Greg has recorded a video of our trip from Chicago to Hammond. In hindsight, we shouldn’t have left. The waves were very high and we were travelling on one engine. At one point, the other engine failed as well. We felt we couldn’t stay, though, since our rental period was up and the marina was full.

I wonder what they would have done if we said, sorry we can’t go. It wasn’t like we hadn’t tried to get someone to come out and look at our motor. We’ll never know.

We made the hour-long trip in two hours. At one point, we were very close to making a distress call. But, we managed to limp into the harbour without incident. Kudos to Greg for his cool head under pressure.

I really like Hammond Marina. The staff here are so friendly and helpful. I want to give a shoutout to Drew, who worked in the office and in the Ship Store. She’s just so cool.

I think I’ve mentioned that I’ve wrenched both my knees so I’m pretty much limping everywhere. Drew offered to drive me to the boat. I declined since I wanted to check out the casino amenities. So, she drove me to the casino!

Hammond Marino is right next to the Horseshoe Casino. I love casinos. I find the constant ching ching ching sound very soothing. I wish the odds weren’t so stacked in favour of the house. I would love to while away the hours waiting for a weather window at the slot machines.

But, slots are a fool’s game so I resist.

Back when I was still speaking to my brother, he tried to teach me blackjack. He was pretty good. I don’t remember any of his lessons, unfortunately. Thank goodness Greg is also good at blackjack.

We managed to find someone to fix our engine. But, we’re stuck at Hammond because the winds are very high this week.

That wouldn’t be an issue if it weren’t for the fact that we want to make it to warmer weather and not be travelling in colder weather to get there. Our drop dead date to leave Indiana is October 15 and that’s pushing it.

It’s funny. Tomorrow is the first day of Fall and the weather has gone from sweltering to chilly. We didn’t have a chance to take advantage of the public beach. I still hope I will be able to walk over to the bird sanctuary before we leave.

Here’s a video of the wind in the harbour. The waves outside the breakwater were considerably higher.