sounds of nearby industry.

Sunday morning Wet Ink came to our cove to raft up and have breakfast burritos. 

Seapickle II and Wet Ink rafted together

View from kayak

After breakfast Dennis and Christa decided to take Lil Pickle for a cruise. They were naturals at it and were soon cruising all over Eagle Creek cove!

The crew of Wet Ink trying out the kayak.

With time starting to run short in the weekend we headed back to the marina and said goodbye to the cove we had spent a great weekend in. The fun wasn't over yet, since once we got back to the marina we hopped on a pair of Dennis and Christa's jet skis and hit the lake for one last tour!

Enjoying Lake Shelbyville by jet ski

One last look at Lake Shelbyville

With the long tow home looming, we decided we had better load up and head home. We are so appreciative of the hospitality shown to us by Dennis, Christa, Gary, and Brenda!! These guy's know how to relax and have a good time! Hope to see you again soon!

Weekend Michigan Get-Away Continued - White Lake & Muskegon

What we love about White Lake, Michigan is the quiet peacefulness found at the marina and around town. Everyone at the White Lake Municipal Marina is very friendly and laid-back, from the check-in process to loaning out the 2 bikes available to transient boaters to use to get around town.

We've met some really nice great-loopers both times we've been there, and this time were lucky to meet a sailing couple from Oklahoma (S/V Incipient) headed to the North Channel. It was great to have the opportunity to find out some of their favorite North Channel islands as well as some tips for anchoring out there. We also found out they will be in the North Channel at the same time as us, and are excited to possibly meet up while we're there!

After spending the morning lounging around the marina and talking with the other transient boaters (5 boats in all), we decided to walk over to neighboring Montague for the Farmer's & Artisan Market. We already had the boat pretty well stocked, so we settled on an apple pie from The Garden Shed to enjoy for breakfast.

Now if you've followed our 2010 Lake Michigan Trip, you may remember that we fought tough lake conditions pretty much the entire trip. And true to that history, while there were south winds and calm lake conditions at our home port, the ride over to Muskegon to visit friends on the beach gave us 3ft rollers the entire 11 mile trip. Once we arrived though, we anchored close to shore and enjoyed a few carefree hours on the beach with friends.

 

Our Muskegon friends invited us to Dockers Fish House for dinner and to see a band they really liked, Yard Sale Underwear (seriously, that was the name of the band). We were able to dock the boat right alongside of the restaurant, and someone from Dockers ran out to help us tie up. The place was packed both with those who arrived by boat and lots of locals who seemed to be regulars. Dinner, the music and the company was great, and we are really hoping to go back again to visit this summer! We had to be lame though and leave right before dusk (about 9:30pm) so that we could find a spot in Muskegon Lake to anchor for the night.

We found a secluded spot tucked away in "Snug Harbor" along the shore of the state park. Aside from the occasional fishing boat headed back to the launch, we were the only boat in sight most of the time we were there. We had a wonderful & relaxing night looking at the stars & identifying constellations while drinking some of the Traverse City Red wine I picked up in Montague.

It was so quiet there that we slept in a bit before waking up to enjoy our apple pie and coffee and preparing to boat back to White Lake to spend the rest of Sunday. Ben says waking up in this spot was the most relaxed he has been in a long time :-) I would have to agree!

First Trailering Adventure with Seapickle II

Since getting the trailer for Seapickle, we've been anxious to try it out and get a taste for what trailering a boat our size will be like. This past weekend seemed to be the perfect weekend to take a roadtrip, and the bright and sunny Friday morning weather sure did not disappoint! Friday morning, after packing up our bags and saying goodbye to the cats, we headed to Doyne's to pick up the boat & trailer (we had already loaded it Thursday night). Thankfully our friend Barry was there, who reminded us to attach the safety strap (oops!) and helped Ben get the trailer attached to the truck. The only thing we seemed to overlook was putting down the antenna, which was a bit bent up after our trip!

Getting onto the highway (I-94 East) was a little stressful, and we quickly realized there were many more hills on the highway than we had ever noticed! The truck did very well pulling though, and aside from a few stressful merges and a pretty inconvenient detour, we made the 160 miles to the public launch ramp in Montague, Mi (home of the world's largest weathervane) in just about 4 hours. We stopped a few times along the way to check the tire pressure and hub temps, and everything seemed to be just fine.

By the time we got the boat settled into slip #23 at the White Lake Municipal Marina, walked back to the launch ramp, parked the truck in an abandoned lot (where the heck is overnight parking??), stocked up on supplies at Montague Foods and walked back to the boat, we were too tired to grill dinner so we headed over to the Harbor View Grille, which was just a couple blocks from the marina in Whitehall, and had a great view of the sunset over White Lake.

Since sunset is an hour later in Michigan than it is for us in Indiana, we still had time to make it to Pekadill's while it was still light out at 9:30pm! I went boring with the Butter Pecan in a waffle cone (delicious!), while Ben tried a caffeine-infused chocolate peanut butter ice cream that was supposed to have as much caffeine as an energy drink! (he still was tired after eating it)

We got back to the boat around 10pm, and it was STILL light out! But we were exhausted after a long day, so after making Ben pose for an impromptu photo shoot, we curled up to watch the stars come out over White Lake, and planned out what was to come for Saturday. (which will be continued in the next post)

Photos from our weekend in White Lake/Muskegon Lake

White Lake, Muskegon Trip, a set on Flickr.

We will share a blog post later this evening, but for now, here are some photos from our weekend trip to White Lake & Muskegon Lake.