Day 116 Chicago or bust

Woke up before dawn to make the lake crossing to East Chicago. Found a note from Becky and Dell wishing us a safe journey, so we know they made it home safely. Wish we could have stayed, but the weather reports are predicting gale winds, cold temperatures - basically, the end of Lake Michigan as WE knew it. Even if the seas subside, the temps aren't going back up any time soon. Today is our window to cross Lake Michigan. We checked the radar this morning and there is a lot of blue in the storm moving down from Canada. What the heck does blue mean? I've seen green, red and yellow - never blue. Well, that's "freezing". As we left the marina, the dawn sky blazed with the most amazing colors. The seas were the deepest navy blue. Took 7.5 hours of rockin' and rollin' to get to Hammond Marina. At times, the anchor was flying up out of it's holder on the bow. It was " a hellava day at sea, sir!" (Overboard) Itwas a welcome site when we saw the Chicago outline. We are relieved to have completed our journey down Lake Michigan and this crossing is behind us. Staying put for a few days. We are tucked behind a huge casino and back from the breakwater - hunkering down to see what this polar vortex will throw at us.